Myth And Ritual In Christianity Part 9

Tree of Life grows out from the Skull (lower left). Cf. Figs. 8 and g.

she found herself, suddenly, in the presence of a s.h.i.+ning being, robed in white and carrying a lily in his hand-none other than the Messenger of G.o.d, Gabriel the Archangel, who greeted her crying, "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee! Blessed art thou among women!" And as Mary was troubled, wonder ing at the meaning of this vision, the Archangel spoke again: "Fear not, Mary, for thou host found favour with G. Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a Son, and shall call his name Jesus.' He shall be great, and shall bearing the figure of the Buddha as a baby- the bottle being a recognized symbol of Tathagata~garbba, the womb of the Buddha.nature, which is sunyata, the primal "nothing" or Void.

1 This is the Greek form of the Hebrew Jehoshuah, Joshua, or Jeshua, meaning "YHVH is Salvation". The original Greek is written IHCOYC, abbrevi~ ated in Christian symbolism as lc, mc, or IHS.

1'8 Myth and Ritual in Christianity be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord G.o.d shall give him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign over the House of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end."

And Mary answered, "How shall this be, seeing that I know not a man?"

Again the Archangel spoke: "The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of G.o.d."

To this Mary responded with the words which have ever been regarded as the "ong' of Matter to Spirit, Earth to Heaven, so that the Incarnation of G.o.d could be possible: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word."'

At this instant the Second Person of the Trinity, G.o.d the Son, the Eternal Word by whom all things were made, was conceived in the Womb of the Virgin.

Great is the mystery of the inheritance. The womb of her that knew not man is become the temple of the G.o.dhead; by taking flesh of her, he was in no way defiled.

A great and wondrous mystery is made known to us this day: a new thing is done in both natures: G.o.d is made man. That which was, remained. That which was not, he a.s.sumed; suffering neither con, fusion nor division?

The foregoing account of the Annunciation is, of course, based on Luke t: 26-38. To avoid the unnecessary retelling in detail of a story told incomparably well in the original, it would be best if the reader would, before proceeding with this chapter, read the whole Nativity Story as it is found in Luke r: 5 to 2: 52, and Matthew a: i8 to 2: 23.

2 Office of St. Mary on Sat.u.r.day, antiphons at Vespers and Lauds. "Both natures" are the divine and the human, being and non,being, "that which was" and "that which was not", the All (Logos) and the Void (Sophia).

Christmas and Epiphany rag Whereupon Mary went to visit her cousin Elizabeth, who had meanwhile conceived in her old age the son who was to be St. John the Baptist, and while the two women rejoiced together, Mary, out of the fulness of her heart, spoke the words which for so many centuries have been the great Vesper canticle, Magncat:

My soul doth magnify the Lord: and my spirit hath rejoiced in G.o.d my Saviour.

For he hath regarded the lowliness of his hand/ maiden; for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.

For he that is mighty bath magnified me: and holy is his Name.

Joseph and Mary were duly married, and Joseph was at once astonished to find that she was already with child. But, while he slept, an angel appeared to him in a dream, foretelling the nature of the child which his young wife was to bear, so that his mind might be at rest. Close to the time of her delivery, it was necessary for them to make a journey from Nazareth-where they had lived since the wedding-to the city of Bethlehem. The Roman Emperor Augustus had ordered a census for purposes of taxation, for which every man had to repair to his own hometown. Because of the crowds present in the city for the census-though some attribute it to their extreme poverty-there was no room for Joseph and Mary at the inn. They were thus compelled to lodge for the night in a cattle/manger which, according to most traditions, was in a cave close to the inn.

Precisely at midnight there occurred the event which, for Christendom, marks the very centre of time, and from which the years are numbered backward to the Creation and forward 1 Luke t: 46-55. At Solemn Vespers incense is brought in and blessed before the Magnificat is sung, and, during its singing, the officiant and his deacons or acolytes tense the altar.

9.

ao Myth and Ritual in Christianity to the Last Day--the entrance of eternal life being ever in that Moment which separates past and future. The Virgin gave birth to the Child who is true G.o.d and true man, in whom time and eternity are one.

While all things were in quiet silence, and night was in the midst of her course, thine almighty Word, 0 Lord, came down from thy royal throne:

alleluia!'

In the middle of the centuries, at the depth of the year-the Winter Solstice, in the midst of the night, and in the cave-the depth of the earth, the King of kings and Light of lights was born in circ.u.mstances of the most extreme humility, amidst the animals in a crib of hay.

