About the Small 1,400-year-old Icons Uncovered in Jerusalem
Israel
Archaeologists have announced the discovery of a 1,400-year-old Christian
devotional aid (dubbed a “Prayer Box”) made of bone, with two paintings
believed to portray the Virgin Mary and Jesus. The size of the box (a tiny 0.8
x 0.6in, or 2 x 1.5cm), led experts to think the object was designed to be worn
round the neck, possibly by a pilgrim.
Small
icons of Christ and the Theotokos, hinged as a diptych (here is an example) are
well-known to Orthodox Christians today, being useful portable, personal
devotional aids. What is fascinating about this discovery is that it shows such
items were around even in the first millennium. There are plenty of examples of
icons being found and used in churches and monasteries from their earliest
histories, but this is the first discovery of an early icon not made for
adorning a church, but for personal use. Whether the owner used it for personal
devotion, protection, or both, is a mystery, as throughout the Church’s history
Icons have served Christians in many ways.
As
reported by the Associated Press:
JERUSALEM
(AP) — A tiny, exquisitely made box found on an excavated street in Jerusalem
is a token of Christian faith from 1,400 years ago, Israeli archaeologists said
Sunday.
The box,
carved from the bone of a cow, horse or camel, decorated with a cross on the
lid and measuring only 0.8 inches by 0.6 inches (2 centimeter by 1.5
centimeter), was likely carried by a Christian believer around the end of the
6th century A.D, according to Yana Tchekhanovets of the Israel Antiquities
Authority, one of the directors of the dig where the box was found.
When the
lid is removed, the remains of two portraits are still visible in paint and
gold leaf. The figures, a man and a woman, are probably Christian saints and
possibly Jesus and the Virgin Mary.
The box
was found in an excavation outside the walls of Jerusalem’s Old City in the
remains of a Byzantine-era thoroughfare, she said. Uncovered two years ago, it
was treated by preservation experts and extensively researched before it was
unveiled at an archaeological conference last week.
The box
is important in part because it offers the first archaeological evidence that
the use of icons in the Byzantine period was not limited to church ceremonies,
she said.
Part of a
similar box was found three decades ago in Jordan, but this is the only
well-preserved example to be found so far, she said. Similar icons are still
carried today by some Christian believers, especially from the eastern Orthodox
churches.
The relic
was found in the City of David excavation, a Jerusalem dig named for the
biblical monarch believed to have ruled a Jewish kingdom from the site.
The
politically sensitive dig is located in what is today the Palestinian
neighborhood of Silwan, just outside the Old City walls in east Jerusalem, the
section of the holy city captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war and claimed
by the Palestinians as their capital.
Source: https://iconreader.wordpress.com/2011/10/31/tiny-6th-century-icons-found-in-jerusalem/
The Work of the Workshops of St. Elisabeth Convent in New Church in Salihorsk, Belarus
The
Cathedral in honour of the Nativity of Christ was consecrated on Sunday,
November 26. The workshops of St Elisabeth Convent made a significant
contribution to the decoration of the cathedral. Brothers and sisters from the
Icon Painting Studio, Mural Painting workshop, and embroidery workshop have
participated in decorating this church.
The image
of Christ the Pantocrator in the central apse's conch is the first thing the
faithful see as they walk into the cathedral. The side apses feature paintings
with icons of the Mother of God the Orans and Prophet John the Forerunner, the
so-called Deësis (praying to the Saviour), which is a popular theme in
traditional fresco painting art.
The icons
in the two-tier iconostasis are coloristically and compositionally united with
the fresco paintings on the wall of the Holy Nativity Cathedral. The upper-tier
icons, which are often referred to as festive icons, portray Gospel events.
Their location is not accidental, either. The icons of the Marian feasts are
located in the side apse with an image of the Mother of God; the icons of
Lord's feasts are located in the central apse under the image of the Holy
Saviour; and the icons that describe the life of St John the Baptist are
located under the image of St John the Baptist.
