.jpg)
Today Orthodox Christians on the Old Calendar celebrated the Feast of the Entrance of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple, a story told in the Protoevangelion of James, 7-8, but, according to the hymnography of the feast, prophesied by King David in Psalm 44:15-16: ‘The virgins that follow after her shall be brought unto the King, those near her shall be brought unto Thee. They shall be brought with gladness and rejoicing, they shall be brought unto the temple of the King’ (The Psalter According to the Seventy, trans. Holy Transfiguration Monastery [Boston: Holy Transfiguration Monastery, 1997], p. 92).
The Menaion for the day refers over and over again to the analogy between the temple as the dwelling-place of God, and the Theotokos herself, who was to be the dwelling-place of God incarnate. Thus:
Into the holy places the Holy of Holies is fittingly brought to dwell, as a sacrifice acceptable to God. (Second Sticheron of Small Vespers, Tone 1)
Today the living Temple of the holy glory of Christ our God, she who alone among women is pure and blessed, is offered in the temple of the Law, that she may make her dwelling in the sanctuary. (Second Sticheron of Great Vespers, Tone 1)
Today the Theotokos, the Temple that is to hold God, is led into the temple of the Lord, and Zacharias receives her. Today the Holy of Holies rejoices greatly, and the choir of angels mystically keeps feast. With them let us also celebrate the festival today, and let us cry aloud with Gabriel: Hail, thou who art full of grace: the Lord is with thee, He who has great mercy. (Second Hymn at the Lity, Tone 4, by George of Nicomedia)
(from The Festal Menaion, trans. Mother Mary and Archimandrite Kallistos [Ware] [South Canaan, PA: St Tikhon’s Seminary, 1998])
In his homily for the feast, St Gregory Palamas—for whom, according to Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos, the Theotokos ‘is a type of a genuine hesychast’ (St Gregory Palamas as a Hagiorite, trans. Esther Williams [Levadia, Greece: Birth of the Theotokos Monastery, 1997], p. 280)—also makes frequent reference specifically to the significance of the Theotokos residing in the Holy of Holies:
Therefore, the High Priest, seeing that this child, more than anyone else, had divine grace within Her, wished to set Her within the Holy of Holies. . . . She was led into the Holy of Holies not just once, but was accepted by God to dwell there with Him during Her youth, so that through Her, the Heavenly Abodes might be opened and given for an eternal habitation to those who believe in Her miraculous birthgiving. . . . So it is, and this is why She, from the beginning of time, was chosen from among the chosen. She Who is manifest as the Holy of Holies, Who has a body even purer than the spirits purified by virtue, is capable of receiving . . . the Hypostatic Word of the Unoriginate Father. Today the Ever-Virgin Mary, like a Treasure of God, is stored in the Holy of Holies, so that in due time, (as it later came to pass) She would serve for the enrichment of, and an ornament for, all the world. (As I sadly lack any of the published homilies of St Gregory in English, I was forced to rely on the text I found at this website)
But, of course, the feasts of the Church are not merely celebrations of historical events long past. They all bear direct spiritual significance for us today. Thus, St Gregory concludes:
Now, brethren, let us remove ourselves from earthly to celestial things. Let us change our path from the flesh to the spirit. Let us change our desire from temporal things to those that endure. Let us scorn fleshly delights, which serve as allurements for the soul and soon pass away. Let us desire spiritual gifts, which remain undiminished. Let us turn our reason and our attention from earthly concerns and raise them to the inaccessible places of Heaven, to the Holy of Holies, where the Mother of God now resides.
In conclusion, this feast raises a theme I’d like to look at some more in future blogs: the analogy between the outer temple and the inner one referred to by St Paul in I Corinthians 6:19, and the analogy of both with the heavenly temple, the ‘inaccessible places of Heaven’. It’s a teaching that can be traced throughout the Church’s Tradition, and one that I find utterly fascinating.
The Menaion for the day refers over and over again to the analogy between the temple as the dwelling-place of God, and the Theotokos herself, who was to be the dwelling-place of God incarnate. Thus:
Into the holy places the Holy of Holies is fittingly brought to dwell, as a sacrifice acceptable to God. (Second Sticheron of Small Vespers, Tone 1)
Today the living Temple of the holy glory of Christ our God, she who alone among women is pure and blessed, is offered in the temple of the Law, that she may make her dwelling in the sanctuary. (Second Sticheron of Great Vespers, Tone 1)
Today the Theotokos, the Temple that is to hold God, is led into the temple of the Lord, and Zacharias receives her. Today the Holy of Holies rejoices greatly, and the choir of angels mystically keeps feast. With them let us also celebrate the festival today, and let us cry aloud with Gabriel: Hail, thou who art full of grace: the Lord is with thee, He who has great mercy. (Second Hymn at the Lity, Tone 4, by George of Nicomedia)
(from The Festal Menaion, trans. Mother Mary and Archimandrite Kallistos [Ware] [South Canaan, PA: St Tikhon’s Seminary, 1998])
In his homily for the feast, St Gregory Palamas—for whom, according to Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos, the Theotokos ‘is a type of a genuine hesychast’ (St Gregory Palamas as a Hagiorite, trans. Esther Williams [Levadia, Greece: Birth of the Theotokos Monastery, 1997], p. 280)—also makes frequent reference specifically to the significance of the Theotokos residing in the Holy of Holies:
Therefore, the High Priest, seeing that this child, more than anyone else, had divine grace within Her, wished to set Her within the Holy of Holies. . . . She was led into the Holy of Holies not just once, but was accepted by God to dwell there with Him during Her youth, so that through Her, the Heavenly Abodes might be opened and given for an eternal habitation to those who believe in Her miraculous birthgiving. . . . So it is, and this is why She, from the beginning of time, was chosen from among the chosen. She Who is manifest as the Holy of Holies, Who has a body even purer than the spirits purified by virtue, is capable of receiving . . . the Hypostatic Word of the Unoriginate Father. Today the Ever-Virgin Mary, like a Treasure of God, is stored in the Holy of Holies, so that in due time, (as it later came to pass) She would serve for the enrichment of, and an ornament for, all the world. (As I sadly lack any of the published homilies of St Gregory in English, I was forced to rely on the text I found at this website)
But, of course, the feasts of the Church are not merely celebrations of historical events long past. They all bear direct spiritual significance for us today. Thus, St Gregory concludes:
Now, brethren, let us remove ourselves from earthly to celestial things. Let us change our path from the flesh to the spirit. Let us change our desire from temporal things to those that endure. Let us scorn fleshly delights, which serve as allurements for the soul and soon pass away. Let us desire spiritual gifts, which remain undiminished. Let us turn our reason and our attention from earthly concerns and raise them to the inaccessible places of Heaven, to the Holy of Holies, where the Mother of God now resides.
In conclusion, this feast raises a theme I’d like to look at some more in future blogs: the analogy between the outer temple and the inner one referred to by St Paul in I Corinthians 6:19, and the analogy of both with the heavenly temple, the ‘inaccessible places of Heaven’. It’s a teaching that can be traced throughout the Church’s Tradition, and one that I find utterly fascinating.
No comments:
Post a Comment