Rublev’s Holy Trinity

art, epilepsy, Faith, generosity, Holy Spirit, Holy Trinity, Icons, inspiration, Painting, Rublev, salvation, vision

Rublev: The Holy Trinity, 1411 or 1425-27, Russia

One of my favorite icons is Andrei Rublev’s Holy Trinity because it not only has the theological theme of the Trinity, but also the message of hospitality to strangers. As Hebrews 13:2 reminds us,

“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.”

This subject of this icon is the three angels for whom Abraham spread a feast in the wilderness where he and his barren wife Sarah lived while they tended their flocks. The angels appear with their walking staffs and sit at Abraham’s table set with a dish of food. In the background is a mountain, representing the wilderness and a tree, locating the scene at the oaks of Mamre.

Koulouris Iconography House: Saint George Greek Orthodox Church, West Bank Territory, Holy Land

Rublev’s palette is full of light with a predominance of gold, shining ochre, delicate shades of green, pink, and violet, and his inimitable sky-blue, too, in combination with the fine rhythm of lines and perfect composition. Altogether this produces an image of unearthly beauty and a heavenly harmony. This isn’t just a banquet in the desert wilderness, but a meal in the inbreaking moment in which we experience the timeless realm of heaven.

On earth, we count the minutes, days, and years, but in the company of God, we enter into the eternal and timeless experience in which God lives. Yesterday, today, and tomorrow are the same for the God who is known as I AM, for I AM lives always in the present and I AM is always becoming. There never was a time when the I AM was not. God always IS, even if we think God is not.

We may forget God, and our love may fail, but the steadfast love of the great I AM never fails because God’s love is, as the prophet Isaiah describes it (43:25):

“I, I am He who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.”

Copy of Rublev’s Holy Trinity, iconostasis at the monastery, 16th CE, St. Sergio’s Lavra, Russia.

Andrei Rublev painted the original icon in the Trinity-St. Sergius Monastery in either 1411 or 1425-1427. An artist made a copy of the Holy Trinity icon in the 16^th CE. The Orthodox Church certified the Rublev Trinity as miraculous in 1626 and gave it a place of honor in the church, as well as metallic and jeweled embellishments. Over the next 500 years, artists restored the original Rublev icon several times. The early 1900’s saw two professional restorations: each one removed more layers of paint and lacquer until they revealed the original. The restorers decided hiding with a frame what was an “exclusive, in its worldwide importance, work of art” from the palette of Andrei Rublev was unacceptable.

Dating this important icon is more difficult than deciding its painter. Some think the icon was originally meant for the wooden Trinity Cathedral erected in 1411 and believe after the stone church was built, the congregation moved the icon there. Other art historians believe Rublev painted the “Holy Trinity” at the same time as his workshop painted the iconostasis in the new cathedral in 1425-27.

Rublev received a commission to paint this icon for the image of the Holy Trinity from St. Nikon of Radonezh: “an image for the Holy Trinity to be painted in his time, to venerate His Holy Father, St. Sergius the Wonderworker,” the monk who founded the monastery at Radonezh.

Since a cathedral dedicated to the Holy Trinity should have an icon of the Holy Trinity in it as its primary icon, the obvious choice was to select the best image that would convey the spiritual essence of the cathedral. This icon would embody the name of the Holy Trinity in color.

Icons have a purpose in worship, beyond mere mere beauty or illustration or teaching of doctrine. St. John of Damascus spoke in his “Apologies against Those who Decry Holy Images”, with which he addressed the Seventh Ecumenical Council calling on renowned painters for brave deeds, to set forth in their art the images of the Old and New Testaments, so that those who were not learned and could not read the Holy Scripture, would be able—by examining those stories—to enjoy the lives of holy men and their good deeds, for

“What the book does for those who understand letters, the image does for the illiterate; the word appeals to hearing, the image appeals to sight; it conveys understanding.” (Treatise 1.17)”’

Betsy Porter: Holy Trinity icon with Holy Communion

In other arguments against those iconoclastic believers, those who advocated instead for the use of images in worship reminded people the icon represents the truth of a spiritual reality. Some have compared the icon to a “window into heaven.” No one then or now worships the icon itself, but they do venerate the holiness of the person represented in the image. They hope to recognize the presence of God with them when they come to the quiet and stillness before the icon at their home altar and when they share in the presence of God in public worship in the sanctuary among the holy icons.

Abraham and the Three Angels, Mosaics in Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome (432-40 CE)

Theologically, the Western church has treated all three members of the Holy Trinity as coequal members, as seen in the mosaics of the 5^th CE basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. By placing all the heads on one level, or the use of isocephaly, the artist tells us the figures are equal in stature. Abraham is therefore lower than the heavenly visitors. Isocephaly is the art term which originates from the Greek words “isos” meaning “equal” and “kephalos” meaning “head”. We already know this word from our common knowledge: isosceles triangles have two equal sides and encephalitis is an inflammation of the brain, which is within our heads. (Sorry, old schoolteachers never die, but keep on explaining our 50 cent words; it must be that “back to school” time of year!)

Commercial Paper icon appliqué on wood panel “after Rublev,” but lacks the background architecture and has a substantial table without a cloth covering.

The Rublev icon has the heads of the three angels arranged in a triangle. They represent the Triune God. The center figure is slightly higher than the other two figures’ heads. This is because the Eastern Orthodox Church holds a slightly different view of the Holy Trinity. The incomprehensible God has indeed revealed God’s self in a manner that is incomprehensible.

All errors in trying to explain the Trinity come down to the following issue: we try to explain the living God, using a method of human thought—rational, natural, or philosophical—instead of witnessing to the reality and the truth of an encounter with the living God. To ask what God is, is the wrong question. Rather, who God is, is the primary question.

The answer is—God is Triune. We know God by God’s activity in the world, or energies, which we can see and can understand. In fact, all our understanding of God or what we say about God, comes from what God has done in the world, from God’s energies. The essence of God is still beyond our understanding, inaccessible to our understanding. If we could understand it, it would not be God, for God is beyond our understanding, as Isaiah 55:8-9 reminds us:

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

so are my ways higher than your ways

and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Both the Western and the Orthodox Churches are in agreement as regards the unity of the Trinity as to the persons and their shared being. They also agree the Trinity isn’t three separate gods or three different revelations of one singular god. The Eastern Church and the Western Church did split over whether the Holy Spirit proceeded from the Son alone (East) or from the Father AND the Son (West).

The earliest creeds from the 4^th CE didn’t even mention the Holy Spirit, mostly because the early church was combatting heresies about the nature of the Son (such as he was actually human, only appeared to be human, only parts were human, and other variations other than he was a full member of the Trinity and in Christ being fully human and fully divine).

By 381 CE in Constantinople, the creed included the words:

“And in the Spirit, the holy, the lordly and life-giving one, proceeding forth from the Father, co-worshipped and co-glorified with Father and Son, the one who spoke through the prophets; in one, holy, catholic and apostolic church.”

The first Latin council to add the phrase “and the Son” (filioque) to its creed was the 447 CE Synod of Toledo, Spain. The filioque formula was also used in a letter from the Catholic Pope Leo I to the members of that synod regarding opposition to a form of the fifth century manifestations of the Arian heresy which was prevalent among the Germanic tribes of Europe.

Stage 4, the draperies are taking the shape of the bodies

As football season heats up in the USA, we fight our culture wars on social media, not in the streets. The latest heresy for some is professional football teams now have male cheerleaders on the sidelines. The conservative rabble rousers destroyed their coffeemakers and burned their team jerseys in the past. Wearing paper sacks to maintain anonymity at the games is too yesterday. The recent announcement of the heroic and rugged Minnesota Vikings football team’s addition of two talented and athletic young male dancers is more than they can take. The keys of their favorite social media platform have been clicking and clacking. Radio waves are sizzling and heating up our already too sweaty summer.

Trinity, stage 5: two steps forward and one step back

The bishops at Toledo affirmed the Holy Spirit’s procession from both the Father and the Son to exclude the Arian notion of the Son being something less than a co-eternal and equal partner with the Father from the very beginning of existence. Street protests were common during this time over theological beliefs: the Catholics chanted, “There never was a time the Father was not a Father, the Son not a Son, and the Spirit didn’t proceed from both!” Against them, the Arians marched, “The Son was born, not begotten!” Exciting times, the late 5^th CE.

Several of our past GOP presidents were college cheerleaders, including Ronald Regan and George Bush. On a personal note, six decades ago, my big city high school in the Deep South had a tradition of boy and girl cheerleaders on a team of equal numbers to do exciting and complicated stunts. We were not aware of being “woke.” We were, however, always seeking to bring out the best of each person to reflect well upon our school and our city, which we represented.

Unfortunately, accusing the present NFL teams of being “woke” ignores American history, since the USA FEDERATION FOR SPORT CHEERING recognizes the first cheer in America as occurring on November 2, 1898 at the University of Minnesota, when student Johnny Campbell got up from the seats and took the field to lead the student body in a chant. If 127 years is too far back for people’s minds, we can turn to more recent history.

DeLee: Holy Trinity after Rublev, acrylic on canvas, 16” x 20”

Cheerleading is a metaphor for hospitality, which is one of the great attributes of the Holy Trinity. Hospitality is only possible where love resides and where community is experienced and practiced. Los Angeles led the way in 2018 by including two male dancers on their NFL Ram’s team. They were part of the Super Bowl LIII in 2019. Tryouts have always been “open,” but only women had shown up before. Like the strangers who showed up at Abraham’s tent, the cheer squad welcomed the men into the family and brought them under the protection of their group. When we practice hospitality, the “other” is no longer a “them.” The “stranger” becomes one of “us” because we reflect God’s loving nature to the vulnerable and we offer the bounty of our table to nourish their body and spirit.

I began working on this icon during social and personal distress. The social distress is obvious to anyone who reads a newspaper or watches a television newscast. Never have I seen so many professing Christians refuse to “love their neighbor as themselves,” or “do unto others as you would have others do unto you.” I don’t know how they sleep at night, for my own heart hurts for the pain inflicted upon the strangers who walk among us, who very well may be the Holy Trinity in earthly disguise. If we treat them like their next stop on their journey, only a few of us will walk away unscathed.

My personal distress comes from the blessing of living long enough, thanks to excellent medical care and the ability to live a structured, carefree life. As we age, medication affects us differently. My neurologist dropped the amount of my seizure medication, and my cardiologist upped my blood pressure medication. I was taking too much magnesium, so that was making me lethargic as well as lowering my blood pressure. Now that I’ve gotten stabilized, I feel a lot peppier.

Unfortunately, I began painting and drawing this icon while all this unwellness was going on. I can see “room for improvement,” as I always remind folks to say when critiquing their own art works. I have learned much from this time and have seen the icon in a new and closer light. I will come back to it again when I feel I’m more competent to give it my best.

A masterpiece always deserves the best we can offer, yet I rest secure knowing God has grace for those of us who are wounded, weak, or broken in any way. Whatever we bring in this time and place right now is the best we can offer upon God’s altar. God refuses no honest gift. If we spread peanut butter sandwiches on the table for the visitors as the offered feast because this is what we have, God will bless this gift.

The Holy Trinity of God lives in a loving community of self-giving hospitality and generosity within its unity of being. All three persons love, support, and care for one another in equal measure. As we humans would understand this: no one in the Trinity carries a heavier burden than another. In like manner, each person shares all the energies and work of the others.

The work of salvation may be through our faith in Christ’s work on the cross, yet it was the Father who sent the Son to redeem all creation and the Holy Spirit who brings us to the understanding of this saving grace. The whole work of God in Three Persons saves us if we have Trinitarian faith. And it is by the power of all the Holy Three we can stand against the hatreds and evils of this age.

Indeed, if we can offer any service well-pleasing to God, following the admonitions of Hebrews 13:1-2 would help all:

“Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.”

Abraham’s angelic visitors blessed him and his wife Sarah with the promise of a longed-for son. We might learn to love our neighbors more if we shared our hospitality and opened our hearts to the people we meet. May you meet angels in your daily life and share whatever feast is in your pantry.

Joy and peace,

Cornelia

Andrei Rublev: Image of the “Holy Trinity,” The Tretyakov Gallery Magazine. Andrei Rublev painted the Holy Trinity icon, which is the central image in the cathedral’s iconostasis. One of the most famous Russian icons, he created it “in praise of St. Sergius.” The original is in the hall of Old Russian painting of the Tretyakov Gallery, in a special glass case with controlled humidity and temperature. In Trinity Cathedral you can see a copy of the icon to the right of the royal doors in the first (lowest) tier of the iconostasis.

https://www.tretyakovgallerymagazine.com/node/7196

Excerpts from Three Treatises on the Divine Images by St John of Damascus, translation and introduction by Fr. Andrew Louth, St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2003.

https://www.svots.edu/blog/st-john-damascus-divine-images

A Miracle of Knowledge: St. Sergius of Radonezh / OrthoChristian.Com

https://orthochristian.com/41950.html

Venerable Nikon, Abbot of Radonezh, disciple of Venerable Sergius – Orthodox Church in America

https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2016/11/17/103316-venerable-nikon-abbot-of-radonezh-disciple-of-venerable-sergius

Daily readings from the lives of the Orthodox Saints:

https://www.oca.org/saints/lives

Home – Icons: Windows Into Heaven – LibGuides at Duquesne University: This is a reputable source for orthodox icon information via the Duquesne Library. Links to outside sources are broken. Reference books are available elsewhere.

https://guides.library.duq.edu/icons

Mosaics in Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome (432-40): if you’ve never been to Italy, you can see the entire beautiful interior of this 5^th CE basilica here.

https://www.wga.hu/html_m/zearly/1/4mosaics/1rome/3maggior/index.html

Introduction to Orthodoxy 4: The Holy Trinity – Orthodox Catechism Project

https://www.orthodoxcatechismproject.org/introduction-to-orthodoxy/-/asset_publisher/IXn2ObwXr9vq/content/introduction-to-orthodoxy-4-the-holy-trinity

First Council of Constantinople 381 – Papal Encyclicals

First Council of Constantinople – 381

First Known Cheerleader was a Male Student

The First Cheerleader

Vikings Respond to Male Cheerleader Backlash – Newsweek—12 NFL teams are reportedly set to have male cheerleaders on their squads this season. The teams as the Vikings, Ravens, Rams, Saints, Eagles, 49ers, Patriots, Titans, Colts, Chiefs, Buccaneers and Panthers.

https://www.newsweek.com/minnesota-vikings-respond-backlash-male-cheerleaders-2113864

The Two Domes of Creation

art, Creativity, Faith, Holy Spirit, Holy Trinity, Icons, Imagination, Love, nature, Painting, Prayer, purpose, Spirituality

I had Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion (ACDF) neck surgery at the end of March to correct a damaged disk. A very fine surgeon removed it, replaced it with a new one, and fused it for strength. Two days in the hospital and I went home to recover. I was tired for several weeks, but I soon felt well enough to start painting again. Each week thereafter I could see improvements in my hand steadiness and mental focus as the pain left my body and my healing progressed. I had been through physical therapy and shots in the neck for a year since my original injury.