The lower
tier is interrupted by the central door and the side (deacon's) doors. There is
an image of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos on the Royal Door, with
Archangel Gabriel to the left and Virgin Mary to the right. The side doors are
decorated with icons of Old Testament prophets: Moses and his older brother
Aaron the High Priest. The authors implemented the idea to hang curtains with
embroidered Seraphim and Cherubim above these doors. Embroidered images like
these can be traced back to the decorations of the Old Testament Tabernacle.
The Royal Door curtain has an embroidery of the Crucifixion with the Theotokos
and St John the Theologian on both sides. The icon of the Crucified Lord must
remind us of his great sacrifice for the sake of our salvation. The Cross is
the Tree of Life, the fruit of which we all are called to eat during the Holy
Eucharist.
The
believers will see full-figure icons of the Holy Saviour and the Mother of God
with Baby Jesus in her arms on both sides of the Royal Door. An icon of the
Nativity of Christ, which is the main icon of this cathedral, is to the right
of the icon of the Holy Saviour, and an icon of the Resurrection of Christ,
which shows his descent into hell, is to the left of the icon of Theotokos.
The
lower-tier icons in the side apses include full-figure images of Holy Apostles
Peter and Paul, St Nicholas the Wonderworker, St Cyril of Turaŭ, the holy
patronesses of Belarus — St Euphrosyne of Polotsk and St Sophia of Slutsk, as
well as the saints who are especially venerated by the residents of Salihorsk:
St Gabriel of Bialystok, Great Martyr Barbara, and New Martyr John of Čyževičy.
Our icon
painters painted the Calvary cross, too. A Calvary cross is a standing crucifix
with figures, which the faithful can kiss in prayer.
The Most
Reverend Pavel, Metropolitan of Minsk and Zaslavl, the Patriarchal Exarch of
All Belarus, who performed the rite of Great Consecration of the Cathedral and
celebrated the Divine Liturgy together with other hierarchs, also noted in his
sermon how beautiful this cathedral is. Metropolitan Pavel thanked the Rt Rev
Anthony, bp. of Slutsk and Salihorsk, for finishing the construction of the
Cathedral.
Many pilgrims
from all over Belarus prayed in the Cathedral during the Liturgy. There were
representatives of the local authorities, directors of industrial enterprises
based in Salihorsk, and the benefactors of the Cathedral among the honorary
guests.
The parish
of the Holy Nativity Cathedral includes several churches: a baptismal church in
honour of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos; a lower church in honour of
the Nativity of St John the Baptist; and the Cathedral in honour of the
Nativity of Christ. There will be a two-storied building for the Sunday School,
a Sisterhood and a Youth Fellowship, near the Cathedral. The Holy Nativity
Cathedral is intended to become a spiritual education centre for the Diocese of
Slutsk and Salihorsk.
November 28, 2017
St.
Elisabeth Convent
The High and Holy Calling of Being a Wife
An
excerpt from “Glory
and Honor: Orthodox Christian Resources on Marriage,” edited by David and Mary
Ford, St Vladimir’s Seminary Press.
Why do
people get married? How do they stay married? If there is a sanctity to
marriage, a holiness in the wife’s and husband’s calling, what is the nature of
that holiness? Just how much exalted significance can married life bear, when
it has to be conducted by people who are crabby, oblivious, or bored?
I don’t
have wisdom adequate to such lofty questions, but over the years I’ve learned
some lessons that, I hope, might prove helpful to others:
- Perhaps
the first difficulty is that we don’t expect marriage to be difficult. We
think, “We’re in love, and that solves everything.” But as long as the two
people in love are human, there are going to be misunderstandings,
miscommunications, and misplaced expectations. The most pernicious factor in a
marriage (or any other relationship, really) is a sneaking suspicion that the
other person has more power—that he’s getting his own way too often, and things
aren’t fair. You can develop a habit of wary watchfulness, standing guard over
your rights and viewing your husband with suspicion. It’s easy to do this, and
it’s entirely contrary to our calling in Christ, which is to bear all and
embrace humility.
