Daily prayers during Christmas and Epiphany: 14, 7 January 2024

The Library of Celsus in Ephesus was built between 110 and 135 CE by the Consul Gaius Julius Aquilus (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Today is the First Sunday of Epiphany (7 January 2024), and if the Epiphany was celebrated yesterday (6 January), then today marks the Baptism of Christ. The lights are beginning to come down in Stony Stratford. But Christmas is not a season of 12 days, but a 40-day season that lasts from Christmas Day (25 December) to Candlemas or the Feast of the Presentation (2 February).

For the past week or so, we have both had Covid-like symptoms. So I think it unwise, for a second consecutive Sunday, to go to church this morning and to risk passing on anything to anyone else. However, before today begins, I am taking some time for reading, reflection and prayer.

My reflections each morning during the seven days of this week include:

1, A reflection on one of the seven churches named in Revelation 2-3 as one of the recipients of letters from Saint John on Patmos;

2, the Gospel reading of the day;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

The ruins of the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the classical world (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The Churches of the Book of Revelation: 1, Ephesus:

Ephesus is one of the seven churches in Asia Minor to receive a letter from Saint John as he describes his revelation on Patmos: Ephesus (Revelation 2: 1-7), Smyrna (Revelation 2: 8-11), Pergamum (Revelation 2: 12-17), Thyatira (Revelation 2: 18-29), Sardis (Revelation 3: 1-6), Philadelphia (Revelation 3: 7-13) and Laodicea (Revelation 3: 14-22).

Of these seven, Ephesus alone is also one of the seven places to give its name to the titles of nine letters or epistles by Saint Paul: Rome, Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus, Philippi, Colossae and Thessaloniki.

The Letter to the Ephesians is the tenth book in the New Testament. According to tradition, the Apostle Paul wrote the letter while he was in prison in Rome, ca 62 CE, about the same time as his Letter to the Colossians and his Letter to Philemon. However, many critical scholars question its authorship and suggest it may have been written between 80 and 100 CE.

I reflected on the Ephesus of Saint Paul in this prayer diary back on 22 November 2023. However, Ephesus is associated more with the life of Saint John the Evangelist, the author of the Fourth Gospel, the Johannine Letters and the Book of Revelation.

The first letter from Patmos is, appropriately, for the Church in Ephesus, for Ephesus (Ἔφεσος) was the most important city at the time in Asia Minor, boasting the title of Supreme Metropolis of Asia.

For centuries, Ephesus had been a centre for the worship of Artemis. The magnificent Temple of Artemis was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, and its reputation and the cult at the sanctuary of Artemis brought visitors, trade and prosperity to Ephesus. It is said that on the day Alexander the Great was born, a lunatic named Herostratus set fire to and destroyed the Temple of Artemis. Later Alexander offered to rebuild the temple, but the Ephesians declined his offer on the ground that it was inappropriate for one god to dedicate a temple to another.

Lysimachus, one of Alexander’s generals, moved the site of Ephesus when he rebuilt and refounded the city about the year 289 BCE. By the beginning of the Christian era, Ephesus was a major centre of trade, industry and finance in the East Mediterranean, with a population of 200,000 – neither Paris nor London reached this size until after the 15th century. It was home too to the Library of Celsus, one of the greatest libraries in the classical world.

A stall outside the Isa Bey Camii in Selçuk near Ephesus selling souvenir statues of Artemis, Greek philosophers and the Virgin Mary (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

When the Apostle Paul arrived in Ephesus about 53 CE, on his return from his second missionary journey, the city had a Jewish population of about 10,000, making it the largest Jewish centre in western Anatolia.

Saint Paul worked with the Church in Ephesus for more than two years, organising missionary activity into the hinterlands (see Acts 19: 8-10). He became embroiled in a dispute with the city’s traders and artisans, whose livelihood depended on selling small, souvenir-like statues of Artemis (Diana) in the Temple of Artemis (see Acts 19: 23-41). A riot ensued and Paul decided to leave.

Paul also wrote I Corinthians from Ephesus, perhaps from the ‘Paul Tower,’ close to the harbour, where he was a prisoner for a time. Later, he wrote his Epistle to the Ephesians to the Christian community at Ephesus around 62 AD, while he was a prisoner in Rome.

