Kontakion - Tone 4

Let us flee from the pride of the Pharisee!
And learn humility from the Publican’s tears!
Let us cry to our Savior,
have mercy on us,
only merciful One!

Two Men Went up to the Temple

Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men-extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. ‘I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. Luke 18:10-14

Mine eyes are weighed down by my transgressions, and I cannot lift them up and see the height of heaven. But receive me, Savior, in repentance as the Publican and have mercy on me. ~ Vespers for the Feast; Prayer of Manasses

Praising Oneself

Many are the faults of the Pharisee: for first of all he is boastful, and without sense, for he praises himself, even though sacred scripture cries aloud, “Let a neighbor praise you, and not your own mouth: a stranger and not your own lips.” (Proverbs 27:2)

… You speak to God Who knows all things. Await the decree of the Judge. None of those skilled in the practice of wrestling ever crowns himself; nor does any man receive the crown of himself, but awaits the summons of the arbiter.

… Since, therefore, your fasting is accompanied by pride, you must expect to hear God saying, “This is not the fast that I have chosen.”

~ St. Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on the Gospel of St. Luke, Homily 120. (Manley, BHF, p. 669)

This is Not the Fast I Have Chosen

Read Isaiah 58

The Beginning of True Repentance

The lenten season begins then by a quest, a prayer for humility which is the beginning of true repentance. For repentance, above everything else, is a return to the genuine order of things, the restoration of the right vision. It is, therefore, rooted in humility, and humility - the divine and beautiful humility - is its fruit and end. “Let us avoid the high flown speech of the Pharisee,” says the Konatakion of this day, “and learn the majesty of the Publican’s humble words…” We are at the gates of repentance and at the most solemn moment of the Sunday Vigil; after the Resurrection and appearance of Christ have been announced — “having beheld the Resurrection…” — we sing for the first time the troparia which will accompany us throughout the entire Lent:

Open to me the gates of repentance, O Giver of Life,
For my spirit rises early to pray towards Thy holy temple,
Bearing the temple of my body all defiled;
But in Thy compassion, purify me by the loving kindness of Thy mercy.

Lead me on the paths of salvation, O Mother of God,
For I have profaned my soul with shameful sins,
and have wasted my life in laziness.
But by your intercessions, deliver me from all impurity.

When I think of the many evil things I have done, wretch that I am,
I tremble at the fearful day of judgement.
But trusting in Thy loving kindness, like David I cry to Thee:
Have mercy on me, O God, according to Thy great mercy.

~ Fr. Alexander Schmemann, Great Lent, p. 20-21

Kontakion - Tone 3

I have recklessly forgotten Your glory, O Father;
and among sinners I have scattered the riches which You had given me.
Therefore, I cry to You like the Prodigal:
“I have sinned before You, O compassionate Father;
receive me a penitent and make me as one of Your hired servants.”

Then He said: “A certain man had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood. And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! ‘I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.’ And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. ‘And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.

Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.’ But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him. So he answered and said to his father, ‘Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. ‘But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.’ And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. ‘It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.’ ” Luke 15:11-32

The One Who Loves Mankind

The man who is introduced here is God, verily the One Who loves mankind. The two sons portray the two ranks of men, righteous ones and sinners.

~ Blessed Theophylact, PG 123:405C (Holy Apostles Convent, Gospels, p. 357)

Christ Falls On Your Neck

Christ falls on your neck to free your nape from the yoke of slavery and hang His sweet yoke upon your shoulders.

~ St. Ambrose (HAC p. 359)

A Robe, a Ring, and a Sandal

The robe is the garment of wisdom with which the apostles cover the body’s nakedness… Thus, they receive the robe, so that they may clothe the weakness of the body with the virtue of spiritual wisdom… The robe is a spiritual covering and a wedding garment.

What is a ring, if not a token of sincere faith and an expression of truth? …Whosoever has the ring has the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, because God has sealed it. … “After ye believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.” (Eph 1:13)

The ring is the seal of Christianity given at Chrismation.

Then the sandal is the preaching of the Gospel. (Eph 6:15).

~ St. Ambrose and Blessed Theophylact (HAC p. 359-60)

Note: A signet ring, in the ancient world, was used to seal letters. The seal caused the letter to bear the identity of the sender and to authenticate it.

