The Meaning of the Analavos of the Great Schema
The Great
Schema in the Orthodox Church requires the traditional monastic vows, plus
special spiritual feats. According to Archpriest G. S. Debolsky: "In the
understanding of the Church, the Great Schema is nothing less than the supreme
vow of the Cross and death; it is the image of complete isolation from the
earth, the image of transformation and transfiguration of life, the image of
death and the beginning of another, higher, existence."
As a
monastic dignity, the Great Schema has been known since the 4th century.
According to an ancient legend, this dignity was inaugurated by St. Pachomios
the Great. However, as a form of monastic life, the Great Schema goes back to
the origin of Christianity. Those who followed Christ's teachings on supreme
spiritual perfection by voluntarily taking the vows of chastity, obedience and
poverty were called ascetics to distinguish them from other Christians. They
led a harsh and secluded hermit's life like St. John the Baptist, or like our
Lord Jesus Christ Himself during his forty days in the desert.
According
to the Rule of St. Pachomios, the act of acceptance into a monastery had three
steps and consisted of (a) "temptation" (trial), (b) clothing, and
(c) presentation to the starets for spiritual guidance. Each of the three steps
undoubtedly had its own significance. They marked the beginning of the three
stages in monasticism which have become deeply embedded in the life of the
Eastern Church: first, the novice (or rasoforos); the second, the monk (known
as a monk of the Lesser Schema); and the third, the monk of the Great Schema.
The
Church historians Sozomen, Bishop Palladios of Helenopolis and Hieromonk
Nicephoros maintain that St. Pachomios was the first to invest monks with the
full monastic dignity of the schema.
It should
be noted that not all the fathers and ascetics of the Church divided
monasticism into the greater and lesser angelic schema. For instance, St.
Theodore of Studios did not agree with this division, considering that there
should be only one form of monasticism, just as there was one Mystery of
Baptism.
However,
the custom of dividing monasticism into two became widespread in the practice
of the Church. The Lesser Schema thus became a kind of preparatory step to the
Great Schema. Cenobitism came to be known as a "betrothal", and
seclusion within a monastery as actual "matrimony". In accordance
with the Rule the difference between the Lesser and Greater Schema began to be
reflected in the habit. Those of the latter had embroidered crosses on their
habit, while the former did not.
Those who
take the Great Schema vows must be like an angel in the flesh; they must attain
that degree of spiritual perfection which is possible for man. Constant
contemplation of God, life in Him, and silence is their vocation.
The
analavos of the Great Schema monks are the signs of perfect monasticism,
symbols not only of humble wisdom and gentleness, but also of the Cross, of
suffering, of Christ's wounds, of constant dying with Christ.
The
άνάλαβος (analavos) is the distinctive garment of a monk or a nun tonsured into
the highest grade of Orthodox monasticism, the Great Schema, and is adorned
with the instruments of the Passion of Christ. It takes its name from the Greek
αναλαμβάνω (“to take up”), serving as a constant reminder to the one who wears
it that he or she must “take up his cross daily” (Luke 9:23). The
ornately-plaited Crosses that cover the analavos, the polystavrion
(πολυσταύριον, from πολύς, “many,” and σταυρός, “Cross”) — a name often, though
less accurately, also applied to the analavos — reminds the monastic that he or
she is “crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20).
With
regard to each image on the analavos, the rooster represents “the cock [that]
crowed” (Matthew 26:74; Mark 14:68 Luke 22:60; John 18:27) after Saint Peter
had “denied thrice” His Master and Lord (John 13:38).
The
pillar represents the column to which Pilate bound Christ “when he scourged
Him” (Mark 15:15) “by Whose stripes we were healed” (Isaiah 53:5; I Peter
2:24).
The
wreath garlanding the Cross represents the “crown of thorns” (Matthew 27:29;
Mark 15:17; John 19:2) that “the soldiers platted” (John 19:2) and “put upon
the head” (Matthew 27:29) of “God our King of old” (Psalm 73:13), Who freed man
from having to contend against “thorns and thistles in the sweat of his brow”
(Genesis 3:18-19).
The
upright post and the traverse beam represent the stipes and the patibulum that
formed “the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Galatians 6:14), upon which “all day
long He stretched forth His hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people”
(Isaiah 65:2; Romans 10:21).
The four
spikes at the center of the Cross and the hammer beneath its base represent the
“nails” (John 20:25) and hammer with which “they pierced” (Psalm 21:16; John
19:37) “His hands and His feet” (Luke 24:40). when they “lifted up from the
earth” (John 12:32) Him Who “blotted out the handwriting of ordinances that was
against us by nailing it to His Cross” (Colossians 2:14).
The base
upon which the Cross stands represents “the place, which is called 'Calvary'
(Luke 23:33), or 'Golgotha', that is to say, the Place of the Skull” (Matthew
27:33), “where they crucified Him” (John 19:18) Who “wrought salvation in the
midst of the earth” (Psalm 73:13).
The skull
and crossbones represent “the first man Adam” (I Corinthians 15:45), who by
tradition “returned unto the ground” (Genesis 3:19) at this very spot, the
reason that this place of execution, “full of dead men’s bones” (Matthew 23:27)
became the place where “the last Adam was made a quickening spirit” (I
Corinthians 15:45).
