The Mystery of the Annunciation and Repentance: Talks for the Lenten Day of Recollection

 

Part I: The Mystery of the Annunciation on the Gates of Paradise

 

No visitor to a Byzantine-rite church can fail to notice the prominent position of the icon of the feast of the Annunciation on the Royal Doors, that is, the central aperture between the nave and the Holy of Holies. The central doors, complete with the red-colored curtain that hangs behind them, are also often referred to as "the Doors of Paradise." This name refers to the Eastern Christian imagery that identifies the Holy of Holies with the original Paradise of Eden.

In order for us to understand the nearly invariable presence of this icon in this particular place in the Byzantine temple, we have to look at what the icon shows to us. In the icon, we see the Most Holy Mother of God seated on a chair to the right side of the icon's field. Often the chair (a rather grand thing, like a throne) is positioned under a canopy from which the typical red cloth (the iliton) is suspended, signaling that the mystery shown in the icon occurred indoors. The Most Holy Mother of God is shown holding a skein of red or violet yarn, while the spindle dangles underneath. In some versions of the icon, the Virgin is pictured dropping the skein, which is shown in midair on its way to the floor, signaling her fright at the sudden appearance and mysterious message of the angel. On the left side of the icon's field, to the right of the Most Holy Mother of God, the Archangel Gabriel can be seen striding as if from the spiritual into the material world. The angel's wings are extended, showing that he has just then arrived. In the meantime, a tiny dove, representing the Holy Spirit, can be seen descending a ray of light towards the Virgin's right ear.

So, why should this depiction of the mystery of the Annunciation be found, almost invariably, on the Royal Doors, the Doors of Paradise, in the typical Byzantine temple? The most obvious answer to this question can be found in the fact that this mystery is the beginning of the last chapter in the story of salvation. It is with this mystery that the Son and Word of God becomes incarnate. This mystery, therefore, is the gateway to the full revelation of the Mystery of Christ.

As most of us are aware, Our Most Holy Lady was brought up in the Jerusalem Temple. The Temple had according to this ancient tradition what amounts to an institutionalized girls' school, where the daughters of priests and some others were dedicated to the service of the Temple and were educated to be the future wives of the priests of the Lord. It was from the Temple that the Most Holy Mother of God was betrothed to Saint Joseph. According to the tradition, during her betrothal, Our Most Holy Lady was still working for the Temple. She had been assigned to participate in the weaving project that would replace the apparently worn out veil of the Temple.

We learn about the veil of the Temple in the Book of Exodus, where it is described as being woven from four different colors of yarn: blue, purple, scarlet, and white linen. The four colors represent the visible creation divided into its four elements. Thus the Holy of Holies, the eternal Presence of God, is screened and concealed by Creation, and yet, in a sense, is also revealed by it. Similarly, when the High Priest, who represents the Lord, ministers outside the Holy of Holies, he puts on the ephod, a vestment woven from the same four kinds of colored yarn. Therefore, in a type of Incarnation, the representative of the immaterial Lord, when he goes forth to minister, puts on material creation and thus becomes visible.

An invariable feature of the Annunciation icon is the presence of a skein of yarn in the hand of the Most Holy Mother of God as the Archangel Gabriel arrives, while the spindle dangles underneath. It is important to note at this point that the skein is only of scarlet color. This is apparently the Mother of God's assigned work for the completion of the new veil. We shall see why this is especially meaningful.

At the time of the crucifixion and death of the Messiah, the veil of the Temple is torn in two from top to bottom, signifying the promise of direct revelation of God's Presence without any created mediation. The successor of this veil in the New Covenant is woven only of red color, because it represents the flesh of Christ, stained with the tincture of His blood. This flesh, which is now the sole mediator between God and human beings was born of the Holy Virgin, conceived in her womb at the time of the Annunciation. It is a veil that no longer divides but rather joins, because our participation in it is the only way to the Father. The Letter to the Hebrews, in fact, tells us about this veil. "Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way which He opened for us through the curtain, that is, through His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith."