Let No One Be Annoyed

The whole of the parable is given for the sake of the Pharisees, to instruct them not to be disgusted at the reception of sinners [see Luke 15:1-10 immediately preceding the parable of the Prodigal Son], even if they themselves are righteous. Let no one be annoyed at the judgments of God, but let him be patient with apparent sinners who prosper, and are being saved. For how dost thou know if the one thou thinkest a sinner has not repented, and on this account was received? And what if he has hidden virtues on which account God is well-disposed to see him kindly?

~ Blessed Theophylact, PG 123:411D (HAC p. 360-61)

St. Theodore the Recruit

Troparion - Tone 2

Great are the accomplishments of faith,
For the Holy Martyr Theodore rejoiced in the flames as though at the waters of rest,
Offering himself as sweet bread to the Trinity.
So by his prayers, O Christ God, save our souls!

Kontakion - Tone 8

Your faith in Christ was like a breastplate upon your heart:
With its aid, you overcame the power of the enemy.
Therefore you are crowned in eternity with a heavenly diadem.

Fifty years after the death of St Theodore, the emperor Julian the Apostate (361-363), wanting to commit an outrage upon the Christians, commanded the city-commander of Constantinople during the first week of Great Lent to sprinkle all the food provisions in the marketplaces with the blood offered to idols. St Theodore appeared in a dream to Archbishop Eudoxius, ordering him to inform all the Christians that no one should buy anything at the marketplaces, but rather to eat cooked wheat with honey (kolyva).

~ from the Life of St. Theodore

Blessing of the Kolyva

O Lord, who hast brought all things to perfection through Thy word, and hast commanded the earth to bring forth all manner of fruits for our enjoyment and food; who through grain and vegetables hast made the three Children of Daniel fairer than the Babylonians who lived in luxury: do Thou Thyself, all-loving King, bless this grain and fruit, and sanctify those who shall partake of them: for they have been offered by Thy servants to Thy glory, in honour and memory of the Holy and Great Martyr Theodore the Recruit, and for a memorial to those who have fallen asleep in the true Orthodox faith. Grant, O gracious Lord, to those who have prepared this offering and who keep this memorial, all their petitions that are for their salvation, and count them worthy to rejoice in Thine eternal blessings: at the prayers of our most pure Lady the Theotokos and ever-Virgin Mary, of the Holy and Great Martyr Theodore, whose memory we keep, and of all Thy saints. For it is Thou who dost bless and hallow all things, Christ our God, and to Thee we ascribe glory, with Thine eternal Father and Thy most holy, good and life-creating Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

~ from the Canon of Intercession to the Holy and Great Martyr Theodore the Recruit (Lenten Triodion, Mother Mary and Kallistos Ware, p. 275-282)

Recipes

Here are some recipes for kolyva - see #34 at the top.

Troparion - Tone 2

We venerate Your most pure image, O Good One,
and ask forgiveness of our transgressions, O Christ God.
Of Your own will You were pleased to ascend the Cross in the flesh
to deliver Your creatures from bondage to the enemy.
Therefore with thanksgiving we cry aloud to You:
You have filled all with joy, O our Savior,
by coming to save the world.

Kontakion - Tone 8

No one could describe the Word of the Father;
but when He took flesh from you, O Theotokos, He accepted to be described,
and restored the fallen image to its former beauty.
We confess and proclaim our salvation in word and images.

From the Synaxarion

Iconoclasm, the rejection of the veneration of icons, broke out when Leo the Isaurian ascended the Byzantine throne. In 787 AD, the Empress Irene and her son Constantine called the Seventh Ecumenical Council, which restored the icons. A second period of iconoclasm broke out under another emperor named Leo (the Armenian), and this time, yet another woman, the Empress Theodora, led the way to the final Triumph of Orthodoxy.

Read the story from the Lenten Synaxarion and note how important a theme is the repentance of Theophilus, Theodora’s husband, and the prayers of the Church for him.