The old saying about boiling a frog by raising the temperature of the water gradually also applies to pain: if it rises incrementally, you don’t realize how much you’re tolerating. I feel like a new creation, for I have a new lease on life. Most importantly, I have my sense of humor back. I know this is true, for one morning a friend sent me a funny meme. I laughed so loudly, my Apple Watch gave me a High Decibel Warning alert! Silly watch, you’ve never heard my joy.

As part of my ongoing creation series in the studio, I’ve been working with the imagery from the beginning of Genesis (1:6-8)—

And God said, “Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” So God made the dome and separated the waters that were under the dome from the waters that were above the dome. And it was so. God called the dome Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

I also had in mind the creation imagery of The Gospel According to John (1:1-5)—

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.”

Hildegard of Bingen: Scivias III.1;
The One upon the throne, Rupertsberg MS,
fol. 122v, manuscript
illumination,
12^th CE.

These two texts, one from the Old and one from the New Testament, remind us the Triune God has always been creating our universe and our earth. From this we understand what the Trinity has created, it will be by the same love, desire, and compassion the Trinity will sustain creation and renew creation in the proper time. Humanity is a cocreator of beauty alongside the Holy Trinity. While our works aren’t infinite or perfect, we humans hold the desire to create and surpass our best works, even as the Creator of all things saw all the work before the creation of the first human beings as “good,” but the creation of humans in God’s image as “very good.”

Too often our Christian theology hinges on some form of “sinners in the hands of an angry God,” rather than the doctrine of “God so loved the world.” This dualist contrast of sin/redemption versus love/renewal is a difference of viewpoint between those who focus on judgment and those who focus on grace. The old story of “God loves me in spite of my fallen and wicked ways” doesn’t make sense to a new generation who has gotten affirmations for all their efforts. As part of the old generation, that traditional story barely made sense even to me and my generation. Between 2000 and 2020, Gallup reported church attendance for people born before 1946 declined 11%, attendance for Baby Boomers declined 9%, attendance for Gen X declined 12%, and the facts aren’t in yet for the Millennials or Gen Z. Moreover, speaking only to “personal salvation” is not on most younger people’s minds. They are more interested in the great causes of justice for the weak and the oppressed, and in liberation for the unjustly imprisoned, just as Jesus read from the scroll of Isaiah (4:8-9):

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because he has anointed me

to bring good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives

and recovery of sight to the blind,

to let the oppressed go free,

to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Hildegard of Bingen is a good person to help straddle this dilemma. After all, Hildegard is one of the only four women whom the Catholic Church has recognized as a Doctor of the Church. Only thirty-six other figures in the history of the church have earned his great honor, which Hildegard belatedly received rom Pope Benedict XVI in 2012. This title recognizes the outstanding contribution a person has made to the understanding and interpretation of the sacred Scriptures and the development of Christian doctrine. Only four on the list are women (Catherine of Siena, Teresa of Avila, Therese of Lisieux, and Hildegard of Bingen). The definition of the term “Doctor of the Church” is based on the three requirements a person must fulfill to merit inclusion in the ranks of the “Doctors of the Catholic Church”:

1) holiness that is truly outstanding, even among saints;

2) depth of doctrinal insight; and

3) an extensive body of writings which the church can recommend as an expression of the authentic and life-giving Catholic Tradition.

Born the tenth child in an era where a family practiced tithing or giving a tenth of everything to God in every aspect of their life, Hildegard was ‘given to God’ and taken to live in an abbey, as a nun. There she learned faith and healing, and studied medicine, natural science, music, and writing. She wrote ten books, two volumes of which are well known: Physica, a book on natural science, and Causae et Curae, a book of medicine and remedies. These two works hold most of Hildegard’s musings on the relationship between science and faith, along with her scientific observations and medicinal remedies. Scivias, Hildegard’s main theological work, stands for “Scito vias Domini,” meaning “know the ways of the Lord.”

Her knowledge came from visions of light, what today some have called debilitating migraines, which confined her to her bed for days. Hildegard spoke of her visions of light, just as migraine sufferers often report an extreme sensitivity to light, or seeing strange light patterns, in the middle of an episode. Her science was advanced for the 12th CE, but we don’t study Hildegard for her scientific truths. She is more important for her theology and spirituality about creation and God’s love for all life.

When God created the world, God pronounced God’s creation “good.” The world in which we now live is obviously corrupt and fallen, so many people have given up on it. The same was also true back in Hildegard’s time. The secular and religious empires of the West were at war. The Crusades tried to wrest the Holy Land from the Arabs in great battles resulting in mass carnage. The growth of cities’ merchant classes also threatened the established order of the powerful.

It was an uneasy time for all the people, just as it is today when the cultures of the east and the west are wrestling for dominance, great powers still try to expand their territories, and technocrats challenge governments worldwide for power. Once again it is “the times, they (were) are a changing,” as Bob Dylan, the prophet of our age sings for every age.

Hildegard speaks of God not only creating, but also being in the world. This is what we call Panentheism, which comes from the Greek words pan/all + en/in +theos/God. Panentheism considers God and the world to be inter-related with the world being in God and God being in the world. Panentheism affirms both divine transcendence and immanence. We can both experience God through the natural world, while God is also beyond our normal experience. Hildegard experienced God in both the world around her, even though she lived a secluded life, and she also experienced God through her visions. (This is not pantheism, which makes creation into the god or accepts the equality of many gods.)

Hildegard von Bingen: The universe (or the Cosmic Egg), from Scivias, an illustrated work by Hildegard von Bingen, completed in 1151 or 1152, describing 26 religious visions she experienced. Liber Scivias (Sci vias Domini = Know the ways of the Lord). The book, Codex Rupertsberg, disappeared during WW II. Transparencies are from a faksimile, copied by hand by some nuns from 1927 to 1933.
(Plate 4 fol-14r—The universe (or the Cosmic Egg)

“I, the fiery life of divine wisdom,

I ignite the beauty of the plains, I sparkle the waters,

I burn in the sun and the moon, and the stars.

With wisdom I order all rightly.

Above all I determine truth.

I am the one whose praise echoes on high.

I adorn all the earth.

I am the breeze that nurtures all things green.

I encourage blossoms to flourish with ripening fruits.

I am led by the Spirit to feed the purest streams.

I am the rain coming from the dew

that causes the grasses to laugh with the joy of life.

I call forth tears, the aroma of holy work.

I am the yearning for good.

Invisible life that sustains all,

I awaken to life everything In every waft of air.

The air is life, greening and blossoming.

The waters flow with life. The sun is lit with life.

All creation is gifted with the ecstasy of God’s light.

In doing good, the illumination of a good conscience

is like the light of the earthly sun.

If they do not see me in that light,

how can they see me in the dark of their hearts?

I am for all eternity the vigor of the Godhead.

I do not have my source in time.

I am the divine power

through which God decided and sanctioned

the creation of all things.

With my mouth I kiss my own chosen creation.

I uniquely, lovingly, embrace every image

I have made out of the earth’s clay.”

I resonate with Hildegard not only because her theology speaks of God’s love for everything God created, but also because God desires for all creation and humanity alike to come to a state of perfection. Even when I was a nonbeliever, creation always called my name. I’ve always felt a peace and wholeness when I looked upon nature. The beauty of the sky, the changing colors of the seasons, and cloud patterns fascinate me to this day. Now I can read Psalm 19:1 with a heart of faith:

“The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament (dome) proclaims his handiwork.”

Hildegard of Bingen’s final and greatest visionary work was the Liber Divinorum Operum, the “Book of Divine Works.” Each of her recorded visions elaborates the dynamic Word of God, present before and within Creation. The Word first became a human being to bring the Work of God—humanity and by extension all creation—to perfection. This grand vision is the culmination of Hildegard’s entire theological project and represents her most mature formulation of the themes central to her thought.

Hildegard believed the fundamental human vocation was to understand both ourselves and all creation as the work of God, and our place as cooperative agents of that work. Also in this “Book of Divine Works,” Hildegard considers rational understanding as the means to know our Creator and properly fulfill the work for which we were created; the relationship between humanity and the rest of creation as microcosm and macrocosm; and the eternal predestination of the incarnate Word of God irrupting into and unfolding through time, as revealed in both Scripture and the life of the Church. Our Library of Congress has a fully digitized copy of Hildegard’s final tome of 353 magnificently illustrated pages, which is accessible at the link at the bottom of this post.

DeLee: Christ Offers the Word, acrylic on canvas,
8” x 10”, 2025

Nature has always revealed the presence of God to me, not just the in the act of creation and the beauty of nature, which I see presented daily from sunrise to sunset, but also in the transits of the stars in the night skies. From the myths of our ancestors trying to make sense of their world to our current search for the mysterious ninth planet (sorry, Pluto, I still love you, even if you’ve been demoted to a dwarf planet), and to the great nebulas and galaxies beyond our Milky Way, we humans have experienced God among these other mysteries.

While we believe one day we can know all the unknowns, we nevertheless awake to discover we stand on the precipice of yet more mysteries and the need to refine our former truths. The more we know, the more we discover we’ve barely scratched the surface of the depths of what can be known. This search for knowledge is what keeps the curious alive and ever on the quest for the outer boundaries.

*Hildegard: Scivias* III.1: The One upon the throne.
Rupertsberg MS, fol. 122v.

The creative mind believes a heart touched by God’s creative spirit has unique insights to give to the world, which needs beauty to confront the mess we can see outside our doorsteps and on our nightly newscasts. Creating an icon is one way to pray and enter a holy space. The circle stands for the halo, but also to identify the image portrayed as a holy or important figure. When I need to recenter myself, I always paint an icon. I pray twice—once in the act of painting and again in observing and meditating upon the image of the icon. This icon has not only the halo of Christ, but the cruciform halo, which serves to differentiate the Trinity from the non-divine saints, dignitaries, and angels. It appears on images of God the Father and the Hand of God, Christ and the Lamb of God, and the Dove of the Holy Spirit.

Rebecca Boyle describes the science of creation in “The Universe’s First Light Could Reveal Secrets of the Cosmic Dawn:”

Everything started in the tremendous burst of energy known as the big bang. Within a few seconds the universe cooled enough for the first protons, neutrons, electrons, and photons to spark into existence, and within a few minutes those building blocks came together to form the first nuclei of hydrogen and helium. After about 380,000 years, the universe was sufficiently cool for those protons and neutrons to grab free-flying electrons and form the first electrically neutral atoms. For the first time, photons stopped colliding with free electrons and were able to flow through the universe. This process, confusingly called recombination—it was actually the first true combination of atomic components—released the cosmic microwave background (CMB) light that pervades all of space. The most detailed map of this background is from the Planck satellite, a European space observatory that launched in 2009 to study this light.

DeLee: “All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.” —John 1:3

I made this second creation painting during this healing time by intuitively wrapping strings around the stretched canvas. Then I took assorted sizes of plastic lids which I couldn’t recycle, but I was “needing to find a use for them” before I relocated them to the trash heap. I belong to the generation of “waste not, want not.” (Yes, my nannie had the famed ball of string and one of tinfoil also.)

As I placed the various sized circles around the canvas, I thought of the many hours my childhood friends and I would pass the leisure of our hot summertime days with scribble challenges. One of us would make random marks on a paper for the other to decorate or to discover a magical creature of our imagination. As we grew older, these became more developed into different textures and patterns. As I painted the circles and straight lines, I saw the bright cross amid the heat of the great power of creation, with all the elements created in that first burst of light.

Hildegard: Liber Divinorum Operum II.1: The Parts of the Earth: Living, Dying, and Purgatory. Biblioteca Statale di Lucca, MS 1942, fol. 88v (early 13^th CE.).

As Hildegard reminds us, “Humankind, full of all creative possibilities, is God’s work. God calls humankind alone to assist God. Humankind are co-creators. With nature’s help, humankind can set into creation all that is necessary and life-sustaining.”

One of our last days in the art class I teach at a local church to adults who are willing to pursue the challenge of treading beyond their comfort zones, I was fooling around with a compass and a straight edge. It wasn’t a ruler, but I found the center of the canvas with the compass intersections instead. I used a piece of cardboard as my straight edge. I ended up with multiple intersecting lines, all of which I left on the surface.

When I got home, I found them interesting. These I pursued, but not all of them. The art is in deciding which ones to ignore! While painting, I reflected on God’s creation. The Holy Trinity has always existed and has always shared the work of creation. Also, there is no such entity as a “Holy Binity” or just the Father and Spirit only. The Son has always existed and has always shared the work of the entire Godhead, which we often refer in a shorthand as “God.”

DeLee: The Dome of the Waters, acrylic on canvas, 10” x 10”, 2025

As I painted more, the dark blues above the light blue represented the waters above the “firmament” of the pale cerulean sky. When it rains, the holes in the dome of the sky let the water leak out, or so I’ve heard the old folks say. I never heard their explanation for why it doesn’t rain all the time, but perhaps “angels are involved.” They might be busy plugging the holes in the dome with their fingers, but God must have many angels working hard on our behalf.

The area below is in greens for all the growing and thriving things. There is an upside-down dome, or a Cheshire Cat smile pale green eighth moon shape for the underground water sources. All the intersecting compass marks are the energy signatures, which God’s power unleashes when God makes a new thing or renews an old thing. If we are sensitive to God’s creative spirit, we cannot help but be in awe of the magic and mystery of not only the minutiae of nature, but also the grandeur of the cosmos.

Ansel Adams: Wilderness, California. Afternoon Thunderstorm, Garnet Lake.

The great landscape photographer Ansel Adams was one of the voices of those who found inspiration in nature, especially our national parks. He spoke the same sensible words for our age: “As the fisherman depends upon the rivers, lakes and seas, and the farmer upon the land for his existence, so does mankind in general depend upon the beauty of the world about him for his spiritual and emotional existence.” (From a speech to the Wilderness Society, May 9, 1980).

The natural world is meant for humankind to care for, tend, and enjoy with respect, just as we would care for a beloved partner. Not everyone sees the world with the eyes of God, who so loved the world—both the humans, the creatures, and the earth itself—God gave God’s only Begotten son to save the world, “For God did not send his Son into the world (kosmon|κόσμον) to condemn the world (kosmon|κόσμον), but so that the world (kosmos|κόσμος) might be saved through him.” (John 3:17) What God created, God loves and will sustain. Can we do anything less and still be faithful to God’s calling on our hearts?

Joy and peace,

Cornelia

U.S. Church Membership Falls Below Majority for First Time

https://news.gallup.com/poll/341963/church-membership-falls-below-majority-first-time.aspx

Trans. by Nathaniel Campbell, from the Latin text of Hildegard of Bingen, Liber Divinorum Operum, ed. A. Derolez and P. Dronke, in CCCM 92 (Turnhout: Brepols, 1996), pp. 47-9. (Musical Score)

International Society of Hildegard von Bingen Studies: Karitas habundat

http://www.hildegard-society.org/2014/11/karitas-habundat-antiphon.html

Panentheism (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/panentheism/

The Universe’s First Light Could Reveal Secrets of the Cosmic Dawn | Scientific American by Rebecca Boyle

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-universes-first-light-could-reveal-secrets-of-the-cosmic-dawn/

Neumes | Music Appreciation 1

Neumes

International Society of Hildegard von Bingen Studies: February 2015

http://www.hildegard-society.org/2015/02/

The Book of Divine Works. | Library of Congress: Fully digitized copy of Hildegard’s final tome of 353 magnificently illustrated pages, late 12^th century CE.

https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_21658/?st=gallery

Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Star Talk: Could One Electron Explain the Universe?