The
plaque on top of the Cross represents the titulus, the “title” (John 19:19-20),
with “the superscription of His accusation” (Mark 15:26), which “Pilate wrote”
(John 19:19) “and set up over His head” (Matthew 27:37); however, instead of
“Jesus of Nazareth the king of the Jews” (John 19:19), which “was written over
Him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew” (Luke 23:38), the three
languages being an allusion to the Three Hypostases “of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19), this titulus reads, “The King of
Glory” (Psalm 23:7-10), “for had they known it they would not have crucified
the Lord of glory” (I Corinthians 2:8).
The reed
represents the “hyssop” (John 19:29) upon which was put “a sponge full of
vinegar” (Mark 15:36), which was then “put to His mouth” (John 19:29) when in
His “thirst they gave Him vinegar to drink” (Psalm 68:21), Him of Whom it was
said that “all wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth”
(Luke 4:22).
The lance
represents the “spear [that] pierced His side”; “and forthwith came there out
blood and water” (John 19:34) from Him Who “took one of Adam's ribs, and closed
up the flesh instead thereof" (Genesis 2:21) and Who “washed us from our
sins in His own blood” (Revelation 1:5).
The
plaque at the bottom of the Cross represents the suppedaneum of Christ, “His
footstool” (Psalm 98:5), “the place where His feet have stood” (Psalm 131:7).
It is slanted because, according to one tradition, at the moment when “Jesus
cried with a loud voice, and gave up the spirit” (Mark 15:37), He allowed a
violent death spasm to convulse His legs, dislodging His footrest in such a
manner that one end pointed upwards, indicating that the soul of the penitent
thief, Saint Dismas, “the one on His right hand” (Mark 15:27) would be “carried
up into Heaven” (Luke 24:51), while the other end, pointed downwards, indicated
that the soul of the impenitent thief, Gestas, “the other on His left” (Mark
15:27), would “be thrust down to Hell” (Luke 10:15), showing that all of us,
“the evil and the good, the just and the unjust” (Matthew 5:45), “are weighed
in the balance” (Ecclesiasticus 21:25) of the Cross of Christ.
The
ladder and the pincers beneath the base of the Cross represent the means of
deposition by which Saint Joseph of Arimathea, “a rich man” (Matthew 27:57) who
“begged for the body of Jesus” (Matthew 27:58; Luke 23:52), “took it down”
(Luke 23:53), so that as in body He descended from the Cross, so in soul “He
also descended first into the lower parts of the earth” (Ephesians 4:9), “by
which also He went and preached unto the spirits in prison” (I Peter 3:19).
Through
these instruments, “the Cross of Christ” (I Corinthians 1:17: Galatians 6:12;
Philippians 3:18) became the “Tree of Life” (Genesis 2:9; 3:22, 24; Proverbs
3:18, 11:30; 13:12; 15:4; Revelation 2:7; 22:2,14), by which the Lord Jesus
reified His words that, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth
in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live, and whosoever liveth and
believeth in Me shall never die” (John 11:25-26).
The Greek
letters that appear on the analavos are abbreviations of phrases that extol the
Cross as “the power of God” (I Corinthians 1:18). From top to bottom:
• ΟΒΤΔ -
Ό Βασιλεύς της Δόξης - “The King of Glory”
• ΙC XC
NIKΑ - Ιησούς Χριστός νικά - ”Jesus Christ conquers”
• ΤΤΔΦ -
Τετιμημένον τρόπαιον δαιμόνων φρίκη - "Honored trophy, the dread of
demons”
• ΡΡΔΡ -
Ρητορικοτέρα ρητόρων δακρύων ροή - "A flow of tears more eloquent than
orators” (or, more likely: Ρητορικοτέρα ρημάτων δακρύων ροή)
• ΧΧΧΧ -
Χριστός Χριστιανοίς Χαρίζει Χάριν - "Christ bestoweth Grace upon
Christians”
• ΞΓΘΗ -
Ξύλου γεύσις θάνατον ηγαγεν - "The tasting of the tree brought about
death”
• CΞΖΕ -
Σταυρού Ξύλω ζωήν εύρομεν - "Through the Tree of the Cross have we found
life"
• ΕΕΕΕ -
Ελένης εύρημα εύρηκεν Εδέμ - "The discovery of Helen hath uncovered Eden”
• ΦΧΦΠ -
Φως Χριστού φαίνοι πάσι - “The light of Christ shines upon all”
• ΘΘΘΘ -
Θεού Θέα Θείον Θαύμα - "The vision of God, a Divine wonder”
• ΤCΔΦ -
Τύπον Σταυρού δαίμονες φρίττουσιν - "Demons dread the sign of the Cross”
• ΑΔΑΜ -
Αδάμ - "Adam"
• ΤΚΠΓ -
Τόπος Κρανίου Παράδεισος γέγονε - "The Place of the Skull hath become
Paradise”
• ΞΖ -
Ξύλον Ζωής - “Tree of life”
There are
other items and abbreviations that may appear on the analavos, but these are
sufficient to demonstrate that this holy garment silently proclaims “the
preaching of the Cross” (I Corinthians 1:18) through its mystical symbolism,
declaring for its wearer, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of
our Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the
world” (Galatians 6:14).
