Bringing out treasures old and new from the ‘third lung’ of Christianity

In the chapel in Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2013)

Patrick Comerford

On the closing day of the IOCS summer school in Cambridge this morning [Friday 19 July 2013], Dr Sebastian Brock “brought out treasures old and new,” as Professor David Ford acknowledged.

In a morning filled with poetry, Dr Brock was speaking at the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies summer school in Sidney Sussex College on ‘The Syriac Tradition I: Angels and Their Roles.’

Dr Brock, who was known to many us for his work on translating the Psalms, is a former Reader in Syriac Studies at the Faculty of Oriental Studies in Oxford and a Professorial Fellow of Wolfson College.

His current projects include editing unpublished Syriac texts, Greek words in Syriac, diachronic aspects of Syriac word formation, and Syriac dialogue poems. His recent publications include From Ephrem to Romanos: Interactions between Syriac and Greek in Late Antiquity (Aldershot, 1999), and Treasure-house of Mysteries (Crestwood, 2012).

The cloisters in Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2013)

Dr Brock said we often think of Christianity as Latin West and Greek East, and that one Pope had recently referred to these as the “two lungs” of Christianity. However, he offered the Syriac tradition of the East as the “third lung” of Christianity.

This is a unique but oft-neglected tradition in the Church, whose insights include a tradition of doing theology in poetry.

In the Old Testament, it is not always clear who is an angel and who is a messenger, he said, and just as this is a problem for translators of the Septuagint it is a problem too for translators into Syriac.

Angels became revealers in the Book of Daniel; in the apocryphal Book of Jubilees, an angel who mediates the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai; and angels interpret visions and apocalyptic messages. The Dead Sea Scrolls show too that they became associated with the Heavenly Liturgy.

The Syriac canon does not include II Peter, Jude and Revelation, so there is less speculation about angels in the Syriac tradition.

In Hebrew, the word for angel is the same as the word for a messenger (mal’ak), and the same way there is double usage in Greek (Ἄγγελος, angelos). However, Syriac differentiates between mal’aka (angelos) and ‘ira (waker or watcher, Greek εγρηγορός, egregoros).

Genesis 1 does not mention the creation of angels. When are they created? Why is it not mentioned in the creation accounts?

In his lecture, Dr Brock drew on a wide range of works and writers, including Aphrahat, writing in the early fourth century outside the Roman Empire, in the Persian empire in what is now Iraq; Ephrem, who died in 373, a poet; the Book of Steps (Liber Graduum), in the second half of fourth century; John the Solitary, a monastic writer in the early fifth century and a great spiritual writer who has recently been rediscovered; Jacob of Serugh (died 521), a wonderful exegete of Biblical texts who preached his sermons in poetry – of his 763 homilies, half have been translated; the Cave of Treasures from the sixth century; Martyrius, who wrote The Book of Affection in the early seventh century; Dadisho‘ and Isaac of Nineveh (Isaac the Syrian), in the late seventh century; and Joseph the Seer in the eighth century.

These all worked in what was the Persian Empire, including present-day Syria, Iraq and Iran.

He also drew on Isho’dad of Merv, ninth century; Barhebraeus (died 1286); and Solomon of Bosra’s Book of the Bee from the 13th century.

Many of these writers said the angels were created on the first day, along with heaven and earth.

They offered Hierarchies of Angels, which were similar those listed by Dionysius the Areopagite (ca 500), who gives nine hierarchies of angels, in three groups of three, but which can be traced in Saint Paul’s Letters.

For example, Isaac of Nineveh gives slightly different orders, but again he lists them in three groups of three.

Human beings, unlike angels, are created in the image of God. Ephrem points this out in his Hymns of Faith:

The Seraph could not touch fiery Coal with his fingers,
the coal only just touched Isaiah’s mouth;
the Seraph did not hold it, Isaiah did not consume it,
but us our Lord has allowed to do both!