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1859416304571349?fs=e&fs=e

Is a River Alive? By Macfarlane, Robert. Available as audiobook, kindle, and paperback

Weaving a Life Story

Academy for Spiritual Formation, adult learning, art, Creativity, Faith, Holy Spirit, Icons, inspiration, Ministry, Nativity, renewal, righteousness, Silence, suffering, vision

Weaving is a metaphor for our life’s story and journey. We envision the weaver in charge of the colors, designs, and textures of the finished fabric. The weaver’s goal is to produce a beautiful product. We often think we are in charge of our own destiny, as “The Weaving Song” by Carolyn Hester, in which an old 1960’s era folk singer would sing:

Choose the right color And push the right tread

Throw through the shuttle And peg down the thread

Work is all laid Before your start

To make your own pallet Of bright hue or dark

The loom of life is moving The weaving is all your own

Choose the right color And push the right tread

Throw through the shuttle And peg down the thread

Rainbow of colors Is at your command

Choose all the right shades Offered in the stand

The loom of life is moving The weaving is all your own

Life’s but a grey And heavy with care

May blooms scarlet With couragе rare

The loom of life is moving Thе weaving is all your own.

DeLee: God’s Eye and Cross, woven canvas, branch, string, paint brushes, fabric scraps, wire, packing materials, 16” x 20”, 2025.

Yet life doesn’t always work out the way we thought it would. The Bible says Job was the most righteous person of his era, and Job complains after losing everything and everyone:

“My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle and come to their end without hope.” (7:6)

This wisdom text reminds us sometimes the righteous suffer, even while the wicked prosper, but God is still God, and we will understand this mystery of God when we see God face to face. We call this “theodicy,” (from Greek theos, “god”; dikē, “justice”), or our explanation of why a perfectly good, almighty, and all-knowing God still permits evil to exist.

God gives human beings free will. We make our own choices in life, just as everyone else does. Since we don’t live in a universe of one, other people’s choices impact our choices. Imagine a pingpong ball tossed into a room filled with mousetraps all loaded with other pingpong balls. If one ball hits a loaded trap, it sets that ball off into motion and those balls set more balls into motion until chaos ensues! If more than one person is involved, some sort of disagreement is sure to follow. Some of us are even at odds with our own selves!

As the old joke goes, a solitary man was rescued from a desert island. On this island were several structures. When asked, he said, “That one was my house and that one was my church.” And the other building? “That was the church I used to go to!”

Louise Bourgeois: Spider, metal, National Gallery of Canada, in Ottawa, Ontario. Her mother mended tapestries, like a spider spins a web.

When life is chaotic, creative people find solace in the quiet of their chosen deserts: the studio, the workshop, or their favorite writing chair. While we artists have the illusion we can control the images we produce or the songs which bubble up from our hearts, in truth, what we create is a shared product with our heart, mind, and the creating spirit. If we begin to lose our humility about this shared process, we lose the creative energy underwriting our works.

Louise Bourgeois: Metal Spider wrapped in yarn, Japan

We know this emotion as “pride,” and the ancient cultures warned against it. Throughout history, legendary and mythological figures have been used as examples of either virtue or a moral failing. The story of Arachne and Minerva is no different.

Attributed to Amasis Painter, 6^th BCE, Greece, clay, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

A 6^th BCE Attic Black Figure Lekythos storage vessel attributed to the Amasis Painter shows the type of standing loom and the various shuttles of different threads a weaver would use for a fabric. Today we think of weavers sitting at their looms, but the ancients stood at their work.

Arachne was a mortal who excelled in the weaving arts: spinning her own yarn and selecting the correct colors to produce the beautiful images for the finished fabric. Minerva, the goddess of handicrafts and the Roman correlate to the Greek goddess Athena, had heard of Arachne’s prowess and her pride. Disguised as an old woman, Minerva visited Arachne to warn her not to disparage the gift of the gods. Arachne rebuffed her, and held her ground, even when Minerva revealed her true identity.

Minerva (Athena) and Arachne by René-Antoine Houasse (1706), Versailles

When the weaving contest began, both were even in technique and design. Minerva’s image was of the pantheon of the gods, but Arachne told the stories of the god’s mishaps with humanity. This angered Minerva, who struck Arachne with a weaver’s shuttle. Embarrassed, Arachne took a rope to hang herself, but Minerva had pity on her and changed her into a spider instead. We call spiders, ever weaving their gossamer webs, “arachnids” in her memory.

In Christian art, the theme of listening beside a well or spring is connected both to the angel’s annunciation to the Virgin Mary and to her weaving curtains for the Temple. The third-century Dura-Europos church baptistery has a fresco of a woman drawing water from a well, which Yale theologian Michael Peppard believes represents the Annunciation to Mary at a well, from a scene from the gnostic writing, Protevangelium-18.

Woman drawing water at the well. Possibly the Virgin hearing the Angel’s voice. Dura Europa.

Others think it represents the Samaritan woman at the well or Rebecca from the Old Testament. Because the fresco doesn’t include Jesus, the empty space instead represents “the bodiless voice” that Mary hears in the Protevangelium. Also, a five-pointed star appears on the woman’s torso, which could symbolize the new child in her womb. The star in later iconography was repositioned to the shoulder of her mantle, and the water vessel survives all the way into the Renaissance art as a vase with flowers.

From The Protoevangelium of James, section 11: And she took the pitcher, and went out to fill it with water. And, behold, a voice saying:

“Hail, you who hast received grace; the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!” (Luke 1:28) And she looked round, on the right hand and on the left, to see whence this voice came. And she went away, trembling, to her house, and put down the pitcher; and taking the purple, she sat down on her seat, and drew it out. And, behold, an angel of the Lord stood before her, saying: “Fear not, Mary; for you have found grace before the Lord of all, and you shall conceive, according to His word.” And she hearing, reasoned with herself, saying: “Shall I conceive by the Lord, the living God? And shall I bring forth as every woman brings forth?” And the angel of the Lord said: “Not so, Mary; for the power of the Lord shall overshadow you: wherefore also that holy thing which shall be born of you shall be called the Son of the Most High. And you shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins.” And Mary said: “Behold, the servant of the Lord before His face: let it be unto me according to your word.”

This apocryphal Greek text, which was first written in the 2^nd CE, with Syrian revisions into the 5^th CE, is important because it increases our insights into women’s history, the childhood history of Jesus, Jewish-Christian relations, and the impact of Christian apocrypha on Islamic origins. This text, which contains the infancy narratives of the Virgin Mary, John (the Baptist), and Jesus is the source many of the Western Catholic and Eastern Orthodox religious feast days. Moreover, it’s also the origin for the icons representing the birth of Jesus in a cave.

Duccio: The Nativity with the Prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel, tempera and gold on panel, 1308-1311, National Gallery of Art, Washington D. C. Part of a series of the Life of Christ, the rest of which are in Sienna, Italy.

A similar Marian birth narrative, The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, gives more details on the life of the Virgin, the miracles surrounding her marriage and the birth of Christ. It also tells the story of the Annunciation in two visits rather than one. The angel’s first greeting is beside a fountain and the second is inside while Mary is weaving the curtains for the Temple.

When I was on a recent Five-Day Academy for Spiritual Formation retreat, one of our hands on projects was a small weaving. Our package had a small loom, some yarn to weave with, and beads to attach. Of course I had to use a second packet to finish out my weaving because I tightened the horizontal rows more tightly than the organizers thought the regular attendees would do with their yarns and ribbons.

I also had my eye on a nice lichen covered branch to use as a hanging support. When I picked it up, it had red ants on it. I had to do some mad shaking to get them off! Anything for art! During one of our quiet reflection sessions, I sat beside a small lake under a pavilion to let my hands work. I’ve always needed a quiet space to process the flood of ideas and the rush of emotions when meeting new people and hearing new ideas. I operate as an extrovert, but when I get full to overflowing, I need quiet to recreate and recharge. I find new power in the admonition of Psalm 46:1-6—

God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change,
though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;
though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble with its tumult.
Selah
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.
God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved;
God will help it when the morning dawns.
The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter;
he utters his voice, the earth melts.
The LORD of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our refuge.

Diedrick Brackens, “prodigal” (2023), cotton and acrylic yarn

When my hands touch the different textures of the threads, and I let my spirit work with the creating Spirit of the word and world, I can shed all the strain and stress of being on a different schedule from traveling, having nerve pain in my neck from a bulging disk, and more interaction than I’m used to since I no longer work.

I always fought to carve out quiet times when I was in active ministry, for listening to God is the first calling of any leader worth their salt. I knew I wouldn’t hear God’s voice in the pell mell rush and cacophony of our world. The disembodied voice is more likely to come to us when we’re alone or in a receptive moment. It’s important to note Mary was one of the virgins of the House of David chosen to weave the curtains for the Temple in Jerusalem, according to The Protoevangelium of James, section 10. She was busy, but working for her God. It was when she took a break to draw water from a life giving well that she heard the messenger from God.

Bruce Conner, Arachne, 1959, mixed media: nylon stockings, collage, cardboard, 65 3⁄4 x 48 3⁄4 x 4 1⁄4 in. (167.0 x 123.8 x 10.7 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Edith S. and Arthur J. Levin, 2005.5.12

When I was appointed to a church, I always had a list of tasks to do, but I often never completed them because God would send “interruptions” to my well laid plans for the day. After several years, I began to understand these interruptions were my real tasks of ministry for the day. We have plans, but God has a better plan.

The prayer in my weaving supplies was appropriate for me on this retreat:

Teach us to listen, O Lord.

Quiet the noise of our lives

so we can hear your voice. Amen.

After several weeks, I’ve come back to finish this blog. In the meantime I’ve had anterior cervical discectomy and fusion for my neck pain and numb fingers. It’s for the bulging neck disk that causes pressure on the spinal cord. If this happens in the lower back, a person gets sciatica and numbness in the legs. In the neck,the same condition affects the arm and hands. I feel better than I did before, so I’m thankful for all healing mercies. I have to be careful not to overdo my activities. The instructions “Don’t do housework!” were gladly received.

I hope you seek out your quiet spaces and quiet moments to hear the sheer, still sounds of silence, the inaudible voice of our God.

Joy and peace,

Cornelia

NOTES:

Carolyn Hester: The Weaving Song, Track 10 on At Town Hall, One, Produced by Norman Petty, 1965.

Troubadour: Weaving Song: similar words to Hester coffee house ballad above. https://music.apple.com/us/album/weaving-song/400303687?i=400303767

Myth of Arachne https://www.worldhistory.org/Arachne/

Ally Kateusz: Mary and Early Christian Women: Hidden Leadership,1st ed., 2019, Kindle Edition

Annunciation or Samaritan Woman, Dura-Europos Baptistery
https://www.christianiconography.info/Wikimedia%20Commons/annunciationDura.html

Charles Bertram Lewis:”The Origin of the Weaving Songs and the Theme of the Girl at the Fountain,” PMLA, Jun., 1922, Vol. 37, No. 2 (Jun., 1922), pp. 141-18, Modern Language Association. http://www.jstor.com/stable/457

Susan B. Matthews: Dura Europos—The Ancient City and The Yale Collection, Yale University Art Gallery, 1982, Yale University Printing Service. https://artgallery.yale.edu/sites/default/files/publication/pdfs/ag-doc-2378-0002-doc.pdf

Camille Leon Angelo and Joshua Silver: “Debating the domus ecclesiae at Dura-Europos: the Christian Building in context,” Journal of Roman Archaeology 37 (2024), 264–303, doi:10.1017/S1047759424000126. https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/E76ED3AD86D09A74893368840DEDFA6A/S1047759424000126a.pdf/debating-the-domus-ecclesiae-at-dura-europos-the-christian-building-in-context.pdf

The Protoevangelium of James, section 11. https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0847.htm

The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, section 9. https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0848.htm

Horn, C. (2018). The Protoevangelium of James and Its Reception in the Caucasus: Status Quaestionis. Scrinium, 14(1), 223-238. https://doi.org/10.1163/18177565-00141P15

The Iconography of the Nativity

Alexander the Great, Apocalypse, art, Bethlehem, Faith, Icons, Imagination, incarnation, inspiration, Nativity, Painting, Ravenna Italy, Savonarola, vision

What Makes a Nativity Scene?

The gospels remind us the story of Christ’s birth isn’t necessary for our salvation. Only our faith in Christ’s saving work for us on the cross is necessary “to transform our humble body that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself.” (Philippians 3:21, alternate translation). Mark has no infancy narrative at all, while John’s gospel speaks of the Greek Logos (Word), who is present with God at creation and as co-creator.

Luke and Matthew both have birth stories. Matthew gives us the ancestry of Jesus, the Wise Men or Magi from the East, and the massacre of the innocents. John the Baptist also figures large in Matthew’s text. Luke brings in the shepherds, the host of angels, and the angel’s annunciation to Mary of her impending birth of a savior.

Luke 2:6-7 notes this point about the birth of the Christ child: “While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.”

Gail W. painted a simple nativity in one class session.

This bit of text sets the scene for all the artists of every era to exercise their imagination. What does a first century CE manger look like? What animals would be there? Would the visitors come by day or night? Who would visit a woman who got pregnant while she was still “betrothed?” In every age, gossip travels fast, even without the internet. Traveling traders and business people carried news from town to town.

After all, word had spread how Joseph, “being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly.” (Matthew 1:19). No wonder there was no room for them at the inn. No respectable place would have them. Or we could be generous to the local folk and say Mary and Joseph travelled slowly because her imminent due date was the cause of frequent stops. A donkey ride might not be the most comfortable ride in one’s late trimester. Either way, if they were late arriving, the rooms may have been booked full already.

The Church of the Nativity, which dates to the 4th CE, was built over the cave in Bethlehem where early Christians believed Christ was born. From Apocryphal sources we learn the traditions of the cave and the stable. The Infancy Gospel of James (chapter 18) also places the Nativity in a cave, but the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew combines the two locations, explaining that on the third day after the birth “Mary went out of the cave and, entering a stable, placed the child in the manger” (chapter 14).

Roman Sarcophagus of Stilicho. It’s found today beneath the pulpit of Sant’Ambrogio basilica in Milan, Italy.

The earliest images of the nativity which currently exist are from 3^rd CE sarcophagus panels. The earliest Nativity scene in art was carved into a sarcophagus lid once thought to be for a Roman general, Stilicho, who died in 408 CE. The ox and the ass and two birds are the only figures that appear in addition to Jesus, swaddled in his manger. Our typical cast of characters, including Mary and Joseph, do not appear may be because this sculpture illustrates a prophecy from the Old Testament. Isaiah 1:3 reads, “The ox knows its master, the donkey its owner’s manger…” This Nativity also has relevance to the Eucharist because believers are nourished by the “fodder” of Christ’s flesh, just as the animals receive their sustenance from the manger’s hay. The animals aren’t mentioned in the New Testament, but from the Apocryphal sources mentioned above.