Now When God Is Seen

In former times God, who is without form or body, could never be depicted. But now when God is seen in the flesh conversing with men, I make an image of the God whom I see. I do not worship matter; I worship the Creator of matter who became matter for my sake, who willed to take His abode in matter; who worked out my salvation through matter. Never will I cease honoring the matter which wrought my salvation! I honor it, but not as God. How could God be born out of things which have no existence in themselves? God’s body is God because it is joined to His person by a union which shall never pass away. The divine nature remains the same; the flesh created in time is quickened by a reason endowed soul. Because of this I salute all remaining matter with reverence, because God has filled it with His grace and power. Through it my salvation has come to me. Was not the thrice-happy and thrice blessed wood of the Cross matter? What of the life bearing rock, the holy and life-giving tomb, the fountain of our resurrection, was it not matter? Is not the ink in the most holy Gospel-book matter? Is not the life-giving altar made of matter? From it we receive the bread of life! Are not gold and silver matter? From them we make crosses, patens, chalices! And over and above all these things, is not the Body and Blood of our Lord matter? Either do away with the honor and veneration these things deserve, or accept the tradition of the Church and the veneration of images.

~ St. John of Damascus: On the Holy Images I:16

The Synodikon

A “Synodikon” is an official declaration signed by all members of a synod or council, by which a decision by that synod is affirmed. The Synodikon of the Sunday of Orthodoxy is a declaration of the members of the Seventh Ecumenical Council in 787 AD affirming the truths of the Orthodox Faith, which sprung forth from the controversy concerning icons. This Synodikon was read before the Divine Liturgy that sealed the decision in 843 AD and has since then has been read on this day every year. The tradition is for the people to recite it together and at the end to hold up the icons to affirm their truthfulness and Orthodoxy.

“As the Prophets beheld,

As the Apostles have taught,

As the Church has received,

As the Teachers have dogmatized,

As the Universe has agreed,

As Grace shown forth,

As falsehood has been dissolved,

As Wisdom has presented,

As Christ awarded.

Thus we declare, thus we assert, thus we preach Christ our true God, and honor His Saints in words, in writings, in thoughts, in sacrifices, in churches, in Holy Icons; on the one hand worshipping and reverencing Christ as God and Lord; and on the other hand, honoring as true servants of the same Lord of all and accordingly offering them veneration.

This is the Faith of the Apostles!

This is the Faith of the Fathers!

This is the Faith of the Orthodox!

This is the Faith which has established the Universe!

AMEN!”

Windows into Heaven

Explore the History of Ikons.

The Triumph of Orthodoxy: Past, Present, and Future

Fr. Alexander Schmemann calls on us to remember the triumph of the faith in the past, rallies us to see the triumph of Orthodoxy today in the West, and pleads with us to carry the truth of the Church forward to a new triumph in the future. Read his sermon.

Troparion - Tone 8

O light of Orthodoxy, teacher of the Church,
its confirmation,
O ideal of monks
and invincible champion of theologians,
O wonder-working Gregory,
glory of Thessalonica and preacher of grace,
always intercede before the Lord
that our souls may be saved.

Kontakion - Tone 4

Now is the time for action!
Judgment is at the doors!
So let us rise and fast,
offering alms with tears of compunction
and crying:
“Our sins are more in number
than the sands of the sea;
but forgive us, O Master of All,
so that we may receive the incorruptible crowns.”

Kontakion - Tone 8

Holy and divine instrument of wisdom,
joyful trumpet of theology,
together we sing your praises, O God-inspired Gregory.
Since you now stand before the Original Mind,
guide our minds to Him, O Father,
so that we may sing to you: “Rejoice, preacher of grace.”

Preacher of Light

Now is the truly great preacher of the Radiant Light
led by the Source of Light to the never-setting Light.

Read from the Lenten Synaxarion.

Partakers of the Divine Nature

And today we remember the name of Saint Gregory Palamas, one of the great Saints of Orthodoxy, who against heresy and doubt, proclaimed, from within the experience of the ascetics and of all believers, that the grace of God is not a created Gift - it is God Himself, communicating Himself to us so that we are pervaded by His presence, that we gradually, if we only receive Him, open ourselves to Him, become transparent or at least translucent to His light, that we become incipiently and ever increasingly partakers of the Divine nature.

This is not simply a promise; this is a certainty which we have because this has happened to thousands and thousands of those men and women whom we venerate as the Saints of God: they have become partakers of the Divine nature, they are to us a revelation and certainty of what we are called to be and become.

And today one step more brings us into the joy, the glory of Easter.

~ from a sermon by Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh given on the Sunday of St. Gregory Palamas. He gives a nice summary of where we are at now in the Great Fast, what has passed and what is to come.