The Virgin today brings forth the Superessential, and the earth offers a cave to the Unapproachable. . . . I behold a Mystery strange and wondrous (paradoxon): the cave is Heaven, and the Virgin is the throne of the Cherubim; in the confines of the manger is laid the Infinite.2

The tradition holds that at the moment of the Lord's birth all Nature was still as if time itself had missed a beat and paused 1 Sunday within the Octave of the Nativity, antiphon at Vespers. The preparatory condition for the uo mystka invariably silence and the very depth of night-silence or "the prayer of quiet" being the state which comes about when it is clearly seen that "I" can do nothing, which is also midnight in the sense of a kind of despair. But this is "despair" in the special sense of being "de4pirited" or "despirated", that is to say "blown out", which is the literal meaning of the term drum. It is the "sigh of relief which comes after "I" has reached the limit and discovered its impotence, so that it "gives up the ghost". Then, "I live; yet no longer I, but Christ". Cf. the opening words of the Divina Commedia, "Nei mezzo del camn rostra vita riaova per una selva oscura, the diritra via era smarrita". This extremity of man must always be reached before the divine life can begin.

2 Collect and Dismissal Hymn from the Menaion, proper of the Greek December 2sth. "Supan" bypermo St. Dionysius' peculiar word for the divine which is above every conception (essence) which the mind can form, including those of "bang" and "non,bdn".

FIG. 6 THE NATIVITY.

Spanish woodcut, c. xsth century in its course, and that the shock of a stillness so strange and sudden was known to all creatures so that, for a moment, there was a universal revelation of the Incarnation of G.o.d. According to the Golden Legend, "it was revealed to every cla.s.s of creatures, from the stones, which are at the bottom of the scale of creation, to the angels, who are at its summit". It was made known to stone by the sudden crumbling of the "Eternal Temple of Peace" in Rome, concerning which the oracle of Apollo had prophesied that it would stand until the day when a virgin gave birth to a child. It was made known to water, for in the same night a spring that flowed in Rome was changed into a fountain of oil. It was made known to plants, for the vines of Cades suddenly flowered, bore grapes, and produced their wine. It was made known to animals, to the ox and a.s.s present at the manger. It was made known to the birds, for at midnight the c.o.c.k crew as at dawn. It was made I22 Myth and Ritual in Christianity known to the angels, for the whole Host of Heaven had come down to earth and shone around the cave with a brilliance that turned night into day. Hardly had that intense throb of silence pa.s.sed when all the nine choirs of heaven cried out, singing

Gloria in excelsis Dea-Glory be to G.o.d on high, and on eanh peace to men of good will!

And, by the angels, it was made known also to men through the shepherds of Bethlehem, to whom the Messenger of G.o.d came as they watched their sheep, saying: "Fear not; for, behold, I bring you tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord."

It is impossible to tell the whole story of the Nativity and its surrounding events in a chronologically consistent order. Not only are there differences in the accounts of Matthew and Luke which are hard to reconcile, but the Church Calendar also has a confused order, due in part to the fact that it was not until the fourth century that the feast of Christmas (December 2sth) was widely separated from the feast of the Epiphany (January 6th), commemorating the visit of the Magi. The memorial of the Ma.s.sacre of the Holy Innocents, which would be expected to follow the visit of the Magi, falls on December 28th, so that popular imagination has to a.s.sociate the Magi with Christmas as well as Epiphany. The Nativity was ultimately fixed upon December 25th because of the irresistibly appropriate symbolism of a.s.sociating the Binh of the Sun of Justice with the pagan prototype of the Brumalia, the feast of the Birth of the Unconquered Sun-Natalis Invicti Solis.

Nam post solst.i.tium, quo Christus corpore natus Sole novo gelidae mutavit tempora brumae, Atque salutiferum praestans mortalibus ortum, Procedente die, sec.u.m decrescere noctes

Jussit.

FIG. 7 THE ANGEL AND THE SHEPHERDS OF BETHLEHEM Woodcut from de Alliaco's Tractatas Fxponibilium, Paris 1494

For it is after the solstice, when Christ born in the flesh with the new sun transformed the season of cold winter, and, vouchsafing to mortal men a healing dawn, commanded the nights to decrease at his coming with advancing day.

Thus in the complete symbol of the Nativity there are gathered round the Virgin with her Child not only the adoring host of angels with Joseph, the shepherds, the ox and the a.s.s, but also the three Magician.Kings representing the nations of the earth-Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar-and above all the blazing Star of the Epiphany, of the Manifestation of 1 Paulinus of Nola, Poema xiv. 15-19.

za4 Myth and Ritual in Christianity Christ to the world.' Tradition gives a number of varying stories of the Magi, representing them as Chaldean or Persian astrologers, as Zoroastrian sages, and as kingly types of the great races of the world-white, negro, and mongolian. The point is always, however, that they represent both the Gentiles as well as the height of human wisdom and dignity, whereas the shepherds represent the Jews and the humble peasantry-const.i.tuting together a symbol of the homage of mankind to the Incarnate G.o.d. Their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh are usually understood to be offerings appropriate to Christ: as King, the gold of tribute, as G.o.d, the incense of wors.h.i.+p, and as Sacrificial Victim, the myrrh for embalming the body.