Tim’s Nativity: simplicity rules here—only the lights of the great star, the light of the Christ child, and the minor lights of the heavens.

Nativity with Flight to Egypt in the upper part—from the 4th and 5th centuries, Athens, from before the Middle Ages, and technically “Roman” art. (often referred to as “Early Christian”).

Next added were the shepherds, during the 4th and 5th CE, such as this example from the Palazzo Massimo. We find it on the sarcophagus Marcus Claudianus, on the upper tier, on the left. This dates from around 350 CE, found today in the Museo Nazionale Romano, Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, Rome.

Sarcophagus of Marcus Claudianus (Rome, Italy), Palazzo Massimo: Early Christian art is interesting because it can be hard to spot the stories as you know them. Except it seems, the Nativity, in the upper left corner, 330-335CE.

The sculptor carved the sarcophagus in the style called “continuous frieze” because all the figures line up and their heads are of equal height. The appearance of grape harvest imagery on the lid is ambiguous; it appears on both pagan/secular and Christian sarcophagi with identical elements. From left to right on the lid: nativity scene of Jesus, sacrifice of Isaac, an inscription naming the deceased, an image of the deceased as scholar, and a grape harvest scene.

Carvings on the front of the Marcus Claudianus sarcophagus include: Arrest of Peter, miracle of water and wine (with a possible baptism reference), an orant or praying figure, miracle of loaves, healing a man born blind, prediction of Peter’s denial, resurrection of Lazarus and supplication of Lazarus’ sister.

This stone relief carving depicts the detail of the Nativity from the 4th and 5th centuries from the Palazzo Massimo, on the Sarcophagus of Marcus Claudianus (Rome, Italy).

A Carolingian Era (751-887) Nativity scene from the British Museum

Eastern Orthodox icons retain the cave imagery while the Western art traditions use a stable or ruins of a classical structure in the nativity scenes. The first is according to tradition and the western imagery reminds the viewer the ancient past with its many gods is no longer ascendant.

The one change we see in the 6th century is the inclusion of Mary lying on a mattress type bed. It may have appeared earlier in art, but we have no surviving example to date an earlier occurrence. Later, we see more actors in the drama appearing, but often they don’t arrive all at once. The wise men visit, or the shepherds visit, but not in the same artwork.

Wise Men Visiting the Birth of Christ, 6th CE

A 10th century ivory panel from Trier, still very much following the now 700+ year old Roman models;
things changed much more slowly in the Middle Ages than they do now.

By the time of the 11^th CE, the nativity scene was becoming more elaborate , but was not yet in full flower. By the 13^th CE, the magnificent portal of the St. Lawrence cathedral, in Trogir, Croatia, by the Master Radovan and his associates has a strong narrative of the many parts of the nativity story. The city of Trogir, a World Heritage Site since 1997, is known as one of the best-preserved Romanesque-Gothic cities, the core of which consists of forts, religious and secular buildings, with the Rector’s Palace and the City Loggia standing out. Its Romanesque churches are supplemented with Renaissance and Baroque edifices.

Romanesque style portal of the St. Lawrence cathedral, in Trogir, Croatia, by the Master Radovan and his associates

The detail of the portal is worth a closer look. In the center, in between the curtained “bunkbeds,” the Virgin and Child rest on the upper tier. The animals also look on in this section. Below the manger scene is a ritual bath. In my Christian world view, I called this the “baptism of Jesus.” In his Hebrew life, he would have undergone a ritual cleansing immersion bath before going to the temple for his circumcision. This ritual would mark him as a covenant member of the nation and people of God. The two elderly people on the left of this scene are most likely Simeon and Anna, prophets who speak to the child’s fulfillment of scripture.

Details of Romanesque style Portal of St Lawrence cathedral in Trogir, Croatia.

Above all this at the center top are the star, with the angels on the left and on the right. Filling the space on the left side of the portal are the shepherds and their herds, while the Magi and their steeds occupy the right side. The Magi ride horses, unlike our modern nativities which have camels.

Sixth-century CE mosaic at the Basilica of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna, Italy

In England, the Venerable Bede (d. 735) wrote the Magi were symbols of the three parts of the world—Asia, Africa, and Europe. They signified the three sons of Noah, who fathered the races of these three continents (Genesis, chapter 10). By the late Middle Ages, this idea found expression in art, and artists began to depict one of the kings as a black African. The kings sometimes have their retinues, which include animals from their presumed places of origin: camels, horses, and elephants are the most common. As with the shepherds, the artists often represented the three kings in the various stages of life: young, middle aged, and old age.

Gentile da Fabriano’s Adoration of the Magi, 1423

Artists added more exotic animals to the nativity scenes in the 15^th CE when trade and travel were expanding beyond the continent. Gentile da Fabriano’s Adoration of the Magi (painted in 1423) presents a remarkable range of animals. Alongside the traditional ox, donkey, sheep (and a couple of dogs thrown in for good measure), the chaotic scene includes a camel, cheetah (or leopard), hawks and monkeys.

“Cabinet of Curiosities”
Engraving from Ferrante Imperato, Dell’Historia Naturale (Naples 1599)

The inclusion of animals which were not native to Europe helped Gentile da Fabriano to emphasize the three wise men’s journey from the Far East, but also to impress viewers with its exoticism and visual richness. This would have reflected very well on the painting’s patron, the rich Florentine banker Palla Strozzi, as it reinforced his connections to foreign lands. In this era, many rich citizens had a collection of exotic animals and imported wares, just as wealthy people today have collections of art, yachts, or sports cars to showcase their riches.

Sandro Botticelli, “Mystic Nativity” (1500), oil on canvas, 42.7 × 29.5 inches (108.5 × 74.9 cm) (image via Wikimedia Commons), now in National Gallery of London.

An even more elaborate nativity comes from the hand of Botticelli, who worked in the wealthy merchant city of Florence, Italy, in 1500. Savonarola was a fanatical preacher who aimed to morally reform the city of Florence, which had a global reputation for artistic output and lavish lifestyles. Savonarola condemned secular art and literature, decried the city as a corrupt and vice-ridden place bloated with material wealth, and, after warning of a great scourge approaching, saved the Florentines by convincing the French king and military to deoccupy and recede during the Italian War of 1494–98.

The people thought of him as a prophet and came from miles around just to hear him preach his apocalyptic message. He preached a sermon telling the people of Florence they could become the new Jerusalem “if only its civilians would part with and burn their luxuries, opulent fineries, and give up their pagan or secular iconographies.”

Botticelli fell under Savonarola’s influence during this time, for his art changed from decorative to religious. The 12 angels at the base of the composition each hold a ribbon that the artist inscribed with the 12 privileges or virtues of the Virgin Mary, which came from a sermon Savonarola delivered about a vision he once experienced. Another unusual aspect is that the three kings welcome Jesus empty-handed, rather than with gold, frankincense, and myrrh — influenced by Savonarola’s sermon, though it could be their ultimate gifts are their prayers and devotion.

Mike brought his good humor to class with a Grinch portrait

Sometimes it’s impossible to know whether the artist was inspired by a non-biblical element or by an apocryphal text in a Nativity scene or if the artistic depiction came first. In their book, Art and the Christian Apocrypha, David R. Cartlidge and J. Keith Elliott contend in the making of early Christian art, written and visual sources are interdependent. “The developing consensus is that oral traditions, texts (rhetorical arts) and the pictorial arts all interact so that all the arts demonstrate the church’s ‘thinking out loud’ in both rhetorical and pictorial images” (2001, xv).

Gail W.’s open perspective nativity inspired by the renaissance artists

When we artists imagine the nativity today, we add to the basic scripture text all of the Hollywood movies we’ve seen, the stories we’ve heard around the fireplaces and altars of our instruction, and every Christmas card and artwork we’ve ever seen. Our memories of Christmas are often more important than Christmas itself. This is because we have an idea of how Christmas is supposed to BE, but the birth of Christ wasn’t what either Mary or Joseph thought it was going to be. Just as most of us, they hoped to be at home and near family, not “away in a manger, no crib for a bed.”

Cornelia worked in the geometry of the scene. I might rework the sky.

God brought the Savior of all into our world into a humble setting, not to a royal palace. God brought to the birthplace of Christ strangers from distant lands and marginalized people from their homeland to have the first opportunity to worship the newborn king. God excluded the political rulers because they were out to destroy this unusual king.

We are part of the Christian community now, so we sometimes miss the disruptive nature of Christ’s birth. As part of the in/dominant group today, we might have a tough time reading the Bible’s challenges to self-satisfaction and complacency.

Birth of Alexander the Great, mosaic, Roman villa near Baalbek, Lebanon, 4th CE

We often forget while these depictions of the Nativity were evolving, the segment of the Roman Empire that was still pagan were also representing famous births, that predate the standard depictions of the Nativity of Christ. For example, in a Roman villa near Baalbek, Lebanon a fourth century mosaic of the Birth of Alexander the Great at first sight almost exactly resembles what later became a standard depiction of the Nativity of Christ. This mosaic, today in the National Museum of Beirut, shows the newborn Alexander the Great being bathed in a circular fluted basin by a female figure labelled ‘Nymphe’, while his mother Olympias reclines on a bed watched by an attendant.

Compare this with the icon of the Wise Men Visiting the Birth of Christ, from the 6th CE pictured above. In the lower right corner of this nativity scene, we see a small depiction of the Christ child being bathed, with water being poured over his head. (Obviously a United Methodist, but a precursor since John Wesley wasn’t born yet!) Our Christian iconography is derived from pagan sources. By this I mean we reimagined the pagan iconography and repurposed it for our own spiritual practices and purposes.

One of our other challenges is the calendar. We in the West use the Gregorian calendar, from the 16^th CE, while the Orthodox Church still follows the Julian calendar, which was in use during the time of Christ. This is why the Orthodox community still celebrates Christmas and Easter on different dates than the Western churches. In the Orthodox Church, they celebrate Epiphany as the baptism of Jesus rather than the arrival of the Magi (Three wise men), which the Western Church celebrates on 6 January. On the Gregorian calendar, this Orthodox Epiphany celebration is January 19^th. They celebrate this date as the Baptism of Jesus, rather than the arrival of the wise men. Their Epiphany is located in the baptism rather than the nativity. That’s a whole other theological discussion beyond the iconography of the nativity!

DeLee: The No Room Inn, mixed media, private collection

I mention this fact of the two calendars because I’m always “calendar challenged.” It’s not a senior citizen thing, because this was my problem even when I was in my twenties also. Sometimes I put too many commitments on my calendar, and other times I underestimate the time to complete my tasks. Then again, there’s always the unexpected interruptions. Always the interruptions. I came to understand in my ministry my list of tasks to do were not my actual work, but instead these interruptions were the opportunities which God would bring to me to do God’s chosen ministry.

So, I’m a few days late on the Western calendar for the visit of the Three Kings, having missed January 6^th, and I’m a few days early for the Orthodox calendar. As Goldilocks said, “Not too hot, not too cold, but just right!”

The last art pieces our class made in 2024 before the holidays and the snowstorms were our nativity paintings. I asked each person to use their imagination and to bring the essence of the nativity to their creative process. Some of us quickly realized our images and used our second meeting to do a personal project or another version of the nativity scene. Others of us took both sessions to perfect our one image. I blame the Christmas cookies and our lack of hand and mouth coordination. Sometimes it’s hard to chew and paint at the same time!

Our first class of 2025 was an instance of “calendar challenge”—I thought we were having it, but the group didn’t. The next week, a major snow storm canceled class every where for everyone. Friday, January 17, should be a good day to begin a new project! We’re going to do some mixed media, along with weaving projects in the days and weeks to come. You don’t need skills, but a willingness to try.

Joy, peace, and a hope for better weather!

Cornelia

The Magi and the Manger: Imaging Christmas in Ancient Art and Ritual

The Magi and the Manger: Imaging Christmas in Ancient Art and Ritual – The Yale ISM Review

The Nativity Tympanum on the Sarcophagus of Stilicho

https://www.christianiconography.info/Wikimedia%20Commons/nativitySarcophagusStilicho.html

UNESCO monuments in the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts Glyptotheque

https://gliptoteka.hazu.hr/unesco/en/trogir.html

The Apocryphal Gospels—PseudoMatthew—has Latin text and translation
https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Apocryphal_Gospels/Cmbtm4ZZXF0C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=M.+Berthold+has+argued+that+Pseudo-Matthew&pg=PA75&printsec=frontcover

The Infancy Gospel of James (2nd century) |http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf08.vii.iv.html

The Arabic Infancy Gospel (5th-6th century) http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf08.vii.xi.html

The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew (8th or 9^th century) http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf08.vii.v.i.html

Web Gallery of Art, searchable fine arts image database

https://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/support/zearly/1/1sculptu/sarcopha/1/9claudi2.html

Nativity – Visual Elements in the Nativity — Glencairn Museum

https://www.glencairnmuseum.org/nativity-visualelements

Johann International: Search results for Nativity http://johanninternational.blogspot.com/search?q=Nativity

Revisiting Botticelli’s Evocative “Mystic Nativity” https://hyperallergic.com/978201/revisiting-botticelli-evocative-mystic-nativity/

ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY THEN AND NOW: Origins of the Icon of the Nativity of Christ
https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2018/12/origins-of-icon-of-nativity-of-christ.html

Entertaining Angels Unawares

art, Creativity, Faith, Holy Spirit, Homosexuality, Icons, inspiration, Israel, Painting, righteousness, Rublev, Spirituality, United Methodist Church

One of my favorite icons is the Rublev Trinity of 1411, which represents the three angelic visitors who came to Abraham and Sarah’s tent in the wilderness. They stopped there on the way to Sodom and Gomorrah, two cities known for their lack of hospitality to strangers, so the largess Abraham showed by preparing a feast for them in the wilderness was notable in contrast. Of course, while Abraham couldn’t see these strangers’ wings and halos, nevertheless we should “not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it” (Hebrews 13:2).

Rublev’s Trinity: Original egg tempera on wood panel, Tretyakov Museum, Moscow, 1411-1425 CE

Rublev’s Trinity is a classic icon. It’s the prototype for all the Holy Trinity icons. Three figures are seated at table, under an oak tree and in the vicinity of a large house, the home of Abraham and Sarah, at Mamre in the wilderness. These figures represent the Three Persons in One God, or The Holy Trinity. The icon underlines the sameness of the three figures by using a single identical image, repeated three times but robed differently to suggest three different qualities of the three Angels—the Three Aspects of God.

The central figure represents the Son, who blesses the cup on the table. The right figure in blue is the Holy Spirit, while the rose-colored robed figure represents the Father. The Oak of Mamre stands for the cross of Christ. Even the symbolic wilderness mountain dips its peak in reverence to the holy visitors. Rublev imagined the patriarchs living in a house, but they were tent dwellers who followed herds and pastures.