The Kingdom of God is Within You

Since the Logos of God though His descent to us has brought the kingdom of heaven close to us, let us not distance ourselves from it by leading an unrepentant life. Let us rather flee the wretchedness of those who sit `in darkness and the shadow of death’ (Isa. 9:2). Let us acquire the fruits of repentance: a humble disposition, compunction and spiritual grief, a gentle and merciful heart that loves righteousness and pursues purity, peaceful, peace-making, patient in toil, glad to endure persecution, loss, outrage, slander and suffering for the sake of truth and righteousness. For the kingdom of heaven or, rather, the King of heaven - ineffable in His generosity - is within us (cf. Luke 17:21); and to Him we should cleave through acts of repentance and patient endurance, loving as much as we can Him Who so dearly has loved us.

~ St. Gregory Palamas, Philokalia, vol. 4, c/o Gleanings

Hymns to St. Gregory from the Lenten Triodion

Tone 2

What hymns of praise shall we sing to honor
the holy bishop?
He is the trumpet of theology,
the flaming mouthpiece of grace,
the chosen vessel of the Spirit,
the unshakeable pillar of the Church,
the great joy of the inhabited earth,
the river of wisdom, the candlestick of the light,
the shining star that has made all creation bright.

What garlands of song shall we weave for the holy bishop?
He is the champion of true worship, the foe of ungodliness,
the fervent defender of the faith,
the great guide and teacher, the well-tuned harp of the Spirit,
the golden tongue, the fountain flowing with healing
for the faithful,
the great and wonderful Gregory.

How shall we who dwell on earth praise the holy bishop?
He is the Church’s teacher, the herald of the Uncreated Light,
the initiate of the Trinity’s heavenly mysteries,
the adornment of the monastic life,
renowned alike in action and contemplation:
Gregory, the pride of Thessalonica.

Tone 6

O thrice-blessed saint, most holy father,
good shepherd, disciple of Christ the Chief Shepherd.
Like Him you gave your life for your sheep.
By your intercessions, O God-bearing father Gregory,
may great mercy be granted to our souls.

Hesychasm

For God is silence, and in silence is he sung by means of that psalmody which is worthy of Him. I am not speaking of the silence of the tongue, for if someone merely keeps his tongue silent, without knowing how to sing in mind and spirit, then he is simply unoccupied and becomes filled with evil thoughts: …There is a silence of the tongue, there is a silence of the whole body, there is a silence of the soul, there is the silence of the mind, and there is the silence of the spirit.

~ John the Solitary, On Prayer

Hesychasm (Greek ησυχασμός hesychasmos, from ησυχία hesychia, “stillness, rest, quiet”) is an eremitic tradition of prayer in Eastern Orthodox Christianity practised (Gk: ησυχάζω hesychazo: “to keep stillness”) by the Hesychast (Gr. ησυχαστής hesychastes).

~ definition from Wikipedia

In addition to the Wikipedia article on hesychasm, see also the Medieval Sourcebook, especially the quotes from the Fathers.

St. Gregory’s Life and Teachings

The historical situation of St. Gregory was complex, as were the theological questions he answered. A good introduction is Light for the World by Fr. Bassam A. Nassif. It was originally published in Again. From the article:

The Presence of God in Prayer

In his Triads, Palamas interpreted the experience of the Church by presenting logical arguments, based on the Scripture and the writings of the Fathers. Addressing the question of how it is possible for humans to have knowledge of a transcendent and unknowable God, he drew a distinction between knowing God in His essence, or nature, and knowing God in His energies, actions, or the means by which He acts.

To elaborate more, he made a comparison between God and the sun. The sun has its rays, God has His energies (among them, grace and light). By His energies, God creates, sustains, and governs the universe. By His energies, He transforms creation and deifies it, that is, He fills the new creation with His energies as water fills a sponge. These actions or energies of God are the true revelation of God Himself to humanity. So God is incomprehensible and unknowable in His nature or essence, but knowable in His energies. It is through His actions out of His love to the whole creation that God enters into a direct and immediate relationship with mankind, a personal confrontation between creature and Creator.