A power
struggle is a teeter-totter that never comes to rest. As both partners adapt to
it in self-defense, they form a long-term habit of vigilance and mistrust. This
makes them unwilling to risk generosity, unwilling to let past “unfairness” go.
Nothing good comes of this.
This
mutually-assured dysfunction occurs so naturally that preventing it requires
deliberate counter-moves. We already know that we’d rather live a different
way; we already know that the people we most admire are those who are kind and
generous, and that the best love stories are the ones marked by great
self-giving. You can start living in such a story any time you want. All you
have to do is start practicing generosity, humility, and self-giving.
But,
since we’re human and timid and afraid of loss, it helps to make this goal
mutual and explicit. One couple I know made a vow on their wedding day to
“out-serve” each other. My husband and I evolved a pattern of making decisions
based on who feels most strongly about the matter. If I want Chinese food, but
he really wants Italian, we get Italian. If I really want him to watch a Jane
Austen movie with me, he does, until he falls asleep 45 minutes later. It
doesn’t matter who “won” last time, because a next time is always coming up.
The future just keeps rolling into the present, and more good things to give
and to receive will always be appearing.
-Sometimes
it is harder to receive than to give, actually. Receiving implies need, and
admitting need takes humility. Allow your husband to serve you sometimes. Take
notice and be grateful, and say so, out loud.
- Learn this: many regrettable situations can
be avoided by keeping your mouth shut.
- A good time to keep your mouth shut is when
your husband is telling a story and gets something wrong. If he’s doing
anything less serious than teaching brain surgery, resist the urge to interrupt
with a correction. If the listener walks away with a misremembered anecdote or
a fumbled joke, no lasting harm is done.
This is
an example of a larger principle, that of honoring your husband: “Let the wife
see that she respects her husband” (Eph 5:33). When you love your husband, you
come more and more to be on his side. You want him to succeed. You want people
to look up to him. You don’t want people to notice that he’s getting the story
wrong; you want to cover his flaws and highlight his gifts. You come, that is,
to feel for your husband the kind of fierce loyalty that you feel toward your
children.
Married
people should praise each other. Praise your husband to other people. Everyone
can use a cheering section.
- A corollary is: Don’t complain to others
about your husband. Don’t tell stories designed to make him look small or
stupid. If your relationship needs help, get help, but don’t be a casual
traitor.
- Nobody
talks about this, but one of the best things in marriage is the way you can get
punchy and silly when you’re both over-tired late at night. That’s when some of
the best long- running jokes of the relationship are going to make their debut.
Much can be said about the archetypal dignity of the marriage bed, but being
silly there is a great joy, too.
- Defenders of traditional marriage often point
to procreation as its self-evident purpose, and it’s true that mating holds an
irreducibly basic place among human activities. But many things we do have
meanings beyond their simple physical effects. The basic purpose of food and
drink is to keep the body alive; yet we eat and drink for many other reasons,
having a slice of cake at a party, a cup of coffee with a friend. While
marriage is the right setting for sex, the sexual union of two people means
much more than making babies. As St. Paul says, “This mystery is great, and I
am saying that it refers to Christ and the church” (Eph 5:32).
- Here’s something practical I wish I’d known a
long time ago. It’s something I learned from an episode of WNYC’s RadioLab. In
it, neurobiologist Robert Sapolsky explained that our bodies go through swift,
predictable changes when we get angry: muscles tighten, heart beats faster, and
adrenalin starts to surge.
When the
argument is resolved, men’s bodies quickly go back to baseline normal. But not
women’s bodies. Her body keeps telling her “You’re really angry!,” even when
the argument is over.
In trying
to figure out why she still feels angry, a wife may cast about, looking for a
reason. She might land on an entirely different topic to argue about. The
husband suddenly finds himself re-accused of past events that he thought had
been resolved.