Or, as Joseph the Seer wrote in his pre-Communion Prayer:

It is a matter of great awe, Lord, that Your Body and Your Blood, O Christ our Saviour should be consumed and drunk with that same mouth which receives ordinary food and drink. Lord, you did not give to the Spiritual Beings what I am receiving now!

In the Syriac tradition, Satan’s fall is due to his envy of humans being created in the image of God. In the Book of Job, Satan is simply the accuser, not the devil. But later in the Syriac tradition, he turns aside, and so rebelled against God.

Syriac writers have a unique literary genre, the disputation dialogue in poetic form, adapted to a Biblical context. He drew our attention to some of these including the Dialogue of the Angel and Zechariah, the Angel and Mary, Satan and the Sinful Woman, the Cherub and the Repentant Thief, and Death and Satan in Saint Ephrem. There are more examples in his recent book, Treasure-house of Mysteries (Crestwood, 2012).

Angels above the choir stalls in the chapel in Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2013)

In his second lecture this morning, Dr Brock spoke on ‘The Syriac Tradition II: Imitating the Angels.’

A “watcher” in Syria means someone who is awake, in a state of wakefulness. The Syrian Orthodox Liturgy includes in the Sunday Lilyo (Night Office) the prayer:

Awaken our drowsiness out of submersion in sin so that we may give thanks to Your wakefulness, O Waker who does not sleep; revive our dead state out of the sleep of death and corruption so that we may worship Your compassion; O Living One who does not die, make us worthy to praise you and bless you together with the glorious assembles of the angels in heaven who give you praise, for You are glorious and blessed in heaven and on earth, O Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Angels are a model of how to live the ascetic life, and a model of how to give praise to God.

John the Solitary (John of Apamea) wrote:

Holy people, even though their nature is inferior to that of angels in this world, nevertheless in the spiritual world their nature is increased, so that they become like angels of God; then they will see the angels in the course of associating with them.

The heavenly liturgy was seen as a model for the earthly liturgy in the Dead Sea Scrolls:

The Cherubim prostrate themselves before God and bless [cf Ezekiel 1]. As they arise a whispered voice is heard, and there is a roar of praise. When they drop their wings, there is a whispered divine voice. The Cherubim bless the image of the throne-chariot above the firmament, and they praise the majesty of the luminous firmament beneath His seat of glory.

In the Qedushah at the Morning Synagogue Service:

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts (Isaiah 6: 3): the whole earth is full of His glory. And the Ophanim and holy Hayot with a noise of great rushing lift themselves up towards the Seraphim and offer praise saying, ‘Blessed be the glory of the Lord from His place’ (Ezekiel 3: 12).

This idea is taken over from Judaism into Early Christianity.

He spoke too of the three Churches – the Heavenly Church, the Church on Earth and the Church of the Heart.

The Syriac writers say the same liturgy should be taking place in the altar of the heart as is taking place in heaven and at the altar in the Church. But the same idea can also be found in Isaiah 6: 3 in the Aramaic Targum:

‘Holy’ in the heavens on high, in the home of His Shekinna; ‘holy’ on earth, the handiwork of His might, ‘holy’ in the age of ages, Lord of hosts; all the earth is full of the radiance of His glory.

This year’s summer school concludes this afternoon with a Service of Thanksgiving in the Chapel of Sidney Sussex College.

Leaving the chapel in Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2013)

Finding an Irish archbishop on a college building in Cambridge

Archbishop John Colton, and an angel with the coat-of-arms of Armagh, on the side of Saint Michael’s Court in Trinity Street, Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2013)

Patrick Comerford

During my daily walks in Cambridge this week, I kept my eyes open for images of angels to illustrate the lectures at the IOCS summer school in Sidney Sussex College.

On my way back from the early morning Eucharist in Saint Bene’t’s Church yesterday [18 July 2013], I had decided to return to breakfast in Sidney Sussex College along King’s Parade, Trinity Street, and Green Street.

Walking along Trinity Street, I was surprised to find a statue of Archbishop John Colton (ca 1320-1404) of Armagh on the side of a building, and above him an angel holding his coat-of-arms as Archbishop of Armagh.