The Basilica of Saint John the Theologian gave the later name of Ayasoluk to the area overlooking Ephesus and the Temple of Artemis (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Ephesus is particularly associated with Saint John the Divine. According to tradition, he lived above the city and above the Temple of Artemis on the hill of Ayasuluk – a modern Turkish name derived from the Greek Aghios Theologos (Holy Theologian). He is said to have written the Fourth Gospel there around 90 to 100 AD, to have died there at the age of 120, and to have been buried on the site of the later basilica in a grave that he had dug himself.

Two decades later, the Church at Ephesus was still important enough to be addressed by a letter written by Ignatius of Antioch in the early 2nd century CE, beginning: ‘Ignatius, who is also called Theophorus, to the Church which is at Ephesus, in Asia, deservedly most happy, being blessed in the greatness and fullness of God the Father, and predestined before the beginning of time, that it should be always for an enduring and unchangeable glory.’

Many of the ancient religious sites were destroyed after the Emperor Constantine’s conversion in the third century. Ephesus was sacked by the Goths in 262, but soon recovered and was the venue for the Third Ecumenical Council in the year 431, when the Nestorians were condemned. The Second Council of Ephesus in 449 came to be known to its opponents as the Robber Council of Ephesus.

Remains of the basilica in Ephesus … the third Ecumenical Council of the Church met there in the year 431 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The city was sacked again by the Sassanians in 614, and by the Arabs in the seventh and eighth centuries. Meanwhile, as the centuries passed, the Cayster River continued to silt up. By the ninth century, Ephesus was an inland city, with Phygela and Scala Nuova (the modern resort town of Kusadasi) serving as its harbours.

Soon, the population began to move out of city onto the hill of neighbouring Ayasuluk, around the Basilica of Saint John.

By the 15th century and the Turkish conquest, Ephesus had been abandoned.

‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance’ (Revelation 2: 2) ... flowers in the grounds of the basilica in Ephesus (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

In the Book of Revelation, we read that the early Christians in Ephesus were known for their toil and patient endurance, and for separating themselves from the wicked. But they are admonished for having abandoned their first love (2: 4).

Verse 1:

In his letter to the Church in Ephesus, John introduces Christ in the same way as he does in the introduction to the Book of Revelation: he is holding the seven starts, representing the seven angels of the seven churches, in his right hand, and walking among the seven golden lampstands, the symbol of the seven churches. The metaphor confirms that Christ is ever-present in each of the churches. In the New Testament, the disciples are often described as lights or lamps in the world. As the lamp on the candlestick lights up the surrounding darkness, so the disciples are to have an illuminating effect on all around them.

Verse 2:

The phrase, ‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance,’ is repeated at the beginning of each of these letters and refers to the work and weariness in this world that will be over one day. Christ commends the Ephesian Christians for their zeal in the face of enemies and their faithful testing of those who claim they are apostles but are not and are false. In the past Paul had warned the elders of Ephesus about the danger of false teachers who would distort the truth (see Acts 20: 29-31), and Timothy too had to deal with false teachers in Ephesus (see I Timothy 1: 3-11, 4: 1-9, 6: 3-0).

Verses 3 and 4:

But despite their patient endurance, and their unwavering commitment, the Ephesians have lost that first spark of love that they had as young Christians. A lack of love is inconsistent with the truth of Christianity (see I John 3: 14).

Verse 5:

If they do not work at recovering that loving commitment, they are in danger of their light being quenched. But before the light goes out, they can repent and renew that flame of love.

Verse 6:

To hate evil is the Biblical counterpart of loving good. Whatever the failings of the Christians in Ephesus may have been, they are praised for resisting the heresies of the Nicolaitans. The Nicolaitans denied the incarnation and victory of Christ, taught that what one did in the body made no difference at all because the body was mortal while the soul was immortal, and so they taught that they were free to eat food offered to idols and to practice immorality in the name of religion, both of which were real temptations in every-day Ephesus at the time.

