Father Justin's Blog

The two gates in the centre of the iconostasion always depict the Annunciation. But here at Sinai there is an exception to the rule, since this is the place of holy prophets. On the left is Moses, holding the Tablets of the Law, and on them, objects of the tabernacle. He was shown the tabernacle in sacred vision and commanded to make the same, that the worship offered here below should be ‘unto the example and shadow of heavenly things’ (Hebrews 8:5). On the right is Aaron clothed in the vestments of the High Priest, holding a censer and the rod that ‘brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds’ (Numbers 17:8).

In the Epistle to the Hebrews we read that the objects of the tabernacle were ‘copies [ὑποδείγματα] of things in the heavens’ (Hebrews 9:23), ‘figures [ἀντίτυπα] of the true’ (Hebrews 9:24). In the ninth century, Saint Theodore the Studite wrote to his disciple Naukratios, ‘by means of copies [ὑποδείγματα] and shadows the people of the Old Testament worshipped heavenly realities. And what were those things if not images? And was it not through these images that they were led up to the contemplation of heavenly realities?’

The first sunlight on weathered granite cliffs at the basin of the Prophet Elijah forms beautiful patterns of light and shadow.

The last station of the camel trail in the light of a new day.

Two passages from Saint Gregory the Theologian’s Oration 44, On the New Lord’s Day, in which he extols a creation that has come back to life after the cold and death of winter.

Ἡ βασίλισσα τῶν ὡρῶν τῇ βασιλίδι τῶν ἡμερῶν πομπεύει, καὶ δωροφορεῖ παρ’ ἑαυτῆς πᾶν ὅ τι κάλλιστον καὶ τερπνότατον. Νῦν οὐρανὸς διαυγέστερος· νῦν ἥλιος ὑψηλότερος καὶ χρυσοειδέστερος· νῦν σελήνης κύκλος φανότερος, καὶ ἀστέρων χορὸς καθαρώτερος. Νῦν αἰγιαλοῖς μὲν κύματα σπένδεται, ἡλίῳ δὲ νέφος, ἀέρι δὲ ἄνεμοι, γῆ δὲ φυτοῖς, φυτὰ δὲ ὄψεσι. Νῦν πηγαὶ διαυγέστερον νάουσι· νῦν δὲ ποταμοὶ δαψιλέστερον, τῶν χειμερίων δεσμῶν λυθέντες. Καὶ λειμὼν εὐωδεῖ, καὶ φυτὸν βρύει, καὶ κείρεται πόα, καὶ ἄρνες ἐπισκιρτῶσι χλοεραῖς ταῖς ἀρούραις.

Ἔτι δὲ συντομώτερον εἰπεῖν, νῦν ἔαρ κοσμικὸν, ἔαρ πνευματικὸν, ἔαρ ψυχαῖς, ἔαρ σώμασιν, ἔαρ ὁρώμενον, ἔαρ ἀόρατον· οὗ κἀκεῖθεν μεταλάβοιμεν ἐνταῦθα καλῶς ἀμειφθέντες, καὶ καινοὶ πρὸς τὸν καινὸν βίον παραπεμφθείημεν, ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ Κυρίῳ ἡμῶν, ᾧ πᾶσα δόξα, τιμὴ, καὶ κράτος σὺν ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι, εἰς δόξαν Θεοῦ Πατρός. Ἀμήν.

The queen of the seasons leadeth a triumphant procession with this princess of the days, and they are regally escorted by everything most comely and delightful. Now heaven is more translucent; now the sun is more lofty and more golden; now the moon’s orb is more luminous, and the choir of the stars is more illustrious. Now the waves have made peace with the rocky coast, the clouds with the sun, the winds with the air, the earth with vegetation, and vegetation with the eyes of men. Now the springs run more purely; now the rivers surge more abundantly, the mountain torrents being loosed of their bonds. The meadow is fragrant, plant life flourisheth, the grassy meadows are shorn, and the lambs skip beholding the luxuriant verdure of seeded fields.

But to put it still more succinctly, now is springtime of the world, springtime of the spirit, springtime for souls, springtime for bodies, springtime that is visible, springtime invisible, of which may we partake yonder, having here been excellently changed; and may we, all renewed, be escorted to that new life in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be all glory, honour, and dominion with the Holy Spirit unto the glory of God the Father. Amen.

Συγκλονεῖται φόβῳ, πᾶσα Λόγε, ἡ γῆ καὶ φωσφόρος τὰς ἀκτῖνας απέκρυψε, τοῦ μεγίστου γῇ κρυβέντος σου φωτός.

All the earth, O Word, trembled in fear, and the morning star concealed its rays, when thy great light was hid in earth.