Archbishop Colton was a leading political and church figure in 14th century Ireland, and held the offices of Treasurer of Ireland, Lord Chancellor of Ireland and Archbishop of Armagh. He is best remembered, perhaps, for his Visitation of Derry (1397).

But what, I wondered, was he doing on the side of a building owned by Gonville and Caius College?

John Colton, or John of Tyrington, was born in Terrington St Clement in Norfolk ca 1320, and began his career working for William Bateman, Bishop of Norwich. Some say he had a degree in theology from the University of Cambridge, and that in 1348 he received a degree of Doctor of Canon Law (DCL) when he became the first ever Master of the new Gonville Hall, now Gonville and Caius College.

Gonville and Caius (pronounced “Keys”) is the fourth oldest college in Cambridge. It is said to own or have rights to much of the land in Cambridge, and several streets, such as Harvey Road, Glisson Road and Gresham Road, are named after alumni ... although it seems remiss that there is no street on Cambridge named after the first Master who become Archbishop of Armagh.

Gonville and Caius College is the fourth oldest college in Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2013)

The founder of Gonville Hall, the Revd Edmund Gonville, was Rector of Terrington St Clement in Norfolk, where he had been Colton’s neighbour in his home village. However, when Gonville died three years later, he left a struggling institution with almost no money.

Colton’s patron, William Bateman, Bishop of Norwich, was the executor of Gonville’s will, and stepped in, transferring the college to the land close to the college he had just founded, Trinity Hall. He renamed it the Hall of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and endowed it with its first buildings.

Despite the claims by his biographers, there is no record in Cambridge showing any work for a degree by Colton. His short time as Master of Gonville was divided between the original site in Lurthburgh Lane and the present site, which was acquired through an exchange of land in 1353. A licence to build a chapel was granted by the Bishop and Prior of Ely that year, although the chapel was not completed for many years so that college probably used Saint Michael’s Church at the beginning.

He appears to have been absent in Avignon in the mid and late 1350s, although he continued to hold office as Master of Gonville Hall until at least 1360, perhaps even until 1366, when it was noted again that he was absent from Cambridge.

An angel holding Archbishop Colton’s coat-of-arms as Archbishop of Armagh (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2103)

John Colton first came to Ireland as Treasurer, in 1373, and became Dean of Saint Patrick’s Cathedral the following year, although the Patent Roll shows he was still only a deacon. Colton was also Vicar of Saint Mary’s, Wood Street, London, and in 1377 he was also appointed a Prebendary of York Minster, although he appears to have held that office for only a year.

He was Lord Chancellor from 1379 to 1382, and became Archbishop of Armagh in 1383. He accompanied the Justiciar of Ireland, Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March, on an expedition to Cork in 1381. Mortimer died on that expedition and Colton briefly replaced him as Justiciar.

He was held in high regard by the Crown and was sent by King Richard II on a special mission to Rome in 1398. Later, in an acknowledgment of his fidelity and loyalty, he received a grant of money from the Crown.

Like most Crown officials at the time, including clerics, Colton was also expected to perform military duties, and he seems to have been a competent soldier: in 1373, at his own cost, he raised a troop for the defence of Dublin.

Colton is best remembered for writing or commissioning the Visitation of Derry, although the actual author was probably his secretary, Richard Kenmore. This is an account of his ten-day tour of the Diocese of Derry when the see was vacant.

Colton took the opportunity to assert his metropolitan authority over the diocese in all matters of religion and morals. The visitation itself is remarkable because the mediaeval Archbishops of Armagh were usually English and found Ulster a foreign and hostile province. They lived in Dundalk or Drogheda, with a summer house in Termonfeckin, Co Louth, but they rarely even visited Armagh, and seldom went further afield in their province to places such as Derry.

Colton entered the Diocese of Derry at Cappagh with a large band of followers, and they then proceed moved on to Derry and Banagher. The only potential trouble was the refusal of the Archdeacon of Derry and the Cathedral Chapter to recognise Colton’s authority. But, faced with a threat of excommunication, they quickly submitted.