Jerusalem Temple Mount, from an antique map, acrylic on canvas, 2023

I actually repainted this icon over a map of the ancient city of Jerusalem. Wars have been much in the news lately, not just in the last few months, but the last few years. Russia’s invasion into Ukraine has devastated their land and people, not to mention making a negative impact on hunger worldwide and even the price of food here at home. The Sacred Mount in Jerusalem has always been contested, so much so that the three monotheistic religions fight over that territory. Even the holiest Christian sites are often guarded by Islamic families to keep them open for everyone.

Once I chose this base, the mountain, tree, and the house wrote themselves. I found the table easily in the underlying shapes and the three visitors also. This isn’t a faithful copy of the Holy Trinity Icon, but a spiritual copy of the icon. I kept the colors and the ideas, but I wrote something new. As I painted, I had these thoughts about our faith and our life.

Not In My Backyard, Not In My Neighborhood, Not in My Church—how often do we hear these words? Sometimes we even hear them spoken in our own estranged families of origins. This isn’t a recent phenomenon. Our scripture is full of broken families: Cain and Able were the first; plus, Abraham’s children, Isaac and Ishmael and their descendants, have had sibling rivalry and struggles from the beginning. The house of David certainly had its problems even if David was a “man after God’s own heart.” In the New Testament, the Jews wanted the gentile believers to convert to their religion first, and then to keep the law, the food rules, and celebrate the festivals in order to be a “good Christian.” The leaders had to compromise on their beliefs before everyone could fully share Christian hospitality at the table together.

Paul has a dire warning for the congregations about The Works of the Flesh in Galatians 5:16-21—

Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law.

Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Our modern world has a problem with idolatry. We often put our work, our family, our possessions, or our politics above God. We often choose our church because of our political beliefs, when we should let the overwhelming love and grace of God for all God’s creation imbue our political choices. We forget as Christians we are grafted into the nation of Israel, as the writer of Ephesians 2:12 reminds us:

“Remember that you were at that time without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.”

Christ came to those who were near and to those who were far, broke down the dividing wall between the two and brought them together to eat at one table. Before they were enemies, but with Christ, they became one people. Divisions should not exist in the body of Christ, just as no one should be excluded from fellowship. The near in those days were the Israelites and the far were the Greeks, Romans and other pagan communities. In Christ, however, they were one.

DeLee: Holy Trinity after Rublev, acrylic on canvas,

Abraham knew the reputation of Sodom and Gomorrah, since Lot was his kinsman. When Abraham negotiated with God to spare those twin cities of iniquity, he managed to bargain God down to the hope of finding at least ten honest people, righteous in their ways with God. That was as low as God would go. Lot, with his two daughters, his wife, and the two would be husbands made six, but the men didn’t want to flee. That left only four and so the two cities were doomed for their lack of hospitality to strangers.

People today often think that sexual behavior doomed these cities, but lack of care for the stranger was a higher priority in a dangerous and unforgiving landscape. Offering food, water, and shelter meant life to travelers. Four thousand years ago, our spiritual ancestors remembered the stories of Abraham. In Deuteronomy 26:5, when the people brought their offerings to God, they were instructed to make this response before the LORD your God:

“A wandering Aramean was my ancestor; he went down into Egypt and lived there as an alien, few in number, and there he became a great nation, mighty and populous.”

No longer are we a wandering people. Instead, we are mostly a nation of settlers, people who have been in one place for awhile. We no longer are a nation of immigrants who are wresting a new nation out of the raw materials of the land and becoming a melting pot of different cultures which have settled it. We look with suspicion upon someone who moves into our neighborhood, especially if they don’t look or act like us. If they don’t speak our language or eat our food, we tend to shun them. We don’t show hospitality. We don’t add their flavor into our soup, and try to keep them from melting into our pot.

No one likes change. I think of the old joke about “how many United Methodists does it take to change a lightbulb?” The answer is “none—that lightbulb was given as a memorial to my Aunt Harriet’s dead husband, and it cannot be changed!”

Hospitality requires us to change the lightbulb, however, for bringing light to a dark stairway will make it safer for people of all ages to traverse. Hospitality asks us to open our pews to people who don’t think like us, so we can wrestle with the theology of God and the calling of our faith for this present age, not just our yesterdays. Hospitality calls us to serve as a respite and refuge for the aliens, the immigrants, the homeless, and the newcomers who arrive in our communities.

Unfortunately, too many of us have bought into tribal thinking, which is a form of all or nothing thinking. Gang behavior is tribal thinking, for if you don’t kowtow to the group think, you will likely be dead. Excommunication from the church is a form of punishment for wrong thinking or wrong acts, and secession or rebellion is action against authority you no longer respect or recognize. Our church has just gone through a sad time of people cutting ties because they no longer share the understanding of Abraham, who offered sustenance and protection to strangers in the midst of the barren wilderness. In ancient times, those who received this gift were bound to mutual respect and protection. Food and water in the wilderness saves a life. Our hospitality to strangers in an uncertain world can save their lives and souls. Maybe we once again need to see afresh with ancient eyes our sacred texts, instead of with our current political and cultural blinders on our eyes. Then we could truly entertain angels unawares. And we would be blessed for this.

As the writer of the letter to the Ephesians closed out his third chapter (Ephesians 3:20-21):

“Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”

Joy, peace, and hospitality,

Cornelia

Time Travel and Iconography Experiments

adult learning, art, Creativity, Faith, Hagia Sophia, Holy Spirit, hope, Icons, Imagination, inspiration, Leonardo da Vinci, Medical care, Painting, Pantocrator, renewal, Spirituality, Turkey, vision

Every once in a while, I like to go on journeys. Sometimes they’re actual trips, such as my recent vacation over spring break to visit family down in Texas, but other times I like to “time travel.” The best way to time travel today, since I don’t have access to a DeLorean, is to study history. Buckle your seatbelts, we’re in for a ride through Christian and art history.

Right before spring break, our art class tried some experimental techniques with chalk, watercolor pencils, and pan watercolor with brushes. I also brought some images from the beautiful church of Hagia Sophia of the ancient capital of Constantinople, which I brought home from a pilgrimage I made several years ago.

The church was sponsored by the first Christian emperor Constantine, so it has exceptional mosaics and frescoes decorating all its surfaces. We each chose an image to use as a starting off place and went from there. Inspiration comes not only from what we see, but from the materials we use. Combining new images with new materials can bring new directions.

Desis Icon, Hagia Sophia, Constantinople, Turkey

Our primary images were the archangel Michael, the enthroned Christ, the decorative jewel designs, and the cross. All of these designs figure in prominence in Hagia Sophia or the Basilica of Holy Wisdom, the primary seat of Christianity in the Eastern Church during the Byzantine era.

Unknown Artist: Moschophoros, The Calf Bearer, 165 cm high, Limestone, 570-560 BCE, Acropolis Museum, Athens, Greece.

Early Christian art took its themes from contemporary Greco-Roman subject matter, but repurposed it for its own religious significance.

The Good Shepherd, the Catacomb of Priscilla, Rome, Italy, 250–300 CE, adopts the standard form of Apollo statues.

The archangel Michael was connected in the 4th CE with Constantine as a divine messenger and intermediary between heaven and earth. Michael was not only the guardian angel of the nation of Israel, but other nations have adopted his protection also. In this same century one of the doctors of the early church, St. Basil of Caesarea, known as “the Great,” said:

“Beside each believer stands an angel as protector and shepherd, leading him to life.”

Constantine felt the presence of the mediating angelic hand in his vision of the cross in the sky at the Milvian Bridge, at his baptism, and in his role as Emperor of the Eastern Christian Empire. Constantine was actually baptized twice: once to cure him from leprosy and again on his death bed. In the early days of Christianity, various sects prevailed and the doctrine of one baptism as sufficient for all times hadn’t yet taken hold. After all, it’s not the water, the place, the church, the location, or the priest that makes a baptism effective, but the work of God through the Holy Spirit. As Ephesians 4:4-6 says,

“There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.”

Constantine’s Vision of the Cross: Bibliothèque nationale de France, Illustrated painted parchment Greek manuscript (879-883 AD) of the homilies of Gregory of Nazianzus in the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
(BnF MS grec 510) folio 440r.
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b84522082/f891

Constantine’s first cross apparition took place at the beginning of his military campaign in Italy. The young emperor realized that the tyrant Maxentius, who controlled Rome at that time, had set a trap at the Milvian Bridge over the Tiber. Fearing his rival’s machinations, Constantine had sought the aid of the God worshiped by his father, Constantius Chlorus (r. 305–6). While he marched on to a field together with his troops, he saw the sign of the cross revealed in the afternoon sky, shinning brighter that the sun, alongside an exhortation inscribed “by means of a starry form: By this you shall conquer, Constantine!”

Note the use of common materials in Mike’s work. The circle is the same size as a foam plate, the cross from the table decorations fits just inside it, and he embellished the outer and inner spaces with a bilateral and balanced design. He’s getting more skilled to “eyeball those proportions” from across the room. Plus, he enjoys making these designs.

The ancient writers Eusebius and Euthymios both mention the emperor’s troops also witnessed this miracle. The significance of the vision was subsequently clarified by Christ, who appeared to Constantine in a dream advising him to carry a cross-shaped banner before his armies in order to defeat Maxentius.

Byzantine hagiographical works, or the writings about the lives of saints, name this apparition of the cross as a decisive step toward Constantine’s conversion to Christianity. This first episode is part of a faith narrative, which runs through the tale of Constantine’s leprosy and his miraculous healing through his first baptism, which was officiated by Pope Silvester.

The depiction of Pope Sylvester in the church decoration, a leading figure in the iconography of Roman popes in Byzantine art, deserves special comment. Sylvester was born in Rome and was pope between 314 and 335, succeeding pope Miltiades. Both the Latin and Orthodox rites honor Silvester as a saint and the patriarchate of Constantinople commemorates him on 2 January. The fictional account of his life, Actus Silvestri, written in the 4th-5th century, records the story of his curing Constantine of leprosy and then baptizing him.

It was during this first baptism Constantine had another vision which converted him to Christ. Constantine’s baptism is narrated in the Greek Life of Silvester in a verbatim translation of the story by Zonaras. Having recovered his health by means of the sacramental bath, the now Christian basileus (king) donned a bright garment and “said to the bystanders that he had felt a hand: It had stretched out from above and touched me while I was descending into the font.”

The visualization of St. Michael’s involvement in Constantine’s baptism has no direct precedent in Byzantine and Balkan iconography. Similar descriptions appear in the shorter ninth-century vita of the hierarch and in the lives of Constantine. In the “Guidi” legend, the emperor’s confession is specifically addressed to the pope: “Servant of God, as I was standing in [the water] of the holy baptism, I felt a hand touching me and cleaning the sickness of the flesh.”

Unlike the hagiographical account by Zonaras, this fragment from the “Guidi” vita is not attested in the manuscript culture of the East-Carpathian environment. Even if it doesn’t include this passage in the section on Constantine’s baptism, the encomium (eulogy) by Patriarch Euthymios contains an allusion to the motif of God’s hand:

Upon waking up from the dream in which SS Peter and Paul offered him the cure of baptism, the emperor dismissed the pagan healer ( ) who attended him and said that: “(…) from now on, I need no human help, for the hand of God Almighty ( ) helped me.” Although it anticipates the king’s baptism, this statement is merely a symbolic reference to the divine power which came to Constantine’s aid, not a description of a miracle occurring during the ceremony.

The Slavonic translation of the Life of Silvester by Zonaras remains the only account that constitutes a plausible narrative background for St. Michael’s involvement in the scenes at the Romanian churches of Rădăuți and Bălinești. We don’t know if these fresco designers used a specific copy somehow related to the manuscript at the Neamț monastery. Yet once it had been integrated into the liturgy, the legend of Pope Silvester might have developed an independent circulation through storytelling. Perhaps the local audience interpreted Constantine’s confession about the divine hand that touched him in the water as a sign of the ethereal presence of the Archangel as pictured in the compositions of Constantine’s baptism.

*Creation: The Nuremberg Chronicles* (1493), written by Hartmann Schedel and illustrated with woodcuts by Michael Wolgemut

Perhaps these tales seem strange to our modern scientific minds, colored as we are by notions of “pictures, or it didn’t happen!” We want proof, repeatable and documented evidence, not just some such nonsensical woo-woo about visions and dreams. After all, we are more likely to think these voices could be drug induced or anxiety provoked, but we aren’t so familiar with God speaking to mortals, as it was back in the days when the boy Samuel was ministering to the LORD under Eli:

“The word of the LORD was rare in those days;
visions were not widespread.” (1 Samuel 3:1)

We aren’t big on either voices or angels, but God does still work in supernatural ways. While some may see prayer as supernatural healing, others may see God’s healing hand at work in guiding doctors, nurses, and caregivers to bring people to get the medical attention that brings them to better health. God gives us the heart for healing and compassion for the suffering, which then sets us out to discover new medicines and treatments for dread diseases. These wonderful advances would appear as magic to those from a century ago, or even a few decades before.

Take the miracle of cystic fibrosis advances. In the 1980’s, the life expectancy for a CF patient in the United States was only 12 years and 20 years in Canada. By 2017, with new medications and therapies, the median life expectancy for CF patients was 47. Because new medications and improved treatment of respiratory infections and other complications have extended the predicted life expectancy of CF patients to almost 50 years, some are now living well into their sixth and seventh decades. I call this a miracle, even if others call it mere “science.” It means I have a grand nephew who likely will have a full lifetime and even enjoy his own children.

Humanists will give all the glory to the human creature. They are self-made men and women in love with their own creation. People of faith will give all the glory to God for the gifts of their hearts, minds, bodies, and spirits. We have been given much, so we give much to others.

Just as the earliest Christian art works repurposed secular and mythological Roman themes, so later Christian art used Greco-Roman mythological imagery. The angels are based on the female winged victories, such as the famous Nike of Samothrace. In the early fourth century, angels suddenly appeared as figures in Christian iconography, usually without feet and dressed in garments of a white pallium over a tunic. This was a large rectangular cloak worn over a tunic, as worn by Greek philosophers and religious teachers. In the earliest Christian art works, angels were depicted as wingless, but wings became normative by the fifth century. By the High Middle Ages, angels were more elegantly garbed (depending on their station in the hierarchies) and appeared to be androgynous.

The first known Christian depiction of winged angels does not appear until this splendid 4th century marble ‘Prince’s Sarcophagus’. It was discovered after a fire in Sariguzel, near Istanbul in the 1930s

The word for Angel, mal’akh in Hebrew and angelos in Greek, simply means messenger, which is the job description of the Angel, who acts as an intermediary between humans and God. The Bible never says angels have wings, but we all imagine angels with wings. Perhaps we assign them wings because angels can travel from the “heavens above to the earth below.”

Egypt’s Red Monastery, The church of Anba Bishay and Anba Bigol

The church of Anba Bishai and Anba Bigol, known as the Red Monastery, is the most important extant early Christian monument in Egypt’s Nile Valley. It’s one of the most significant historical sites of the period in the Mediterranean region. Created in the 4th and 5th CE, this fine painted Coptic Christian image of Christ surrounded by angels has survived multiple restorations of the church building.

Leonardo da Vinci: Annunciation, 1472, oil on canvas, Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy.