According to the version of Matthew, the visit of the Magi was followed immediately by the flight of the Holy Family into Egypt. For as the Magi had followed the mysterious Star of the Epiphany from a distant land, they went to Jerusalem before proceeding to Bethlehem, since the former was the notable holy city in which they might have expected the Christ to be born. Here they had taken counsel with Herod, the King of Judaea, and the priests and scribes of the Temple, and were directed to Bethlehem in accordance with the prophecy of Micah that the Christ would be born in the city of the "House of Bread". Herod, fearing that so great a King of kings would usurp his own throne, requested the Magi to return to him after they had found the Child, that he also might go and wors.h.i.+p him, though his real intent was to put him immediately to death. Thus, when the Magi were warned by G.o.d in a dream not to return to Herod, the latter, as soon as he had discovered their deception, gave orders for the slaughter of all male children in Bethlehem under two years old. But, again in a dream, the angel of G.o.d had in the meantime warned Joseph to flee with the Virgin and Child into Egypt, and remain there until it was safe to return.

i According to the Golden Legend the Greek form oftheir names was Appellioss, Damaskos, and Amerios, and the Hebrew Galagat, Sarachin, and Malagat.

It is of great interest that the Matthew story works out a typological correspondence between the life of Christ and the history of Israel. For the flight into Egypt corresponds to the Egyptian captivity of the tribes of Israel, while Joseph, like Joseph the son of Jacob, is a dreamer of prophetic dreams. Furthermore, the whole Gospel is divided into five books corresponding to the five books of the Pentateuch, since the Gospel is to be the New Law superseding the Old Law of Moses. Likewise the great Sermon of Christ is given, not, as in Luke, on a plain, but on a mountain as upon Mount Sinai Moses received the Old Law from G.o.d?

Luke does not record the flight into Egypt. The Nativity is followed by the events which would normally attend the birth of a Jewish child-Circ.u.mcision, eight days after birth, and, later, the ceremony of the Purification of the mother, together with the Presentation of the child in the Temple. The Church keeps these two feasts on January 1st (Circ.u.m cision) and February znd (Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary). The former feast typifies the submission of the Incarnate G.o.d to the"ordinances of the flesh", that is, to the law of nature, as well as the formal bestowal of the Name of Salva tion, Jesus.

Thou, 0 compa.s.sionate Lord, being by nature G.o.d, didst without change take upon thyself the form of man, and, to fulfil the Law, wast willing to submit to circ.u.mcision in the flesh, in order that darkness should cease, and that thou mightest roll away the thick veil of our sufferings.2

The "five books" of Matthew will be found as follows: (1) chapter 3: 1 to

7: 29; (2) 8: t to ts: 1; (3) 11: a to 19: 2; (4) 19: 3 to 26: 2; (5) 26: 3 to the end. The closing sentence of each book begins with the phrase, "And it came to pa.s.s that when Jesus had made an end of..." The Pentateuch comprises the fast five books of the Old Testament-Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, the so-called "five books of Moses".

2 The Menaion, dismissal hymn for January 1st.

126 Myth and Ritual in Christianity In the cycle of the Christian Year the rites of the Incarnation are governed by the solar calendar, since they are connected with the Birth of the Sun, and so fall upon fixed dates. On the other hand, the rites of the Atonement, of Christs Death, Resurrection, and Ascension, are governed by the lunar calendar, for there is a figure of Death and Resurrection in the waning and waxing of the moon. The rites of the Incarnation begin with the solemn celebration of the Midnight Ma.s.s of Christmas-a feast which is unique in that it requires three ma.s.ses. The first, at midnight, is centred upon the mystery of the appearance of Light in the depth of darkness, of G.o.d "who halt made this most sacred night to s.h.i.+ne forth with the brilliance of the true light, and of him who is begotten from the womb before the daystar. The second is at dawn, the Aurora Ma.s.s, which with the rising sun celebrates the illumination and transfiguration of the world, opening with the Introit Lux fulgebit-"A light shall s.h.i.+ne upon us this day, for our Lord is born to us". The third, during the day, celebrates the eternal generation of the Divine Word from the Father, since the Child born this day is he who in the beginning created all worlds.

Twelve days later, the Feast of the Epiphany, of the Mani, festation of Christ's glory, commemorates three events-the Adoration of the Magi, the Baptism of Christ by St. John, and the first miracle-the transformation of water into wine at the weddingfeast in Cana. These three events all have to do with the beginnings of "the power and the glory", for the transformation of the water is the beginning of the works of power, the Baptism with the descent of the fiery Dove is the beginning of Christs ministry, and the tribute of the Magi is the beginning of the kingdom which shall have no end".

The Gentiles shall walk in thy light, and kings in the brightness of thy rising.... The mult.i.tude of camels shall close around thee, the dromedaries of

Milian and Ephah: all they from Saba shall come, bringing gold and frankincense, and showing fonh praise to the Lord.