The cross over the Chapel of Saint Stephen at the end of the day.
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In March, I was able to spend the first three days of the fast at the Chapel of Saint Panteleimon. I took the occasion to open the Chapel of Saint John the Forerunner, which is nearby. I had never been inside before.
The old door was of wood. When it became dilapidated, some entered and left their initials scratched on the plaster wall. We now have a metal door in place. The walls were whitewashed a few years ago, leaving the three apses at the front, which had painted decorations.
The Holy Table is carved from a massive block of granite. The top has been recessed to leave a moulding around the edges, a sign of its antiquity.
In the years I have been here, no one has celebrated the Liturgy in this little chapel. Perhaps this year it might be possible. A wooden cross mounted on a promontory to the south of the monastery receives the first sunlight of a new day.
A detail of the photograph above A weathered post behind the kitchen area catches the last rays of sunlight.
The last beams of sunlight as the sun climbs into the sky.
Ἑστῶτες ἦσαν οἱ πόδες ἡμῶν ἐν ταῖς αὐλαῖς σου, ῾Ιερουσαλήμ. Our feet stood in thy courts, O Jerusalem. (Psalm 121:2) When the mosaic of the Transfiguration is illuminated by the reflected beams of the morning sun, it is possible to imagine the church as it was when it was first built. The original templon was made of Proconnesian marble, with columns of porphyry. It was low, and allowed an unobstructed view of the mosaic.
Anyone fortunate enough to attain to the divine energy, and to undergo divine transformation, himself becomes completely like the light. He is with the light, and by means of it sees clearly things which, were it not for this great and inexpressible grace, would be invisible to all. According to the Lord’s Beatitude, which cannot prove false, those whose hearts have been purified see God, Who, in the words of the great Theologian, John the Son of Thunder, is Light, and dwells in, and reveals Himself to, those who love Him, and are loved by Him, in accordance with His own promise to them. Saint Gregory Palamas, Homily on the Entry of the Theotokos into the Holy of Holies The eighteenth century iconostasion is surmounted by a Cross that extends almost to the ceiling beams of the basilica. On the back wall, sixth century mosaics depict, on the left, Moses at the Bush that burned with fire without being consumed, and on the right, Moses receiving the Law from the hand of God. There, Moses is depicted standing in a cleft of the rock, from which he beheld the glory and the majesty of God.
Orthodox hymns and icons often make reference to this juxtaposition, the Old Testament foreshadowing the New, the New Testament fulfilling the Old. This is especially vivid at Sinai. As the sun rises higher in the sky, the rays of sunlight reach down into the nave.
Δεῦτε πάντες οἱ πιστοί, προσκυνήσωμεν τὴν τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἁγίαν ἀνάστασιν· ἰδοὺ γὰρ ἦλθε διὰ τοῦ Σταυροῦ χαρὰ ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ κόσμῳ. Διὰ παντὸς εὐλογοῦντες τὸν Κύριον, ὑμνοῦμεν τὴν ἀνάστασιν αὐτοῦ· Σταυρὸν γὰρ ὑπομείνας δι ̓ ἡμᾶς, θανάτῳ θάνατον ὤλεσεν. Come, all ye faithful, let us worship Christ’s holy Resurrection, for behold, through the Cross joy hath come to the whole world. Forever blessing the Lord, we praise his Resurrection. He endured the Cross for us, and by death destroyed death.
Οὐκ ἀφήσω ὑμᾶς ὀρφανούς· ἔρχομαι πρὸς ὑμᾶς. I will not leave you orphans: I will come to you. (John 14:18) |
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