Verse 7:

The letter to Ephesus ends with the promise that whoever shares with Christ as conquerors will eat of the tree of life that is in the paradise of God (see Genesis 2: 9 and Revelation 22: 1-2).

As with all seven churches, the church in Ephesus is called on to hear the message: ‘Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches’ (Revelation 2: 7).

The Baptism of Christ by Saint John the Baptist (see Mark 2: 4-11) … a panel in a window in Saint Mary’s Church (‘The Hub’), Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Mark 2: 4-11 (NRSVA):

4 John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6 Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7 He proclaimed, ‘The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. 8 I have baptized you with[b] water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.’

9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. 11 And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’

The Baptism of Christ by Saint John the Baptist (see Mark 2: 4-11) … an icon in the Lady Chapel in Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Today’s Prayers (Sunday 7 January 2024, Epiphany I):

The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is: ‘Whom Shall I Send’ – Episcopal Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East. This theme is introduced today by the Revd Davidson Solanki, USPG Regional Manager, Asia and the Middle East:

In August 2023, after two years of working with the Province – listening to, and discerning their needs and desires for the future – USPG were delighted that the Episcopal Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East launched their new programme ‘Whom Shall I Send’.

The youth training programme has been created in part to tackle gaps in leadership and encourage youth participation in the Province’s mission. With the recent conflict erupting between Israel and Palestine in October 2023, the complex history emphasises the importance of investing in future leaders and equipping young people to handle these sensitivities.

The training programme is structured to equip lay and ordained persons for mission in local churches alongside parish priests. The training will take the form of practical workshops so that the beauty around the complexities of the area within which the youth will be working can be understood, and their worship and fellowship can support the mission. There will be a focus on justice, climate change and persecution. This is an innovative and encouraging programme, and USPG is honoured to be accompanying them on this journey.

As we write this prayer diary piece, we weep as we witness the violence that continues to unfold in Israel and Palestine. We uphold in prayer all who are suffering due to the hostilities. We join with churches and religious organisations around the world in a call for peace and an end to the violence. We pray that this programme may be able to continue to bring hope and light amid despair.

A carved relief of Nike, the goddess of victory, on a paved street in Ephesus (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The USPG Prayer Diary today (7 January 2024, Epiphany I) invites us to reflect on these words:

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying,
‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’
And I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’
(Isaiah 6:8)

The lone remaining column of the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, seen from the streets below the hill of Aysoluk in Selçuk (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The Collect:

Eternal Father,
who at the baptism of Jesus
revealed him to be your Son,
anointing him with the Holy Spirit:
grant to us, who are born again by water and the Spirit,
that we may be faithful to our calling as your adopted children;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Lord of all time and eternity,
you opened the heavens and revealed yourself as Father
in the baptism of Jesus your beloved Son:
by the power of your Spirit
complete the heavenly work of our rebirth
through the waters of the new creation;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

Heavenly Father,
at the Jordan you revealed Jesus as your Son:
may we recognize him as our Lord
and know ourselves to be your beloved children;
through Jesus Christ our Saviour.

Yesterday’s reflection (Epiphany)

Continued tomorrow (Smyrna)

Sunset on a beach at Kusadasi near Ephesus (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

Daily prayers during the 12 Days of Christmas: 9, 2 January 2024

‘On the Ninth Day of Christmas … ladies dancing’ … street art in Kraków (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Today is the Ninth Day of Christmas (2 January 2024). The Calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today celebrates the lives of Saint Basil the Great (379) and Saint Gregory of Nazianzus (389), bishops and teachers of the faith, Saint Seraphim of Sarov (1833), monk and spiritual guide, and Vedanayagam Samuel Azariah (1945), bishop in South India and Evangelist.

Before today begins, I am taking some time for reading, reflection and prayer.

My reflections each morning during the ‘12 Days of Christmas’ are following this pattern:

1, A reflection on a verse from the popular Christmas song ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’;

2, the Gospel reading of the day;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

‘On the Ninth Day of Christmas … ladies dancing’ … a floor show in Nevşehir in Cappadocia (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today is the Ninth Day of Christmas (2 January). But, in liturgical terms, Christmas is a 40-day season that continues until Candlemas or the Feast of the Presentation (2 February).