In this context, it is deeply meaningful to focus upon the name of this mystery and its icon in the Greek language. The mystery of the Annunciation in Greek is known as evangelismos (evangelization, preaching of the Good News). The Most Holy Mother of God is the first to hear the Gospel of Christ as it is preached to her by the angelic visitor. We will see in the second part that the Gospel preached to the Theotokos is important, but her response to it is equally important.

It is sufficient for now, for our purposes, to meditate on the fact that the mystery of the Annunciation, the evangelization of the Most Holy Mother of God, opens a way into the Holy of Holies, that is, into the Presence of God Himself. This new aperture is not a void or a hole as apertures in this world are. This new aperture into the Divine Presence is a Person, the Divine Logos conceived in the womb of our Most Holy Lady. The Logos exalts the Most Holy Mother of God to become a new temple, a second Heaven. In a subsidiary way, various places associated with the Presence of the Logos and His Most Holy Mother also take on a sacral character. The Church's hymnography tells us that the cave of Bethlehem became a Heaven and the icon of the Nativity shows us that that same cave becomes the Temple as well, since it invariably shows the manger of the Son of God between and overshadowed by the "living creatures" hayyot.

This whole meditation on the significance of the Annunciation at the center of the Gates of Paradise is sufficient to leave us with some important questions. Especially during this time of Great Lent, I think that these questions should perplex and trouble us to some degree. After all, the truth of the mysteries of Christ is one thing, but that truth has to be translated into my individual life and circumstances by means of the grace that the Liturgy continually extols and calls "great mercy." The Liturgy tells us again and again that we are offered "great mercy." But how do we respond to the offer. The mystery of the Annunciation has opened a way to the Presence of God. How have we as individuals made use of that way? Just because there is a way does not mean that it will be used. Packages have been known to remain at the front door of my brother's house for months, because he and his wife NEVER use that door. They always enter the house through the garage. The way exists, but it is unused. Furthermore, we can easily reflect that, when an entryway is used, it is always used personally and intentionally. There is no way to employ the entrance to your home abstractly. Therefore, how is my use of this entrance, the entry into the Holy of Holies through the mediation of the Most Holy Mother of God, personal and intentional? How can I deepen the relationship that is implied with that intentionality? Lastly, am I even really disposed to enter by this way? In what ways can I change that disposition? 

 

 

Part II: The Mystery of the Annunciation and Repentance

 

We ended the last session with the realization that the Mystery of the Annunciation opens a way into the Divine Presence, the Holy of Holies, and we began to explore the questions of how that entrance can be employed in our own individual lives. Perhaps by this time we have come to the conclusion that the way to enter by this aperture is repentance.

To begin from the question "what does the Mystery of the Annunciation have to do with repentance?" would immediately lead us to a spiritual and intellectual cul-de-sac. The Mystery in itself has nothing to do with repentance, because repentance is our response to it. As we have seen, an aperture has been opened to us, but we must decide to enter into it. The basic meaning of the term metanoia is "a change of mind or heart." In the Matins service sung in the Byzantine Rite on every weekday during Great Lent, at the end of the service, we sing a short hymn that is full of mystical fascination. As the hymn begins, we think that it surely must be addressed to Christ, for we sing, "Standing in the Temple of your glory is like standing in Heaven itself." Only in the second part of the tropar do we learn the identity of the one, who is addressed. We continue, "O Mother of God and Gate of Heaven, open for us the doors of your mercy."

Like so many other times in the Church's hymnography, we may at first be perplexed and puzzled by this particular turn of phrase. How is it that the Mother of God can be said to have a temple? Through this perplexity, we begin to understand the nature of reality in a new way. The visible Creation is the Temple of the Mother of God's glory, because she herself is the Temple. In the same way, the rest of the Jerusalem Temple can be called "the Temple of the Holy of Holies." So, we place ourselves in the Temple of her glory, in this visible Creation that to some extent reflects the Divine Majesty. But there is a further entrance by her mediation, an entrance into "the doors of her mercy." Expressing our desire to enter by this way is the beginning of repentance.