Towards the year 1340 the Athonite ascetics, with St. Gregory’s assistance, compiled a general reply to the attacks of Barlaam, the so-called Hagiorite Tome. Since the heated arguments flared everywhere in the churches, a general council was held at Constantinople in the year 1341. In front of hundreds of bishops and monastics, St. Gregory Palamas held an open debate with Barlaam in the halls of the Great Church of Hagia Sophia. On May 27, 1341, the council accepted the position of St. Gregory Palamas that God, unapproachable in His essence, reveals Himself through His energies, which are directed towards the world and are able to be perceived, like the light of Tabor, but which are neither material nor created. The teachings of Barlaam were condemned as heresy, and he himself was anathematized and returned to Calabria.

Second Triumph of Orthodoxy

But the dispute between the Palamites and the Barlaamites was far from finished. Politics came into play, and the politicians used the disputed religious issue as a threatening tool against those who supported Palamas. The great turmoil led to five consecutive church councils…

In 1351, a sixth and final council was held to settle the heated controversial issues in the church. The Council of Blachernae solemnly upheld the orthodoxy of Palamas’ teachings and anathematized and excommunicated those who refused them. The anathemas of the council of 1351 were included in the rite for the Sunday of Orthodoxy in the Triodion. This council was considered the second triumph of Orthodoxy (the first being the restoration of icons). Later on, the memory of St. Gregory Palamas came to be celebrated in the Church on the second Sunday of Great Lent.

St. Seraphim of Sarov

When learning about the uncreated light, it is good to keep in mind St. Seraphim of Sarov’s Conversation with Motovilov.

Read some additional quotations by and about St. Gregory Palamas.

Troparion - Tone 1

O Lord, save Your people,
and bless Your inheritance.
Grant victories to the Orthodox Christians,
over their adversaries.
And by virtue of Your Cross
preserve Your habitation!

Kontakion - Tone 7

Now the flaming sword no longer guards the gates of Eden;
it has mysteriously been quenched by the wood of the Cross!
The sting of death and the victory of hell have been vanquished;
for You, O my Savior, have come and cried to those in hell:
Enter again into paradise.

Like to the Sun

Like to the sun did the Cross appear in the world, and all men were filled with its light, and running as towards a star, they viewed it as the cause of good raised up by hands divine; hymning it they said:

Rejoice, dawn of the spiritual Sun!
Rejoice, unfailing fount of myrrh!
Rejoice, summoning of Adam and Eve!
Rejoice, death-blow to the princes of hades!
Rejoice, that in being exalted, thou dost now also exalt us!
Rejoice, that in being venerated, thou dost sanctify men’s souls!
Rejoice, the world-proclaimed report of the Apostles!
Rejoice, most plentiful strength of Martyrs!
Rejoice, O Cross, reproach to the Jews!
Rejoice, thou praise to men of Faith!
Rejoice, thou through which hades was cast down!
Rejoice, thou through which Grace did rise up!

Rejoice, O Tree most blessed!

~ Akathist Hymn to the Cross, Ekos 4

A ladder as lofty as Heaven is the Cross of the Lord become, leading up all from earth to the height of Heaven, that they might always dwell together with the choirs of angels, abandoning things present as though they were not, and knowing how to chant: Alleluia!

~ Kontakion 6

Obedient Unto Death

Christ’s Incarnation is already an act of salvation. By taking up our
broken humanity into himself, Christ restores it and, in the words of
another Christmas hymn, “lifts up the fallen image”. But in that case
why was a death on the Cross necessary? Was it not enough for one of
the Trinity to live as a man on earth, to think, feel and will as a
man, without also having to die as a man? …

… The Incarnation, it was said, is an act of identification and
sharing. God saves by identifying himself with us, by knowing our
human experience from the inside. The Cross signifies, in the most
stark and uncompromising manner, that this act of sharing is carried
to the utmost limits. God incarnate enters into ALL our experience.
Jesus Christ our companion shares not only in the fullness of human
life but also in the fullness of human death. “Surely he has borne
our griefs and carried our sorrows” (Isa. 53:4) — ALL our griefs,
ALL our sorrows. “The unassumed is unhealed”: but Christ our healer
has assumed into himself everything, even death.

Death as Victory

… “Love is strong as death… Many waters cannot quench love” (Song
of Songs 8:6-7). The Cross shows us a love that is strong as death, a
love that is even stronger.