A woman
can’t force her body to return to physiological equilibrium, but she can
decide, in the interim, to stop arguing and go do something else. Sapolsky said
that he and his wife have found it useful, in the throes of an argument, to say
“Honey, don’t forget what the half-life is on the autonomic nervous system.”
- Here
follows a way to put that information to practical effect. Go ahead and go to
bed angry. Those lingering late-night arguments are the worst; you’re
exhausted, bleary, and miserable, and you’re not making any sense. Just stop
talking. Turn out the light. Sleep is truly a blessing, and things actually do
look better in the morning.
- One of the most difficult tasks in marriage
is forgiveness. My husband has been a pastor for nearly 40 years, and we’ve
seen many a marriage struggle back from a severe violation of trust. It’s not
easy, but it’s possible; and since love is the essence of marriage, recovery
should be the goal.
One
reason people find forgiveness difficult is that they don’t know what it is.
(I’m thinking now of forgiveness in general, and not only in marriage.) Some
think it means pretending that the hurtful deed never happened, or that it was
excusable, or wasn’t really wrong. On the contrary, the very premise of
forgiveness is that real damage was done. That’s the basis on which God
forgives us. Forgiveness does not preclude justice; it might still be necessary
for that person to pay for his wrong, even though you have forgiven him.
So
forgiveness is not denial or overlooking a wrong. It simply means making a
decision to move on—a decision to stop cultivating anger and cherishing
revenge. As they say, staying angry is like drinking poison and waiting for the
other person to die. Even when the other person is unrepentant, the injured
person can decide to forgive for the sake of her own soul’s health.
Forgiving
the past does not obligate you to trust the person in the future. In some
situations, you may need to break off the relationship entirely. That would be
the usual course in a low-commitment situation, for example, if a person you’d
hired for some home repairs failed to do what he promised. But in marriage a
lot more is at stake. It’s possible to make a new start in the ashes of
disappointment; some marriages come back even stronger, when pain and
humiliation have opened a way to deeper honesty. There will be plenty of
reasons over the years to ask forgiveness, and to give it, in every marriage.
- Always remember that marriage does not exist
in theory. It exists only in specific real-life manifestations, an ongoing
improvised project conducted by two fallible people. Our ideas about marriage
(or Marriage) are encumbered by so many preconceptions that at-home reality can
suffer in comparison. We may think something is going wrong if marriage doesn’t
fit our expectations, but it might be merely that this is what this particular
marriage is going to be like. One partner’s pre-set notions of what a
theoretical Husband or Wife should be like can hurt the real-life spouse in
untold ways, even to the point that he or she gives up.
As an
early-seventies feminist, my image of what a marriage was, or what a husband
was, was pretty dour. It was a surprise to find out that real marriage was
something else entirely. It turned out that I didn’t have to be married to “a
husband;” instead, I would be married to G.—my love, my hero, my fun and funny
best friend. I felt like I had cheated the “oppressive” expectations of
society; I had married G. instead of a husband.
- The
purpose of every life is union with God. Those we journey with—in friendships,
families, and particularly in marriage—are put there to help us on our way. A
husband and wife, knowing each other’s faults and struggles, can make up what
is lacking, and learn from each other’s strengths. Accountability shores up
resolve. Unity is a bulwark. “And though a man might prevail against one who is
alone, two will withstand him. A threefold cord is not quickly broken.” (Eccl
4:12).
The
common center of their love gives each partner greater stores of stability,
security, and generosity, resources that flow from them out to the world. We
can see a parallel example in the pairs of saints who worked together in this
life, like the physician-healers Zenaida and Philonella, the “roving reporters”
Sophronius and John Moschus, and the spiritual fathers Barsanuphius and John.
They felt for each other love of a familial or friendly kind, and married love
is of a different order; yet, like them, married couples can find that sharing
great love with another person in no way limits your ability to care for
others. In fact, having the support of another person enables more love for
others, giving twice the resources to draw on, twice the strength, insight, and
compassion.