It would be very profitable for us to reflect, even if very briefly, on this: Modern science has unlocked many of the secrets of the cosmos, the visible Creation, in a descriptive way. But to the most important aspect of Creation it has no access. It cannot plumb the depths of the meaning of the universe. The meaning of the cosmos can only be known by direct revelation from its Maker, and, consequently, if it did not have a Maker, it would be meaningless. The meaning of the visible Creation is liturgical. It is itself a Temple and a mystical veil that serves to screen (as well as reveal) the Divine Presence.

In just the same context, earlier in the Matins service we sang: "Open to me the doors of repentance, O Giver of Life, as we worship in Your Temple this morning. Teach us how to purify the temples of our bodies, and in Your compassion purify me by the goodness of Your mercies." The following stanza follows on that same theme as we begin by asking, "Lead me to the paths of salvation, O Mother of God."

An aperture into the Holy of Holies, the Divine Presence, has been opened to us, and what is revealed to us through that aperture is objectively, incomparably beautiful, but we have to decide (aided by grace) to enter onto this path of life. This decision requires of us a radical change of heart, a total change of direction. Our metanoia amounts to a new orientation towards what is Holy and the corresponding turning away from everything that is profane. It is a staple of second-millennium Byzantine mystagogy that the signification of the doors of the iconostas is the same whether those apertures are in fact open or closed, but, at times, the very opening of the central doors, the Doors of Paradise, conveys a special, profound meaning. In the service which we celebrated last Wednesday night, for example, the Royal Doors are opened at the beginning of the Great Canon of Saint Andrew of Crete, otherwise known as the Canon of Repentance, and they remain open until the end of the canon. In this way, the service shows us that repentance opens the way to God. It is repentance that removes the obstacles between us and the Divine Presence. 

We, like the Virgin in the Mystery of the Annunciation are presented with the Word of God. We are evangelized. We receive the preaching of the Gospel of Christ by the action of our conscience through the ministry of our guardian angel. The Mother of God's response to that Good News is the model for our response. There is only one way to enter by this Gate into the life that is offered to us. It is the Mother of God's own way: the virtues of humility and meekness.

The Logos of God is the fullness of virtue; that is, He is charity, because the virtue of charity is the form for all the other virtues. As soon as the pure light of the Logos hits the prism of the time and space of this world it is refracted into a multitude of virtues. All the virtues are present in the life of the Lord Jesus, but it particularly manifests obedience, humility and meekness as an expression of love for the Father. One who is meek and humble will also be obedient. Humility is the virtue by which we know our place in the Creation that God has made (not too high and not too low, but the precise place to the glory of God). Meekness, on the other hand, is the virtue by which we recognize our circumstances as the will of God. It is by meekness that we accept adversity and suffering with patience, confident that God has willed those circumstances for compassionate reasons.

God is virtue by nature. As the Holy Apostle John the Theologian tells us, "God is love." Presumably, we, who were created in the image and likeness of God would also have been virtuous by nature. Our fallen nature, although retaining the image, has lost the likeness of God. Thus, our practice of virtue, and especially in this case humility and meekness, is the essence of repentance. In the same way that we cannot expose ourselves to the rays of the sun without being browned by them, we cannot turn towards God without being "virtued" by the virtue that is consequent to His nature.

 We are left, once again, with various questions that are essential to our personal examination, whether in the context of Great Lent or in day to day life, as we ponder the virtues of this Mystery of the Annunciation, the virtues of the Doors of Paradise. First of all, in the virtue of humility, we can profitably ask ourselves whether we are comfortable with that place that God has given us in His creation? Are we seeking to be led by the Holy Spirit in the path of formation as a Christian, and thus, as a saint; or are we grasping, acquisitive, ambitious—seeking some sort of gain for its own sake or as some sort of “self-actualization?” Secondly, in the virtue of meekness, are we accepting of reality (that is, our circumstances), or are we getting upset, angry and resentful about the direction of our day, our life? Have we discovered an ability to find joy in adverse conditions? Have we meditated on this: getting angry at conditions or circumstances is rebellion against being and the Author of being?