Colton was busy as archbishop, reconsecrating churches and graveyards, settling a bitter property dispute and hearing matrimonial causes. His most colourful action may have been his injunction to the Abbot of Derry instructing him to refrain from cohabitating with his mistress “or any other woman.”

Archbishop Colton died in Drogheda on 27 April 1404 and was buried in Saint Peter’s Church, Drogheda. He was described as “a man of great talent and activity, of high reputation for virtue and learning, dear to all ranks of people for his affability and sweetness of temper.”

Archbishop Colton’s statue, with the angel holding his coat-of-arms stands as Archbishop of Armagh, can be seen on the side of Saint Michael’s Court, owned by Gonville and Caius. Saint Michael’s Court stands opposite the main college building and Trinity Lane on the corner of Rose Crescent and Trinity Street, once the High Street of Cambridge, on land surrounding Saint Michael’s Church. Saint Michael’s Court was built in 1903 by the architect Aston Webb, and was completed in the 1930s.

Saint Michael’s Church on Trinity Street, Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2013)

Depicting angels as a reminder that worship on earth is participation in the worship in heaven

The Archangel Gabriel in a depiction of the Annunciation by Aidan Hart

Patrick Comerford

The icon writer Aidan Hart gave two lectures on angels and icons this afternoon at the IOCS Summer School. The theme of the summer school is Angels, and he spoke to us about ‘The Historical Development of Angels in Eastern and Western Iconography’ and on ‘How the different ranks of Angels are depicted in Orthodox iconography.’

Aidan Hart is an ordained Reader of the Greek Orthodox Church and has been a professional icon painter and carver for over 25 years. He has works in more than 20 countries and in many cathedrals and monasteries.

His aim, in accordance with the Byzantine icon tradition, is to make liturgical art that manifests the world transfigured in Christ. For inspiration he draws in particular on the Byzantine, Russian and Romanesque icon traditions. He works in a variety of iconographic mediums, including carving and fresco as well as panel icons. He also lectures, teaches and writes.

Tracing ‘The Historical Development of Angels in Eastern and Western Iconography,’ he said the word icon means an image or likeness, and so asked if an icon should look like its subject, even if in an abstract way. If so, then, he asked how angels can be depicted in icons.

Icons of angels tell us what icons are not like. What is meant by those visionary icons is to say they are not like anything we know, and they are not just beings with wings.

An angel at the Resurrection ... a wall painting in the monastery of Saint John the Baptist in Tolleshunt Knights (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2013)

He identified four main phases in the depiction of angels in Christian art and iconography.

In the first and early period, which continued until the late fourth century, angels have a literal and rather humanised depiction. All these depictions are of angels without wings. The oldest image dated from ca 180 and shows the Annunciation in the Pricilla Catacomb in Rome. The angel is clothed in a toga like a Roman citizen; slaves were not allowed to wear a toga, which was confined to citizens, and a purple stripe showed the angels as aristocratic spiritual beings.

A rare image from the Pricilla catacomb ca 250-300 shows an angel as a dove. Others show angels with beards.

A wall painting in the Via Latina ca 320 of the Visitation of Abraham, shows them as young men but without and beards, perhaps to distinguish them from pagan gods.

In the second stage, they start being depicted with wings. In this period, from about the fourth century, they are winged mythological figures, appropriating depictions of Nike, such as Nike of Samothrace, the goddess of victory, for angels fight battles against demons. Nike was also associated with strength, speed and wisdom. He provided comparisons with coins of Augustus, the Arch of Constantine in Rome, and San Vitale in Ravenna.

However, there were problems about angel worship, so depicting angels with wings became a way of showing that they were created beings, with limited abilities.

They are depicted with wings, not because they have wings, but to show that they move between the heavenly realm and the human world.

In the third or imperial stage, from the fifth century on, angels are depicted like courtiers in the Byzantine court, particularly from the inner court. Many of these courtiers, in reality, were eunuchs; they acted as counsellors, were masters of ceremonies, controlled access to the imperial throne, were intermediaries and diplomats and were messengers – all roles similar to those of angels.