When
spouses are praying for each other, encouraging each other, they spur their
mates to greater heights. “Let the husband hear of these things [the ways of
virtue] from the wife, and the wife from the husband,” said St. John
Chrysostom. “Let there be a kind of rivalry among all, in endeavoring to gain
precedence.”
- The older I get, the more clearly I see that
I need my husband. The last decades of life are unpredictable, and potentially
tragic. It doesn’t stop being tragic just because tragedy is so likely. I heard
that the wife in an elderly couple I know was losing her mind to dementia, and
was sad to hear it, but accepted the news in the usual way; it’s just one of
the unfortunate things that can happen when you’re old. But if you imagine that
it was a couple in their twenties, and heard the wife had begun gradually and
irreversibly losing her mind, you wouldn’t just say, “Ah, what a shame.” It
would be horrifying. Well, it’s just as horrifying to lose your beloved at the
age of 70 or 80. The fact that everyone is treating it as “just one of those
things” would only make you feel more alone.
Old age
is surprisingly hard. My husband had had, from the time we met, a sentimental
expectation that our golden years would be restful and content; but as we march
through our 60s we’re discovering that everything hurts. And nobody prepares
you for this. When you’re a teenager, people are always shoving booklets into
your hands with titles like “Your Body is Changing.” When you’re old your body
once again goes through dramatic changes, but nobody warns you ahead of time.
Old, reliable parts start unexpectedly failing. It seemed there was a wry joke
hidden inside the saying, “Two become one.” We used to be two whole people, but
now we have only one functioning pair of knees, one reliable pair of ears, one
pain-free right thumb. We’re being gradually whittled down from two to one.
It does
no good to go to a doctor expecting healing; you’re more likely to encounter a
shrug. I went to a neurologist to find out why, after a lifetime of being a
great speller, I was now forgetting how to spell even some simple words. He
told me that this was perfectly normal: by the age of 60 we have lost 25% of
our brain cells.
How can
that kind of loss be “normal”? It’s not normal for me. In my experience,
“normal” means enjoying use of 100% of my brain cells. It is normal only if you
mean that what happens to my brain doesn’t matter, because I am last year’s
model and being phased out anyway.
These
losses would be hard to bear at any time of life, and being old and weak and
facing multiple losses at one time doesn’t make it any easier. This is when you
really need a good marriage. You need someone who will be on your side, who
will care about you and fight for you, as you become weaker and less able to do
everything for yourself. You might wind up with dementia. You might be
incontinent. People hired to give care in such cases are not well-paid. Few go
into that line of work because they love old people. (Not all old people are
loveable; some are angry or verbally abusive. That could be you, too.) When you
are old and helpless, you are only as safe as the amount of love inside the
person beside you.
Are you
saving up for retirement? Save up for this impoverishment every day. It might
turn out to be a hard job, being with you in your old age. If you pour yourself
out in love for the other every day, you make the best possible investment
against that time.
***
The
calling of being a wife is high and holy because it is eternal. Look at the
things in the room around you right now: everything you see is temporary. The
only thing that last forever is people. Each of them is an eternal being,
called and destined to blaze up with the glory of God. Wives and husbands are
especially called to tend each other as they walk the way of the Cross, the way
of transformation, a way that never ends.
When St.
John Chrysostom comforted a young widow, he reminded her that she would be with
her husband for eternity, not in his earthly beauty but in radiance of an
eternal and unimaginable kind. “You shall depart one day to join the same
company with him, not for twenty or one hundred years, nor for a thousand or
twice that number but for infinite and endless ages. […] Then you
will receive him back again no longer in that corporeal beauty which he had
when he departed, but in luster of another kind, and splendor outshining the
rays of the sun.” This is our destiny, as wives; let us spend our humble,
earthly lives in the sort of love that prepares us for such glory.
Source: http://frederica.com/writings/the-high-and-holy-calling-of-being-a-wife.html
Personal Stories: Practice Makes Permanent!