Although the principle of angels being sexless continued, later renaissance artists presented them as male figures with fashionably delicate facial features and long hair, dressed in contemporary garments (making them more approachable to the common era). As the lines between the angelic spheres became blurred, along with the renaissance adaptation of classical Greco-Roman art, plump little children with wings began showing up in Christian art. We know these as cherubs.

Cornelia’s Watercolor Angel from Hagia Sophia

I used a mix of pastels and watercolor on this painting, working from a 1.5-inch square image of the Archangel Michael. The contrast of light and dark shows up in the naturalist wings and hair, with the glowing and reflective gold mosaic pieces.

Regarding his rank in the celestial hierarchy, opinions vary. St. Basil in his homily Angels, as well as other fathers, place St. Michael over all the angels. They say he is called “Archangel” because he is the prince of the other angels. Christian tradition gives St. Michael four offices:

To fight against Satan.
To rescue the souls of the faithful, from the power of the enemy, especially at the hour of death.
To be the champion of God’s people, the Jews in the Old Law, the Christians in the New Testament.
Therefore, he was the patron Saint of the Church; he is considered to be the protector of Christians against the devil.

Christ between St. Peter and St. Paul, Catacomb of Sts. Marcellinus and Peter on the Via Labicana, Rome, 4th CE.

This image of Christ on the Throne, dating to the 4th century, shows Michael between St. Peter and St. Paul. It was painted in the Catacomb of Sts. Marcellinus and Peter on the Via Labicana in Rome, located near a villa that used to belong to Emperor Constantine. Below the main figures of the painting—Jesus, Peter and Paul—we find Gorgonius, Peter, Marcellinus, and Tiburtius, four martyrs who had been buried in that catacomb, and are depicted as they point to the Lamb of God on his heavenly altar.

Zeus: Archaeological Park of Campi Flegrei at the Castle of Baiae on the Gulf of Naples, Italy

The enthroned Christ follows the thematic form of Zeus, king of the gods, seated on his throne. A good example is statue from the Archaeological Park of Campi Flegrei at the Castle of Baiae on the Gulf of Naples. This statue of Zeus Enthroned is a 29-inch-high marble statue dating to the 1st century B.C. and is likely of Greek manufacture.

It was inspired by the colossal gold and ivory statue of the god at the temple of Zeus at Olympia made by sculptor Pheidias in 430 B.C. It was one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world. Just as the angels were repurposed from the Nike victory statues, so the Christ Enthroned statues were re-envisioned from the ruler of the gods and humans statues. Art and artists can be put to work for whoever is in power at the moment. We need to eat and pay bills in every age.

Zeus: fresco, 62-79 CE, Casa dei Dioscuri, Pompeii (VI, 9, 6-7, atrio corinzio 37), Museo Archeologico Nationial, Italy.

A lovely fresco from Pompeii, found in the House of the twins, has a glowing red background and shows Jupiter or Zeus, the king of the gods, seated on his throne. A sphere lies beside him, an eagle at his feet, and a rectangular base is at his feet. In the same manner, the icon of the enthroned Christ places his feet on a rectangular base, representing his lordship over the four corners of the world.Gail W used the pastels in the clothing and background.

From one of the royal figures, Gail S chose one of the jeweled embellishments for her focus. Gail enjoys ordered designs, so finding an image with a regular pattern was right up her alley. The outer circle with an inner square is divided along the diagonals by red lines, as if the cross were tilted on its side. The circle and square give unity to the design, as does the monochrome cross. The triangles are balanced by colors. The outer blue rim holds it all together. Gail tried the watercolor pencils out along with the pan watercolor washes.

While nothing is ever new in art, we artists keep reimagining the old patterns in new ways. After all, the basic elements of design never change, but we see the world with fresh eyes in every generation. Using our hands to create restores us and recreates us by reducing our anxieties and giving us a sense of accomplishment. We each serve the God of beauty and joy as God reveals God’s self to each of us. Doing any creative work with our hands is good for the mind, spirit and soul.

As our hand grows in competency with the media and our eye is better able to discern shape and patterns, we come under the Holy Spirit’s inspiration of creating power and we make art! We may start from the ancient wisdom, but then we go onto find the wisdom for today. After all, God is always in a rebuilding mode, for that which God created, God will preserve:

“When you send forth your spirit, they are created;
and you renew the face of the ground.” ~~ Psalms 104:30

Joy and Peace,

Cornelia

Diane Apostolos-Cappadocia : Why Ukraine Calls Upon Michael the Archangel, Christianity Today, April 12, 2022, https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2022/april-web-only/michael-archangel-ukraine-kyiv-patron-saint.html

Saint Mamas at Exeles: An Unusual Case of Ritual Piety on Karpathos
Katsioti, Angeliki; Mastrochristos, Nikolaos. Arts; Basel Vol. 12, Iss. 4, (2023): 176. DOI:10.3390/arts12040176
Saint Mamas at Exeles: An Unusual Case of Ritual – ProQuest https://www.proquest.com/docview/2856776246?sourcetype=Scholarly%20Journals

The Historical Evolution of CF Treatments and Understanding
https://cysticfibrosisnewstoday.com/news/cf-treatments/

Life Expectancy with Cystic Fibrosis (CF)
https://www.nationaljewish.org/conditions/cystic-fibrosis-cf/life-expectancy

ARCHANGELS MICHAEL AND GABRIEL
https://www.stjohnarmenianchurch.org/archangels-michael-and-gabriel/

Archangel Michael
https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2023/dumitrescu_andrei.pdf

A Prayer to End All Suffering

art, crucifixion, Deesis Icon, Easter, Faith, Good Friday, grief, Healing, hope, Icons, incarnation, inspiration, Lent, Painting, Prayer, renewal, Spirituality, Strength, suffering, vision

I don’t don’t know about you, but I don’t willingly sign up for pain or suffering. Pollen season isn’t my friend. I could do without all this yellow and green stuff clogging my brain cells and my lungs. As I cough and die, swill decongestant tonics, and huff my asthma inhaler, I wonder if this particular cross bearing has to be on my things to do list every Lenten season.

Mid 10th CE ivory Deesis Icon, Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC

As Jesus turned his face towards Jerusalem, he knew his fate was certain. His message began to change, as he told his followers in Luke 14:27, “Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” Of course, not all were ready to hear or to follow, for some had obligations at home, and others weren’t yet ready to live the itinerant life. Many today don’t answer the call to ministry because they can’t see the long unknown road ahead. Only those willing to walk by faith and not by sight will journey off, trusting in God’s providence, mercy and grace.

Earliest sculpture panel of the Crucifixion, Maskell Passion Ivories, 420-430 CE, one of four carved panels of a sarcophagus, British Museum, London.

I used to say, “Give me a few months and I can whittle any group down to size. I can prune with the best of gardeners—all I have to do is read actual scripture!” I figure if folks want to get mad, they should take it out on the original writers. Blaming the messenger is useless. As the apostle Paul says:

“For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:18)

The oldest icon of the Crucifixion of Christ, Greek Orthodox Holy Monastery of St. Catherine, Mount Sinai, 8th CE

The ancient crucifixion icons glorify the triumph of the Incarnate God and his victory over death, which is the consequence of our fall; that fatal moment in the garden of Eden when Adam and Eve chose to desire to be like God, even though they had only the image, but not the ability to be gods themselves. Icons of the crucifixion represent Christ who, fully human and fully divine, takes on death so humanity no longer has to die. Christ conquers death by being a suffering servant, he becomes a victorious king.

Mary from the Hagia Sophia Deesis mosaic

Most of us would rather jump to the Bible’s Victory story and skip its Victim sections because we live in an age which validates the strong and successful, while denying the worth of the weak and wounded. Easter and Palm Sunday are more triumphant celebrations than the sonorous and somber Foot-washing Maundy Thursday and Good Friday Vigils. Yet without suffering, would we have cause for rejoicing? Would we even know the meaning of joy without some pain in our lives? Everyone has some pain in their life, whether it’s the pain of an unrequited love, the loss of a child stillborn, a divorce, a war wound, a frenemy wound, or some other brokenness.

Mary knew early on her child of destiny would bring her both joy and pain, as all mothers discover soon enough. Luke records in 2:34-35,

“Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, “This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul too.”

Deesis. Top center front panel of the Harbaville Triptych. Ivory. Ca. 940-960 CE. Musée du Louvre, Paris.

Many today only want to show the happy times in their hyper-curated lives on social media. As a result, “Keeping up with the Joneses” gets harder all the time. With Facebook’s constant encouragement of “you may know algorithms,” we’re encouraged to add more friends to our circle. We’re exposed to too many families of that surname, when once we only knew a few who lived in our own neighborhoods. If all these Jones folks are always smiling widely for the camera, we might be tempted to ask, “Why don’t I feel like smiling also?”

I know people who don’t read newspapers, watch the news on television, or even listen to the snippets on the radio. “Too much bad news!” They too don’t want to hear of the suffering, the plight of the weak, or face their seeming impotence to do anything about it. We are weak people. We are not strong, no matter how often we quote passages like Philippians 4:13—

“I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”

Richard Rohr, in The Enneagram, A Christian Perspective, says, “It is the things that you cannot do anything about and the things that you cannot do anything with that do something with you.” Suffering and prayer are what truly transform us, if only we don’t waste time looking for someone to blame.

13th CE Hagia Sophia Mosaic, Istanbul, Turkey

So far, no one person has been able to stop the Russian invasion of the democratic nation of Ukraine, but plenty of people are holding up an aid package that would help this small country fight this battle at great cost to life and limb. The Ukrainians suffer and America dithers. We seem to think our leaders have infinite powers, as if they were gods, but we forget all people are only human and have only the image of god, but no huma has either the power or the glory of the true God.

Unknown Ukrainian Artist: The Deesis, Icon, Tempera, silvering on gesso-grounded two-piece fir-wood panel, engraving, carving; 1735, h 114, w 84, d 9, National Art Museum of Ukraine.

So far, no one person has been able to keep either Hamas or Israel from wreaking havoc on each other. My daddy used to say, “you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.” After years of teaching and pastoring, I’d throw my two cents in: “we can lead a horse to water, but we can’t make it drink.” As long as people are invested in retribution, they will return suffering for suffering. The sad truth is people who have never processed their own suffering will cause suffering for others as well as for themselves. The children will cry. And the women will cry. But now the men are crying too.

Late Roman Magical gem; intaglio; green-brown jasper; oval; bevelled edge on side B, 2nd-3rd CE, British Museum, London.

No one has a magic wand to eliminate suffering or harm. In ancient times, the image of the crucified Christ was used as a magic charm to keep the wearer from harm. Some people today wear a cross for the same reason; it’s a fashion statement, a good luck charm, and a symbol of their faith. Instead of a charm, we offer acts of prayer and mercy.

Hagia Sophia Deesis Mary icon 2024, finished

We don’t just cry for the fact of the sufferings we endure, or for the sufferings of others, but we cry out in our suffering to the only one who can hear us, heal us and make whole our broken hearts and homes. We cry out to the God, who created all of us in God’s own image out of the dust of an obliterated and bombed out land. We cry out to the God who brings rains in their seasons to a land parched by climate change and ruined by reckless use of natural resources. We cry out to the God who raised God’s son from the dead, even as people everywhere bury their own dead sons and daughters from the wars fought by nations and non-state actors who wrestle for power in tiny slivers of contested territories.

Christ and the Apostles in the Heavenly Jerusalem, apse mosaic, early fifth century, Rome, Santa Pudenziana.

We can see in this image a dramatic transformation in the conception of Christ from the pre-Constantinian period. In the Santa Pudenziana mosaic, Christ is shown in the center seated on a jewel encrusted throne. He is surrounded by apostles, biblical women, and symbolic images of the four gospel writers. The ideal landscape is the New Jerusalem, or the Heavenly Kingdom. This image was created after Constantine’s victory and conversion to Christianity. Prior to this, Christian art repurposed Greco-Roman themes of the Good Shepherd and the Apollo Sun god.

Unknown Artist: Plaque with Christ flanked by the Virgin and Saint John, late 19th–early 20th century (Byzantine style), Cloisonné enamel, gold; 6 9/16 x 5 9/16 x 1/16 in. (16.6 x 14.1 x 0.1 cm); Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC, Gift of the Estate of Mrs. Otto H. Kahn, 1952, Accession Number: 52.54.1

The Byzantine Empire was fond of the Deesis Icon, which has Christ in the center bounded by the Virgin Mary and the Precursor, John the Baptist, on either side. They both entreat the Lord in prayer. This was one of the most widespread middle Byzantine icon types. The name comes from the Greek δέησις or “supplication,” which in Byzantine art, describes a representation of Christ enthroned and flanked by supplicants, such as the Virgin Mary, St. John the Baptist, or other saints and/or angels. Images of the deesis often appear on an iconostasis, or the screen separating the altar from the people. The subject matter traditionally represents the first witnesses to Christ’s divinity, the Virgin and Saint John, who came to be seen as holy figures who would act as intercessors with him on behalf of humanity.

The Deesis. End of the 17th century. Northern Russia. Wood, gesso, tempera. Found from the village Nizhnyaya (Dolgovitsi), Tarnoga Raion, Vologda Oblast. Collection of Nikolai Kormashov.

Nikolai Kormashov, an Estonian artist and collector, who collected and restored a great collection of 15th-20th century Russian icons during his lifetime said, “That which is not destined to perish, announces itself again and again, to attest to elusive spiritual beauty and the light of truth.”

The truth is all people of every country and culture in every age will suffer, but God isn’t removed and distant from our pain. God, through the incarnation of the Son, has experienced our human suffering from the birth pangs of Christ’s birth to the hunger, thirst, and weariness of his itinerant earthly preaching. Not only this, but God through God’s Son knows the heartbreak of betrayal and insult, the sting of the whip, and the pain of death on a cross.

The light of truth for the Easter season is this: in the midst of darkness and death, God raised his Son to light and life, so we too might lose the chains of sin and death and live to light and love. As the people of prayer, we ask for the gift of hope to give light to those in darkness and a helping hand to those in need.

Joy and peace,

Cornelia

Relief plaque icon, depicting the Deesis Crucifixion with full-length figures of the Virgin on the left and St John on the right, Late Byzantine (13 thc). Materials: Steatite – Gold

Greek déēsis entreaty, equivalent to deē-, variant stem of déesthai to beg + -sis-sis

Leonid Ouspensky: The Meaning of Icons, revised edition, St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, Crestwood, NY, 1999, p. 180.

