Understanding the Icon of Mid-Pentecost
Most
icons showing biblical events from the traditional accounts of the life of
Jesus make obvious sense in relation to the church year: the Nativity
icon celebrates the event depicted, the birth of Jesus; the Baptism (Theophany)
icon celebrates the baptism. Even the Indiction icon, which shows the
beginning of Jesus’ ministry when he enters the synagogue at Nazareth and reads
from the book of Isaiah, makes sense in its position as the beginning of the
church year.
Today’s
icon, however, does not make obvious sense, in spite of the fact that it is an
easily recognized scene.
It
depicts the event called in Western art “Jesus Among the Doctors,” recorded in
Luke 2:41-49:
Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover. And
when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the
feast. And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child
Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it.
But they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day’s
journey; and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintances. And
when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him.
And it
came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in
the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions.
And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers.
And
when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said to him, Son, why have
you thus dealt with us? Behold, your father and I have sought you
sorrowing.
And he
said to them, How is it that you sought me? Know you not that I must be about
my Father’s business?
Mid-Pentecost happens on Wednesday in the middle of the fourth week after
Easter, halfway between Easter and the festival of Pentecost (the celebration
of the Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles), sometimes called “Whitsun”
or “Whitsunday” in the West. So that is what this icon type signifies in the
Eastern Orthodox liturgical year: the festival that occurs halfway between
Easter and Pentecost — in “the middle.” It is rather odd that the image of the
young Jesus among the elders became used for Mid-Pentecost, because the
biblical text that connects the Mid-Pentecost icon type with that festival, and
is sometimes used as the title of the icon, actually refers to a different (but
similar) event supposedly later in the life of Jesus, as written in John 7:14-
Now about the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and taught. And
the Jews marveled, saying, How knows this man letters, having never learned?
Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.
The excerpt sometimes used as the title inscription
for this icon type is:
"ВЪ ПРЕПОЛОВЕНИЕ ПРАЗДНИКА ВЗЫДЕ ИИСУСЪ ВО СВЯТИЛИЩЕ" (V’ PREPOLOVENIE PRAZDNIKA VZUIDE IISUS’
VO SVYATILISHCHE “In the Middle of the Feast Jesus Entered into the Temple…”)
That excerpt originally referred to the adult Jesus and to the Jewish feast of
Sukkoth, but Eastern Orthodoxy made use of that “middle of the feast” notion to
apply the image instead to Mid-Pentecost. All in all, it makes for rather
confused and stretched connections, but that is tradition. In any case, it
shows us how intimately icons are connected with the liturgical calendar of
Eastern Orthodox Church.
The troparion for the Mid-Pentecost festival also
makes use of that “middle of the feast” concept:
Тропарь, глас 8
Преполовившуся
празднику, / жаждущую душу мою благочестия напой водами, / яко всем, Спасе,
возопил еси: / жаждай да грядет ко Мне и да пиет. / Источниче жизни нашея,
Христе Боже, слава Тебе.
Troparion, voice (tone)
8:
In the middle of the feast, fill my thirsty soul with
the waters of piety, as to all, Savior, you cried: Let the thirsty come to me
and drink. Fountain of our life, Christ God, glory to you.
In Russian Orthodoxy, Mid-Pentecost is traditionally a
time when both the fields and water are ritually blessed. The type varies
slightly from example to example. In this one Joseph and Mary stand at left,
and the youthful Jesus is seated in the Temple amid the elders, discussing
texts with them. Jesus holds an open book. In some other examples, he holds a
rolled scroll.