While
coaching my daughter’s soccer team a few years back, I invited Katherine, an
accomplished high school soccer player, to work with my ten-year-old girls for
one practice. After teaching them a trap-and-kick exercise, she gathered the
team together and told the girls, “You have to keep practicing this drill, but
you must realize that practice doesn’t make perfect.” Several kids raised their
hands and replied, “My mom said if I practice my violin, I’ll play my piece
perfectly,” or “If I practice my dance steps, I will become perfect…”
Katherine
looked at them and said that what they have been told was a lie. I held my
breath waiting for this sixteenyear-old girl’s explanation. She boldly said,
“Practice doesn’t make perfect, practice makes permanent.” That bit of wisdom resonated
within my heart and is an important model for our spiritual lives. Practice
makes permanent! Indeed, our patterns and behavior will set into motion the
direction of our lives. The way we pray and prioritize our spiritual life, the
way we speak, the way we love, the way we respond to conflict; all have been
consciously or unconsciously practiced over the years and have become a
permanent part of our life.
We often
find ourselves practicing what the world tells us is important, as found with
the daily bombardment of commercials, music, news, self-help books, fad diets,
products and ideas that can present a treasury of empty promises. We are told
we will be happy, sexy, rich or successful if we simply purchase a certain
product, take an energy supplement, read a particular book, subscribe to a
tested financial plan or try the next exciting “special offer.”
Our life
then becomes a continuous search for the next thing that will fulfill us—the
next thing that will bring us happiness. What are we practicing and making
permanent? Is it a cycle of false hopes, wishes and worries? Or are we
practicing patience, compassion and love?
Jesus
tells us that the eye is the lamp of the body and our body will be full of
light if our eye is clear (Matthew 6:22). Our eyes and ears are the gateway to
the soul. Just as the practice of eating healthy food helps nourish a healthy
body, what we practice receiving with our eyes and ears affects the health of
our souls. How are we engaging with our family? What are we watching? What
music are we listening to? What conversations are we having that help
strengthen our relationship with God and one another?
The
information we digest will impact and shape us, whether we know it or not. As
Orthodox Christians, we must be vigilant and watchful of the messages we
receive and careful of the words that we speak to one another. All have a vital
influence upon our souls. We must be intentionally mindful of what actually
feeds the soul—resisting words, images and conversations that distract us from
living a life of true holiness.
The
Church implores us to be selective about what we see, hear and do, as we strive
to make choices that edify our souls. We are invited to examine what we
practice in our lives, to see where we devote our time, energy and thoughts. We
need to take a hard look at our daily schedule. Are we spending enough
uninterrupted time with our families? Are we eating meals on the run? Are we
taking time in prayer to be still with God? Are we reaching out to others who
are in need?
This
week, make it a point to notice what you look at, what you listen to, what you
read and what you say. St. Basil says, “We should not be deceived by the
corrupting delights of this world, but rather become strengthened in the desire
to attain the treasures of the world to come.” Consider practicing and making
permanent the action of love, the gift of compassion and the practice of being
truly alive.
Our Lord
constantly reminds us that He wants to help us write a new story of life
centered in His love, His will and His purpose. God transforms our
relationships and He promises to restore us and help redirect our path to a new
way of living. Jesus says, “Behold, I make all things new” (Revelation 21:5).
He is
speaking to each one us. He offers us transformation from old to new, from
broken to whole, from sorrow to joy, and from death to life. May we “show up”
and “wake up” so we can become renewed people living out this promise as we
practice loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and to love
our neighbor as ourselves (Luke 10:27).
Mother
Maria of Paris said, “No amount of thought will ever result in any greater
formulation than the three words, ‘Love one another,’ so long as it is love to
the end and without exceptions. And then the whole of life is illumined…”
(Essential Writings, page 19).
Remember:
Practice makes permanent!
By Fr.