St. John introduces his account of the Last Supper and the Passion
with these words: “Having loved his own who were in the world, he
loved them to the end” (13:1). “To the end” — the Greek says eis
telos, meaning “to the last”, “to the uttermost”. And this word
telos is taken up later in the final cry uttered by Christ on the
Cross: “It is finished”, tetelestai (John 19:30). This is to be
understood, not as a cry of resignation or despair, but as a cry of
victory: It is completed, it is accomplished, it is fulfilled.

What has been fulfilled? We reply: The work of suffering love, the
victory of love over hatred. Christ our God has loved his own to the
uttermost. Because of love he created the world, because of love he
was born into this world as a man, because of love he took up our
broken humanity into himself and made it his own. Because of love he
identified himself with all our distress. Because of love he offered
himself as a sacrifice, choosing at Gethsemane to go voluntarily to
his Passion: “I lay down my life for my sheep… No one takes it from
me, but I lay it down of myself” (John 10:15, 18)…

The Cross, understood as victory, sets before us the paradox of
love’s omnipotence. Dostoevsky comes near to the true meaning of
Christ’s victory in some statements which he puts in the mouth of
Starets Zosima:

“At some thoughts a man stands perplexed, above all at the sight of
human sin, and he wonders whether to combat it by force or by humble
love. Always decide: ‘I will combat it by humble love.’ If you
resolve on that once for all, you can conquer the whole world. Loving
humility is a terrible force: it is the strongest of all things, and
there is nothing else like it.”

Christ is Risen

Because Christ our God is true man, he died a full and genuine human
death upon the Cross. But because he is not only true man but true
God, because he is life itself and the source of life, this death was
not and could not be the final conclusion.

… God himself has died and risen from the dead, and so there is no
more death: even death is filled with God. Because Christ is risen,
we need no longer be afraid of any dark or evil force in the universe.

~ from Bp Kallistos Ware, The Orthodox Way, ch. 4

The Cross and the Tree of Life

In his Hymn on Paradise IV.1, Mor Ephrem writes:

The Just One saw how Adam had become audacious
Because He had been lenient
And he knew that Adam would overstep again
if He continued thus:
Adam trampled down
that gentle and pleasant boundary,
so instead God made for Adam
a boundary guarded by force.
The mere words of the commandment
had been the boundary to the Tree,
but now the cherub and a sharp sword
provided the fence to Paradise.

It was only with Crucifixion that the Tree of Life is finally revealed to mankind. In the Hymn on Virginity XVI.10, St. Ephrem writes:

Greatly saddened was the Tree of Life
When it beheld Adam stolen away from it;
It sank down into the virgin ground and was hidden
—to burst forth and reappear on Golgotha;
humanity, like birds that are chased, took refuge in it
so that it might return them to their proper home

The chaser was chased away, while the doves that had been chased now hop with joy in Paradise.

The Cross that was erected on Golgotha is thus the symbol of the Tree of Life. We find this theme in a [hymn] from the Order of the Veneration of the Cross (p. 96):

Planted in the midst of Paradise,
in Eden, is the Tree of Life
The world bore the Fruit of Life
The cross became its symbol

~ from an article in Shroro, the Syriac Orthodox Christian Digest. The whole article is well worth reading.

The Dream of the Rood

It begins:

See! I will tell - the fine dream
that came on me - at mid of night
when speaking folk - retire to rest.
I seemed to see - a wondrous tree
lifted aloft - light-encompassed,
of trees the brightest. - Sign-post, entirely
gold-covered. - Gems standing
resplendent on earth’s face, - and five there were
on the cross-beam. - There they saw the Lord’s Angel
all those fair from the first fashioning. - No gallows of foulness this,
beheld by the gaze - of holy spirits,
those above earth - and this great creation.
Wondrous the Tree of Victory! - But I, sin-stained,
wounded with wrong-doing. - The Glory Tree I saw,
robed in radiance, - shining in splendour,
girded with gold, - gleaming gems
fittingly decking - the Master’s Tree.
Yet through that gold - I did discern
the malice of wretches; - suddenly it started
to sweat blood from the right. - Grief engulfed me,
fear at that fair sight. - That burgeoning Sign I saw
enrobed, abloom with colour, - sometimes soaked,
drenched with flowing blood, - sometimes jewel-decked.
And I, lying there - a long while,
gazed grieving - at the Saviour’s Tree,
‘till at last I heard it - making a sound.
A word it began to speak, - that worshipful wood:

~ Read the rest at Arimathea