Images from Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome ca 435 and the apse in San Vitale in Ravenna ca 435, 546 and 547 show angels as winged court attendants and bodyguards, wearing chlamys cloaks.

An image of the Sinai Virgin in the sixth century shows entirely classical angels. In Aghia Sophia, an angel is depicted in the ninth century with a tablion across a chlamys cloak.

The Archangel Raphael ... a mosaic in the Monastery in Tolleshunt Knights (Photgraph: Patrick Comerford, 2013)

By the sixth century, angels were then given a secular loros, first confined to the emperor, but then also worn by their delegates and closest bodyguards. The Archangel Michael is depicted in Byzantine military garb with a sword, both other angels are shown with swords.

In ninth century Nicaea, “Arche and Dynamis” or “Authority and Power” are shown with the loros pallium, adorned with jewels, and with Aghios staffs to represent authority.

In Armenia and Cyprus from the sixth and seventh century, angels are depicted with peacock wings, as a symbol of everlasting life, the resurrection and because of the many eyes.

In the fourth stage, from about the 11th century, there is a wide variety of types to select from. So, for example, Archangel Gabriel is not shown in a military uniform, for example, but in a courtly toga-style robe.

By the 12th century, how angels are depicted depends on the relation other icons, the emphasis and distinctive colours of the church. Angels in the iconostasis and deisis are usually in court uniform but not in military uniform. Michael can be shown with a staff for authority and an orb for wisdom.

In icons of the Annunciation, the angel is shown in ‘bodiless’ silver tones. In Rubelv’s icon of the Visitation of Abraham, the colours are chosen for theological emphasis. When angels are depicted at the Resurrection, they are always depicted in white togas.

Later in the afternoon, Aidan lectured on ‘How the Different Ranks of Angels are Depicted in Orthodox Iconography.’ They include seraphim, cherubim, thrones, archangels and angels.

A six-winged seraph depicted on a ceiling in the monastery in Tolleshunt Knight (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2013)

The seraphim are six-winged creatures above the throne (see Isaiah 6), two wings covering their faces, two covering their feet, and two for flying, and crying out: “Holy, Holy, Holy ...” They are often shown supporting the dome in a church, above the doors on the icon screen, for they guard the gates of Paradise, above Christ in the apse in churches without a dome, and in illuminated manuscripts.

Cherubim often look like seraphim, although they are a different order. They are depicted as many-eyed. They guard the entrance to Paradise with flaming swords, they guard the Ark of the Covenant and the veil of the Holy of Holies. They are also idenitifed by Ezekiel with the “four living creatures.”

The thrones (or wheels in Ezekiel’s and Daniel’s visions) are often depicted on the Epitaphios. The tetramorph are the four living creatures (see Ezekiel 1: 1-14), are now identified with the Four Evangelists: the Man for Saint Matthew; the Lion for Saint Mark; the Ox for Saint Luke and the Eagle for Saint John. They can appear on Gospel covers, and they appear inside in the Book of Kells. The heavenly host may be depicted as stars.

Angels and Demons ... the Last Judgment on the West Wall of the Funerary Chapel in the Monastery in Tolleshunt Knights (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2013)

The demons are often shown with their faces blacked out, and Satan is sometimes show as an old man – “sanctity keeps you young.” Demons are small, reflecting the idea that bullies try to shown themselves bigger than they actually are.

The best known depiction of them may be in the 12th century Ladder of Divine Ascent in Mount Sinai, although there they are larger in scale than the humans climbing the ladder, to show their cunning which is distorted intelligence. They can be seen as disfigured, grotesque, unnatural and deformed, with creaturely and human characteristics.

They are shown in the punishments in hell, such as the 11th century Doom Wall in Torcello near Venice or the icon of the Ladder of Divine Ascent in Mount Sinai.

He concluded by saying the whole purpose of the depiction of angels reminds us that worship on earth is participation in the worship in heaven.