DEESIS Definition & Usage Examples | Dictionary.com
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/deesis

Saved Sanctity: Icons from the Collection of Nikolai Kormashov – Art Museums
https://www.lnmm.lv/en/art-museum-riga-bourse/exhibitions/saved-sanctity-icons-from-the-collection-of-nikolai-kormashov-437

Image— The oldest icon of the Crucifixion of Christ at the Greek Orthodox Holy Monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai is an extraordinary testament to the intricate relationship between the Greco-Roman art heritage and early Christian iconography. This invaluable artifact offers a unique glimpse into the artistic and cultural milieu of the time, highlighting the exchange of ideas and the shared history that shaped the development of Christian art in 8th CE. See following link for comparison of early Roman and Christian art.

http://employees.oneonta.edu/farberas/arth/arth212/post_constant_conc_christ.html

Nick Haslam: The Body Keeps the Score: how a bestselling book helps us understand trauma – but inflates the definition of it

https://theconversation.com/the-body-keeps-the-score-how-a-bestselling-book-helps-us-understand-trauma-but-inflates-the-definition-of-it-184735

Nativities Then and Now

Altars, Apocalypse, beauty, Bethlehem, Christmas, Creativity, Faith, Holy Spirit, Icons, Imagination, incarnation, inspiration, Israel, mystery, Nativity, righteousness, Savonarola, vision

Every Christmas, my family would put up a beautiful tree and decorate it to the nines. My dad would always tie this living sculpture to the nearest window frame so the tree wouldn’t topple over. He was well aware at least one of his three curious and rambunctious children would no doubt be crawling under the lowest branches to reach the brightly wrapped presents hidden far back in the corner under the tree.

We kids most desired and sought after these hidden gifts, while those near the front always got a cursory glance and shake. If it were hidden, it had to be desired! Package shaking in the hidden, tight quarters could cause a tree to collapse and that would be more drama than our frazzled mother wanted at this time of year. My dad was wise enough, or trained by experience, to know messing with “Mother Nature” wasn’t a great idea.

Mother’s Nativity with other additions from family and friends

Under this tinsel draped tree, with its 1950’s glowing bubble lights, we always had a nativity scene. In our early childhood, it was solid and childproof, but as we aged, and got too large to crawl under the tree, a better quality nativity came to live under the tree. By my college years, my brothers were also grown enough for mom to exercise her creative genius. She hand-painted her own ceramic nativity group. This masterpiece also got its own special display site. Up until this time, we children had no idea our mother had any artistic talent, for she’d spent her days transporting us to our multiple after school activities. Between my brothers’ sports teams and my hobbies, it’s a wonder she found time to do anything else in the afternoon hours.

Nativity, Adoration of the Magi, 3rd century. Fresco, Rome: catacombs of Priscilla, 3rd Century CE

The 3rd century fresco shows the scene of Adoration of the Magi on the the arch dividing the room in the Greek Chapel in the Catacombs of Priscilla, Rome. In depictions of ancient Greek and Roman gift-giving practices, the act and choice of gift were important. They furnish information about both giver and recipient. The wise men adopt the same postures used in Roman imperial ceremony for the worship of an Emperor or other ruler. Roman art has always provided a pictorial model for the representation of the Magi. By identifying with or recognizing such an outward act of homage, the viewer could enter into the Nativity story through the wise visitors, worshipping the God manifest on earth in the Child.

This is why the earliest Christian art is found in the catacombs of Rome, in the hidden places, since worshipping Jesus wasn’t an approved religious practice in the Empire. Only the Divine Emperor alone was worthy of reverence and worship, not some dying and rising god of a far-off province. Today in America we sometimes forget we’re a nation founded on the principle of freedom to practice our religion as we see fit, or not to practice a religion at all, as the case may be. No government can compel the privilege of one religion above another or set one as the official religion.

Tympanum of the right side of the cast of so-called Sarcophagus of Stilicho, sculpted around 385 AD (the original piece of art is in Sant’Ambrogio basilica in Milan, Italy), Detail Nativity scene, Museo della civiltà romana a Roma (Eur), Room 15 (Christianity).

Another early depiction of the nativity isn’t in a Christmas context, but is found on a late 4th C Roman sarcophagus for a high ranking military official and his wife. The unknown artisan rendered the Christ child, wrapped in binding clothes, and lying in a manger, between the ox and the ass, to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah 1:3—

“The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s crib;
but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.”

As accustomed as we are today to manger scenes with all kinds of animals present, the scriptures don’t name them. These are left up to our imaginations. Even the elements derived directly from the gospel narratives of Matthew and Luke were slow to appear in visual renderings. Between those early scriptural accounts and the formation of even a basic manger scene lie some centuries during which Christian devotion and depiction developed. Likewise, the celebration of Christmas was slow to develop, but by the 4th century it was well along.

Nativity Fresco in Santa Maria Foris Portas, Castelseprio, Italy, 9th CE

In the ninth century, after the iconoclastic period, when the images of holy persons were forbidden and destroyed, a fresh wave of religious activity began in the arts. In Italy. In the church dedicated to Mary Outside the Gates in Castelprio, Italy, an entire series of paintings covered the interior walls. The church was located on an important trade route and the site was once a Roman fort. The theme honored Mary as the Bride of Christ, thus making her the spiritual equivalent of the Church, which is the Bride of Christ in scripture. In every tableau, Mary is the largest or most significant figure. Over the centuries, the area lost its importance, these paintings were whitewashed over, but after many years and much restoration, they’re now protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Today Protestant believers have a Christo-centric faith, often ignoring the other persons of the Holy Trinity. When we focus on the nativity, we forget God’s plan was to use humanity to save the fallen creation. This includes Mary and Joseph both, as well as God’s own Son, as Paul so well reminds us in Philippians 2:5-8—

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited,
but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death—
even death on a cross.

Giotto di Bodone, Nativity of Jesus, 1303-1305. Fresco, 200 x 185 cm. Padua: Scrovegni Chapel

Giotto’s frescos in the Padua Chapel are some of the most important works of art because he brought the Holy Family into ordinary human life. The blue skies replace the gold of the traditional icons, which stood for the infinite and eternal spiritual world. In Giotto’s painting, people hunger and thirst, while in the world of the icons, all suffering is transformed and any passion is disciplined.

Duccio di Buoninsegna, Nativity between the prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel, 1308-1311. Tempera on panel, 43.8 × 111 cm. Washington: National Gallery of Art

Duccio painted in his studio all the individual sections of the great altarpiece of the church in Sienna, Italy. On completion in 1311, the townspeople held a grand parade as they carried the paintings to the cathedral. They were installed in a magnificent framework with some of the works facing the congregation and the rest facing the church officials. The altarpiece remained intact until until 1506 when it was partially dismantled, relegated to side chapels and replaced by a 15th-century bronze tabernacle.

In 1771, the church fathers hired a carpenter to saw up the old wooden altarpiece into seven vertical pieces, and then saw each of those pieces in half laterally to separate the front scenes from the back. He then reassembled the different pieces to form new scenes. Most of the individual paintings stayed together, but others were sold to private collectors or museums. This Nativity between the prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel was purchased by the Museum Kaiser Wilhelm Friedrich in Berlin and remained on display there until 1938. At that time, a Nazi-appointed Museum director purged most non-Teutonic art from the collection. Through a trade, this Nativity came to our National Gallery of Art in Washington, D. C.

Duccio: Maesta Reconstructed Altarpiece. Front (L) and Back (R)

When we think about hidden meanings in art works, sometimes the journey a work takes to its exhibition home is part of its meaning. The Nazi purge of non-Teutonic art from the collection was based on their idea of a pure race for their homeland, with which they shared a special mystical bond. It meant they would purge or purify all who didn’t meet this white supremacist ideal. I personally am glad America is an open society, which welcomes all kinds of art and artists. When we think of the journey of the Holy Family, they made an arduous trip to Bethlehem while Mary was about to give birth and then had to head out on the lam because king Herod was out to kill all the boy babies. When we look at beautiful nativity scenes, we forget Jesus was born into a troubled world. Indeed, these beautiful works make us forget our own troubles.

Sandro Botticelli, Mystical Nativity, 1501. Tempera on canvas, 108.5 × 75 cm. London: National Gallery.

One of the most unusual nativity paintings is the Mystical Nativity by Botticelli. Painted with egg tempera on canvas, the artist writes in the upper section how he painted this “at the end of the year 1500, in the troubles of Italy…in the half after the time, during the fulfillment of the eleventh chapter of St. John in the second woe of the apocalypse…”

The monk Savonarola was actively preaching at this time, and scholars believe he influenced Botticelli. During the time of the Medici rule, Florence prospered with trade and the city’s alliance with France made for a time of peace. Lorenzo d’Medici died in 1492, relations with France broke off, and the French army ran amuck in the Italian countryside. Florence lost her former glory, trade dried up, and a political vacuum allowed for new voices to rise. Savonarola preached repentance and austerity, even going so far to burn luxurious items and artworks. He burned all kinds of vanities: cosmetics, mirrors, veils, and books.

People followed him because he was charismatic, and his words seemed to match their circumstances. Florence under his rule was an example of theocracy, the government of a state by immediate divine guidance or by officials who are regarded as divinely guided. Under this system, the people prosper if they care for one another and live godly lives, but they fail to thrive if they cheat the poor so the rich can live in luxury.

Prosperity religion teaches the good thrive and the sinners suffer. It’s not a new idea: retribution and reward appeal to people, but sometimes the good suffer and the evil prosper. The book of Job is a counter argument to this worldview. The life of Christ also shows the best of us will be sacrificed on a cross by those who don’t know what they’re doing. From birth to death, Jesus and his family were under duress from the powers of state and religion. He was a new voice of love and acceptance, of grace and forgiveness, of a righteousness by faith, not works. This new voice would upend the world as people knew it then.

Douce Apocalypse – Bodleian Ms180 – p.042 Woman Clothed in the Sun, Oxford University, London, c. 1265-70

The Mystic Nativity is a combination of the Nativity and the Last Judgment. On top, the angels hold hands in a circle, the center is the birth of Christ on earth, and the lower third is the vanquishing devils due to the Christian’s reunification with God. The number twelve represents the twelve gates of the new Jerusalem, the City of God. Twelve are also the number of stars in the crown of the woman in the apocalypse linked to the Virgin Mary. Other symbols also occur, but the overall meaning is Botticelli painted to deal with his fears about the end of the world.

Sometimes we make a cursory glance or reading of a painting, only to see its surface meaning. If we were to take this path with Botticelli’s Mystical Nativity, we might only see pretty angels and lovely ribbons. It looks like a homecoming at a sorority weekend with all the hugging and kissing. But Botticelli was painting during a time when the theological ideas of the monk Savonarola were in ascendance. He believed, “The more creatures approach and participate in the beauty of God, the more are they themselves beautiful, just as the beauty of the body is in proportion to the beauty of the soul.”

Virtuvian Man by Leonardo da Vinci, 1490, pen, brown ink, and watercolor on paper, Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice, Italy.

As an interesting aside, about contemporary with Botticelli’s work in Florence, while Leonardo da Vinci was in Milan in 1490, he drew his Virtuvian Man, considered one of the greatest scientific and humanist works of the early Renaissance. Da Vinci used Vitruvius’ classical treatise on architecture as the source for his drawing. Notes from his translation are written in his famed mirror script below the image. This artwork is now so fragile, it never travels and only copies are shown.

While his outer world may be falling apart, and prosperity has left his vicinity, Botticelli still had hope for a better world. His faith was grounded in the birth of the savior, the son of God, who came in flesh to make all flesh divine. We forget this crucial message of the nativity, which is to make holy all flesh. More often we focus on the magi’s gifts brought to the child: riches fit for a king, or the gifts of presence, from the poor shepherds. The true gift is the one in the manger, for Christ is God’s gift to us. He came to make us all At-One with God, the very best atonement possible. At the Last Judgment, all who are at one with God’s purposes will be separated from the rest.

Banksy, “The Scar of Bethlehem” (2019) (courtesy Bisher Qassis), located in The Walled in Hotel in Bethlehem, closed since 12/12/23, due to fighting against Hamas

How can we practice seeing past the surface of everyday life? Sometimes we have to be shocked. Modern nativities bring us again and again to confront the same world of challenges and discord into which the young Christ child was born. If we wrap ourselves in warm swaddling clothes so we too won’t cry over the lack of a Christmas in Bethlehem this year, we lose sight of the common humanity of all God’s people. The extremists will take retribution on everyone, but those who take the middle path punish only those who did wrongs. Is there hope for those who take the “my way or the highway?” Or do we need to join the Holy Family and become refugees to avoid King Herod’s slaughter of the innocents?

This 2020 nativity was created as a public art project by ceramics students in Castelli, Abruzzo, Italy, a region known for its ceramics. It had nineteen figures including an astronaut and a Darth Vader figure, whose creation predated the Star-Wars series and represented a generic “sinner” figure. In modern nativity scenes, artists often integrate characters not mentioned in the gospel accounts, in order to bring the interests of contemporary audiences into the biblical story. As you can imagine, it created quite a buzz. Some said it lacked “beauty,” while others thought it was a joke. Some thought it disrespectful to the honor of the Holy See, the Church, and to the good Lord himself. It’s a truism “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” Also, “we’ve never done it that way” still has a strong hold on people’s hearts and minds.

Sinner and Astronaut: Large Ceramic Nativity at the Vatican, 2020

Seeing deeper meanings in art or scripture is no more complicated than seeing a deeper understanding of a literary experience, such as a book or poem. In art, we do have the hurdle of acquiring some visual background and “visual language.” Just as we can’t understand a foreign language without learning some phrases, we need to know some art history and styles. We can only understand in part at first, but later we’ll understand as if we were old friends. No one is a savant right away. If we pause as we read a scripture, let the words sink into our deeper minds, and let the Holy Spirit open up new insights into God’s word, we can do the same with art works.

After all, bread is just bread: ordinary flour, yeast, oil, and water. Once we bless the bread and invite the Holy Spirit to transform it, we understand these same ordinary materials to be signs of the extraordinary presence of the Body of Christ, as recorded in Luke 22:19 at the Last Supper—

Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

We’re always surrounded by the mysteries of hidden meanings, if only we have eyes to see and ears to hear. May you know God more deeply in the days and years to come.

The Christ Child in the Rubble, Nativity in Bethlehem, Palestine, West Bank, 2023

Joy and peace,

Cornelia.

Featured image—Nativity, 3rd century. Stucco, Rome: catacombs of Priscilla.

Category: Sarcophagus of Stilicho in Sant’Ambrogio (Milan) – Wikimedia Commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Sarcophagus_of_Stilicho_in_Sant%27Ambrogio_(Milan)

Duccio, The Nativity with the Prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel, 1308-1311
https://www.nga.gov/collection/highlights/duccio-the-nativity-with-the-prophets-isaiah-and-ezekiel.html

Botticelli’s’ Mystic Nativity: Symbolism, Savonarola and a Reflection of an Era | Renee Farina – Academia.edu
https://www.academia.edu/1262474/Botticellis_Mystic_Nativity_Symbolism_Savonarola_and_a_Reflection_of_an_Era

Leveto, Paula D. “The Marian Theme of the Frescoes in S. Maria at Castelseprio.” The Art Bulletin, vol. 72, no. 3, 1990, pp. 393–413. JSTOR. Free account to access. https://doi.org/10.2307/3045748. Accessed 24 Dec. 2023.