Tom Tsagalakis
Source: https://s3.amazonaws.com/praxis-magazine/Praxis-v14-2-2015-Winter.pdf
Why Do We Light Oil Lamps and Candles In Front of Relics and Icons?
Below are two explanation by St. Nikodemos
the Hagiorite and St. Nikolai Velimirovich as to why we light oil lamps and candles
before relics and icons.
By St. Nikodemos the Hagiorite
There are
four reasons Christians light oil lamps and candles before relics of the saints
and icons.
1) To
honor and glorify the saints.
2) When
it is night, the light of the lamps diminishes the darkness of the night, to
comfort the eyes of those who observe.
3) As an
exhibit and sign of joy and brightness: specifically for when candles and lamps
are lit during the day and the sun is shining brightly.
4) So
that by the lighting of the lamps, God is gracious to those who offer the
lamps.
These are
mentioned by the divine Jerome, when he writes against Vigilantius, as well as
by Gregory the Theologian in his discourse on Easter, where he says that the
lamps give light at night:
"Beautiful
indeed yesterday was our splendid array, and our illumination, in which both in
public and private we associated ourselves, every kind of men, and almost every
rank, illuminating the night with our crowded fires, formed after the fashion
of that great light, both that with which the heaven above us lights its beacon
fires, and that which is above the heavens, amid the angels (the first luminous
nature, next to the first nature of all, because springing directly from it),
and that which is in the Trinity, from which all light derives its being,
parted from the undivided light and honored."
That
lamps were lit in the churches is testified by the divine Chrysostom, where he
says:
"I
am expounding the Scriptures, and all of you turn your eyes from me to the
lamps, and him who is lighting the lamps? What negligence is this, to forsake
me, and set your minds on him! For I am lighting a fire from the Holy
Scripture, and in my tongue is a burning lamp of doctrine. This is a greater
and better light than that, for we do not set up a light like that moistened
with oil, but we inflame souls, that are watered with piety, with a desire of
hearing."
By St. Nikolai Velimirovich
1.
Because our faith is light. Christ said: "I am the light of the
world" (John 8:12). The light of the vigil lamp reminds us of that light
by which Christ illumines our souls.
2. In
order to remind us of the radiant character of the saint before whose icon we
light the vigil lamp, for saints are called sons of light (John 12:36, Luke
16:8).
3. In
order to serve as a reproach to us for our dark deeds, for our evil thoughts
and desires, and in order to call us to the path of evangelical light; and so
that we would more zealously try to fulfill the commandments of the Savior:
"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good
works" (Matt. 5:16).
4. So
that the vigil lamp would be our small sacrifice to God, Who gave Himself
completely as a sacrifice for us, and as a small sign of our great gratitude
and radiant love for Him from Whom we ask in prayer for life, and health, and
salvation and everything that only boundless heavenly love can bestow.
5. So
that terror would strike the evil powers who sometimes assail us even at the time
of prayer and lead away our thoughts from the Creator. The evil powers love the
darkness and tremble at every light, especially at that which belongs to God
and to those who please Him.
6. So
that this light would rouse us to selflessness. Just as the oil and wick burn
in the vigil lamp, submissive to our will, so let our souls also burn with the
flame of love in all our sufferings, always being submissive to God's will.
7. In
order to teach us that just as the vigil lamp cannot be lit without our hand,
so too, our heart, our inward vigil lamp, cannot be lit without the holy fire
of God's grace, even if it were to be filled with all the virtues. All these
virtues of ours are, after all, like combustible material, but the fire which
ignites them proceeds from God.
8. In
order to remind us that before anything else the Creator of the world created
light, and after that everything else in order: And God said, let there be
light: and there was light (Genesis 1:3). And it must be so also at the
beginning of our spiritual life, so that before anything else the light of
Christ's truth would shine within us. From this light of Christ's truth
subsequently every good is created, springs up and grows in us.
May the
Light of Christ illumine you as well!
Source: www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2015/10/why-we-light-oil-lamps-and-candles.html
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