Katarína Šimová: The Fresco Cycle of Santa Maria foris portas, MASARYK UNIVERSITY! FACULTY OF ARTS, DEPARTMENT OF ART HISTORY, 2021. Open source
https://is.muni.cz/th/ufv2u/castelseprio_frescoes.pdf

Significance of Leonardo da Vinci’s Famous ‘Vitruvian Man’ Drawing
https://mymodernmet.com/leonardo-da-vinci-vitruvian-man/

Baby Jesus Bread Buns · How To Bake A Roll Or Bun · Baking on Cut Out + Keep
https://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/baby-jesus-bread-buns

The Adoration of the Magi: Mosaic in S. Maria Maggiore https://www.christianiconography.info/staMariaMaggiore/epiphanyArch.html

The Magi and the Manger: Imaging Christmas in Ancient Art and Ritual – The Yale ISM Review https://www.ismreview.yale.edu/volume-3-1-fall-2016/the-magi-and-the-manger-imaging-christmas-in-ancient-art-and-ritual

I See the Icon—The Icon Sees Me

art, beauty, Faith, Holy Spirit, Icons, Imagination, incarnation, inspiration, Love, Mandylion, mystery, Painting, Pantocrator, Plato, renewal, salvation, St. Athanasius, vision

The icons of Christ radiate a sense of calm, a spiritual experience created countless times by various artists over the ages. Each one channels the spiritual force which lies outside of language, mystery, and mysticism. Over the years, we’ve come to understand the icon serves as a window into the world beyond our own. In this world we think of dualities: good and evil, winning and losing, ours and theirs. In the world beyond ours, everything belongs to God, we are all one, and no one lacks for anything. The heavenly banquet table is a never ending feast for everyone and no one is reduced to begging for the crumbs that fall from it. No one hungers or thirsts in this land of the unclouded sky.

The icon represents to us the world we yearn to be. In this respect, it’s a “wormhole” from the fully perfected world to this world, which is still going onto perfection. The New Heaven and the New Earth promised in Revelation 21:1-4 speaks to this very event:

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.”

Until that time comes, we have the icons gazing upon us to remind us of this promise, as well as of our calling to be coworkers with God in bringing this world into fruition. If we see with spiritual eyes, we’ll be able to look beyond the paint and canvas, beyond the image and likeness, and beyond material truth to see the spiritual truth of the icon before us.

To understand the icon better,we ought to take a trip in the WayBack machine to Ancient Greece to visit Plato and study up on his philosophy. This is important because whether they know it or not, artists of every stripe and measure participate in this “not yet, but yearning for a better world” as they make their art. In the 4^th C BCE, Plato believed the true reality was in the ideal forms which existed in a world outside of this one which we daily experience. Every form we see on earth is merely a copy of the ideal form, but not the “truth.” Plato’s truth existed in this realm of ideas, rather than in the senses. This is the opposite of how most modern people look for “truth,” especially scientific or observational evidence based truths.

For Plato, the ideals of good and truth had to exist as a form in the eternal world so we could recognize them in our transitory world. All things, even virtue, justice, love, and beauty, must have an ideal form in this realm beyond our sensibilities. Where we get into trouble is believing this world’s representations of the ideal forms must follow the pattern exactly. The examples we consider beautiful can change over the centuries, but the idea of beauty as the highest ideal of loveliness never changes. This is why we don’t keep repeating Greek and Roman Classical themes for our public buildings in the modern era.

James 1:17 says of God: “Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”

When we say “God doesn’t change,” we mean God never quits loving us, always wants to save us, and always wants to work for good for those who love the Lord and are called according to God’s purposes. God does change God’s mind when we give up our wayward ways and return to godly ways. The Old Testament is full of times God had a change of heart. Maybe some of these events were the people having a heart change and coming back to God. God does seem absent when we turn away, while God seems near when we turn towards God.

But I digress, and I plead the hot weather. Plato’s perfect forms are the subject, especially the form of the Good. For Plato, only the soul or the mind can know the true forms, while the sensible body is suspect. Plato’s philosophy is a form of dualism, which elevates the spiritual over the physical. This is an important concept for early Christianity, since they had to hash out an understanding of the incarnation of Christ. For some, Jesus was purely divine, while for others he was purely human.

Variation on the Christ Not Made by Hands Icon

The traditional interpretation of Jesus Christ is he is both fully human and fully divine, as Athanasius so succinctly said in his treatise On the Incarnation: “for God became man so that man might become god” (54:3). This theology of theosis, or perfection in love, always boggles the mind of those of us who are used to 1 + 1 = 2, or the sensible and mathematic physical reality of this world. One of the rallying cries back in those days was “There never was a time when the Son wasn’t the Son.” People marched in the streets to proclaim this belief: the Son of God never gave up his divinity even when he became human for the sake of our salvation. It was necessary for him to become human to save all of us and only if he were completely God would he be able to save us entirely.

For the icon painters, Athanasius also is informative when he writes about the Incarnation: “and He manifested Himself by a body that we might receive the idea of the unseen Father; and He endured the insolence of men that we might inherit immortality.”

As Jesus says in John 14:7, “If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” Like Phillip, we can only believe in what we’ve seen. Many of us are doubting Thomases, who need to touch and hold onto physical proof before we can be convinced. The icons remind us that Jesus is

“the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him” (Colossians 1:15-16).

What image is the Christ icon? That depends on the time and place where the icon was created, but all images share certain qualities. The eyes are prominent, the mouth is small, the forehead is broad, and the lower jaw is small. Most of the icons of Christ look like a philosopher, rather than a warrior king, which was the original meaning of the Jewish messiah. All icons have at least one ear visible to hear the prayers of the faithful.

These letters form the present participle, ὤν, of the Greek verb to be, with a masculine singular definite article, ὁ. A literal translation of Ὁ ὬΝ would be “the being one,” which does not mean much. “He who is” is a better translation

The backgrounds are gold and represent a timeless, eternal spiritual space. Today, yesterday, and tomorrow are all the same for God, who is known by the name I AM. In John 8:58, Jesus got into an argument with some of the Pharisees over who were the true children of Abraham. When he told them, “Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am,” they were ready to stone him for claiming to be god. Moreover, as the author of Hebrews reminds us, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (13:8).

Roman Icon, 12th CE, oil on wood panel, Vatican Museum

The icon itself isn’t holy, but the image it represents is holy. This is why icons are venerated , while Christ is worshipped. The image isn’t holy, but the person represented is holy. In this sense, every icon points to the ideal form of Christ in the spiritual world beyond us and the icon acts as a window or a wormhole opening so that spiritual world can enter into our sensible and material world here. The more we live with an icon, the more our hearts and minds are tuned to the silent harmonics of the hymns of joy, peace, love, beauty, generosity, and compassion. This is because we become open to the truth of Christ in a mystical way which supersedes our own personal beliefs and experiences. We lose our attachment to the world of dualisms and enter into the world of union with the divine. We are undergoing theosis. Theosis is more than just salvation and divine pardon, but is rather the process of spiritual transformation that culminates in mystical union with God. It is a cooperative work of the Holy Spirit and the believer that results in this union.

Art has a way of affecting the energies of a human being. It’s well known how certain colors affect mood, so designers use these techniques to create appropriate spaces in buildings. Public art adds to the charm of a city and likewise, destroying green spaces can render a city to grimness. Having art in one’s home or office elevates it above the ordinary.

Even artists who aren’t painting icons, but are making landscapes or abstractions can be said to be seeking a platonic form, one which only they may see in their own mind’s eye. We keep looking for the next challenge, the creation which comes closest to our imagination. We artists keep on going, however, for each new work not only refines our imagination, but it also moves us closer to our desired goal. We’re like long distance runners who always seek a new personal best!

The icon makes a claim on our lives as we return its gaze. In the silence, Christ asks, “Are you going onto perfection in the love of God and neighbor?” We take a silent stock of our lives and our interactions in prayer. Most days we agree with the apostle Paul in his letter to the Philippians (3:12):

“Not that I have already attained this—that is, I have not already been perfected— but I strive to lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus also laid hold of me (NET).”

Joy and peace,

Cornelia

Plato
https://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/engl257/classical/platonic%20idealism.htm

Early Christian Heresies
http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/heresies.html

CHURCH FATHERS: On the Incarnation of the Word (Athanasius) 54:3. https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/2802.htm

The Mosaic Christ

art, Creativity, Faith, Historic neighborhood, Holy Spirit, hope, Icons, incarnation, inspiration, Italy, mystery, Painting, perfection, Ravenna Italy, Reflection, renewal, Spirituality, Travel, vision

The Body of Christ represents the perfection of all humanity as the image of God. The body of Christ we know as the church is made of many individuals, just as a mosaic design is constructed of many pieces to make a whole. I think of these as the “two bodies of Christ,” even though the literalists among us might think Jesus has only one body. The mysterious body of Christ is what Paul speaks about in his letter to the Romans:

“For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another” (12:4-5).

I Am the Bread of Life: Macaroni Christ Icon

Since each one of us is made in the image of God, but of ordinary materials, together we become a mosaic of the whole Body of Christ, going onto his perfection as we encounter and encourage one another within and without the church. After all, the body of Christ isn’t limited to the walls of our buildings, for Christ said in Matthew 25:40—

“And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’”

I have a penchant for recycling canvases and paintings which no longer please me. I’m willing to destroy them and make something new. They die and are reborn into a new life. I learned something from that former experience, but now it’s time to move on. When I read my Bible, I’m always getting new inspiration and ideas from the same verses. I have texts I’ve preached on at least a dozen times, but I always came at it from a different angle. This is how we know the Bible is a living document and the Holy Spirit is always at work in us to reveal what we need to hear for our time and place.

Basilica of Sant’ Apollinaire: The Good Shepherd

We Christians in the Western world have tended to limit God’s self revelation to the spoken word and, to a lesser degree, to the Eucharistic elements in the Institution of the Lord’s Supper:

“While they were eating, he took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” (Mark 14:22).

Unfortunately, when we emptied the world of images of God, we also emptied the created world of God. This is why art is so important and necessary to bring us back to appreciate not only creativity, but also the creating God.

Likewise, images in art are beautiful and inspiring. Some which I’ve had the privilege to see in person over the years have made a difference in my artistic and spiritual journeys. These are a few which have inspired me: Byzantine mosaics in Ravenna, Pompeiian artifacts buried by Vesuvius, and the sacred treasures of the Vatican.

I’ll focus only on the mosaics in Ravenna, which is the site of the Mausoleum of Theoderic (c.520) and the Basilica of Sant’ Apollinaire Nuovo (500-514), both built by Theodoric the Great (454-526). Here too is the Basilica of San Vitale (c.527-546), begun by Queen Amalasuntha (495-535), Theodoric’s daughter; and the Basilica of Sant’ Apollinare in Classe (c.535-549), built by the Greek banker Julianus Argentarius, who also financed the church of San Vitale. These were all very important people of their time.

Although many of Ravenna’s surviving structures have been heavily restored, the city remains the most important site of Byzantine art outside Constantinople, notably for its exquisite decorative art, including mosaics, relief sculpture, mural pictures, ceramic art, maiolica, ivory carving, marble inlays, goldsmithing, ornamented sarcophagi and much more. This treasure house of art objects made Ravenna a must see on our itinerary during my summer in Italy.

My parents gave me the choice of a car or a trip to Italy with the University Systems of Georgia for my college graduation present. Of course, I took the trip. Cars are everywhere and I could get my own one day or ride the bus if I needed to get somewhere. Italy was a trip of a lifetime, for we’d spend a whole summer in the studios in Cortona, and travel about the countryside on day trips during the session. I even got good enough with my Italian to hold small conversations with native speakers. People even invited into their homes for lunch, where I got my first taste of rabbit. These animals were sold live in the farmer’s market in Cortona’s town square on Saturdays.

At every site we visited, I stood amazed in the presence of some ancient and inspiring work of art. In the historic churches, the best artists and craftspeople of the era had the opportunity to put their skills to good use, for they were not only working for notable patrons, but also for God. Money wasn’t an object either, for extravagance for God was considered a good work worthy of a heavenly reward.

Of course, seeing the art works and experiencing the spiritual impact of the works in their setting are two entirely different things. On a tour, when huge groups of people are tramping in and out of the sanctuary, tour leaders raise their flags, signs, or ubiquitous water bottles to quiet their group before they give a lecture, and then they turn en mass like a flock of ducks, everyone exiting together to clamber onto the bus or to walk to the next place to view some sacred site.

As a person on a spiritual pilgrimage, this experience can be quite jarring unless you prepare yourself in advance. Even though in that period of my life I wasn’t a believer in a personal god, nevertheless I was still seeking the mysterious experience of the presence of God. I found if I took a few moments of personal quiet to put my spirit in a receptive mode before I entered the holy spaces, I was able to ignore the chaos around me. No longer did I focus on the comings and goings of the people around me, but I looked up instead at the beautiful artworks and the glory the ancient artists wanted to give to God as they rendered the images on the walls or sculpted the images.

These mosaics are fantastic works of art, with each image made of thousands of tiny pieces of stone and glass. In the early morning light, the golden tesserae shimmer and reflect the sunlight streaming inside. When viewed in this light, the figures would see to float in a heavenly light.

6th-century apse mosaic of Sant’Apollinare in Classe.

The icons of Christ always have an other worldly look about them, as Jesus said,

“My kingdom is not from this world.” (John 18:36).

We always see in the icon the resurrected body of Christ, the heavenly body of Christ, not merely the physical body of Christ. As Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 15:44—

“It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body.”

This is why the icons have elongated faces, small mouths, and large eyes. Their facial proportions are not “realistic “according to “actual proportions.” In western art, representation of physical reality with perspective, foreshortening, and shading gives us a sense of earthly realism. Icon “writers” reject perspective, and other cues of reality to give their works a sense of “other worldliness.”

In other words, we see what we are going on to be, rather than what we are now. The icons are a window into the spiritual or heavenly world. If we have an icon in our home, it is a conduit to that heavenly world, much like a wormhole is a conduit to another point in space. Christ’s eyes have a far away look, as if he sees beyond this moment of now, in which we so firmly fix ourselves, to see the future hope of which the prophet Jeremiah speaks in 29:11—

“For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.”

This Mosaic Christ woven canvas art work has a light coat of gold acrylic paint over the multi colored background, so the colors show through. Because the brushstrokes don’t cover the whole square, the grid colors show up as colored mortar. The shape of the face and the hair aren’t treated subtly as in a painting, but take on the look of a mosaic.

When I paint an icon, I lose all sense of time. I enter into that holy time in which God IS, and where Jesus is when he says, “Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I AM.” (John 8:58) In other words, I lose all concept of chronological time and enter into the kairos time of God: the right and opportune time, which is known only to God. I stop painting when I sense I’m taking back control of the brush, for then I’ve left kairos time and reentered chronological time.

I look at the clock and think, “Snack time.” It’s time to stop, take care of my physical body, until I’m once again able to renter that spiritual space where time has no meaning, for I’m at home with God. Painting a holy icon is a truly spiritual experience, for those who make their hearts open to the opportunity to experience the holy encroaching into this world. I hope your eyes now are more opened to seeing the holy image of God in-breaking into this earthly realm.

Joy, peace, and sugar cookies,

Cornelia

Artandicon's Blog

Crossroads of art and faith

icons

Rublev’s Holy Trinity

The Two Domes of Creation

Weaving a Life Story

The Iconography of the Nativity

Entertaining Angels Unawares

Time Travel and Iconography Experiments

A Prayer to End All Suffering

Nativities Then and Now

I See the Icon—The Icon Sees Me

The Mosaic Christ

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