Saint Basil the Great and Saint Gregory of Nazianzus. They were defenders of the doctrine of the incarnation in the fourth century, and so it is appropriate to remember them during the 12 days of Christmas.

The Orthodox calendar celebrated Saint Basil yesterday, and in the Orthodox tradition 2 January instead marks the beginning of the Forefeast of the Theophany, which reaches its climax on 5 January.

The ninth verse of the traditional song, ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’, is:

On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me …
nine ladies dancing,
eight maids-a-milking,
seven swans-a-swimming,
six geese-a-laying,
five golden rings,
four colly birds,
three French hens,
two turtle doves
and a partridge in a pear tree.

The Christian interpretation of this song often sees the nine ladies dancing as figurative representations of the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit:

● Love,
● Joy,
● Peace,
● Patience,
● Kindness,
● Goodness,
● Faithfulness,
● Gentleness, and
● Self-control

(see Galatians 5: 19-23).

‘Nine ladies dancing’ … a floor show in Kuşadası on the Aegean coast of Turkey (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

John 1: 19-28 (NRSVA):

19 This is the testimony given by John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ 20 He confessed and did not deny it, but confessed, ‘I am not the Messiah.’ 21 And they asked him, ‘What then? Are you Elijah?’ He said, ‘I am not.’ ‘Are you the prophet?’ He answered, ‘No.’ 22 Then they said to him, ‘Who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?’ 23 He said
‘I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness,
“Make straight the way of the Lord”’,
as the prophet Isaiah said.

24 Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. 25 They asked him, ‘Why then are you baptizing if you are neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?’ 26 John answered them, ‘I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not know, 27 the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal.’ 28 This took place in Bethany across the Jordan where John was baptizing.

The bell above the Church of Aghios Vassilios (Saint Basil) in Koutouloufári, in the mountains above Iraklion in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Tuesday 2 January 2024):

The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Looking to 2024 – Freedom in Christ.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday by the Revd Duncan Dormor, USPG General Secretary.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (2 January 2024) invites us to pray in these words:

As we start a new year, we pray that we look to this year with hope for the future – free of fear, faithful in Christ.

The Collect:

Lord God, whose servants Basil and Gregory
proclaimed the mystery of your Word made flesh,
to build up your Church in wisdom and strength:
grant that we may rejoice in his presence among us,
and so be brought with them to know the power
of your unending love;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

God of truth,
whose Wisdom set her table
and invited us to eat the bread and drink the wine
of the kingdom:
help us to lay aside all foolishness
and to live and walk in the way of insight,
that we may come with Basil and Gregory to the eternal feast of heaven;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflection

Continued Tomorrow

Saint Basil among Seven Fathers of the Church above the south porch of Lichfield Cathedral (from left): Augustine, Jerome, Ambrose, Gregory, John Chrysostom, Athanasius and Basil (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

Death and dying: a reflection on icons of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary

The icon of the Dormition by Alexandra Kaouki for a church in the old town of Rethymnon in Crete

Patrick Comerford

In the Calendar of the Orthodox Church, today [15 August] is the Feast of the Dormition (Κοίμησις) or the Falling Asleep of the Theotokos, the Virgin Mary. For Roman Catholics, it is the Feast of the Assumption, which has particular associations with Ephesus.

in the Calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today is marked simply as ‘The Blessed Virgin Mary’, without any indication of any event in her life or any commemoration.

Today’s Festival of the Blessed Virgin Mary has been marked in Lichfield Cathedral today at the mid-day Eucharist at 12:30 and with Solemn Choral Evensong at 5:30 sung by the Sussex Festival Singers, with Stanford’s Evening Service in C and Jacques Arcadelt’s Ave Maria. In Pusey House, Oxford, the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is being marked this evening with High Mass at 6 pm, when Father Alexander McGregor is preaching. Mass was preceded by Evensong at 5.30 pm.

A reflection in the parish leaflet in Stony Stratford and Calverton described the Assumption as ‘the taking up of Mary into the glory of the Resurrection.’ It added, ‘In sharing in the fullness of God’s life and love, we remember that the same promise is made to all believers, as we turn to the Lord for grace and mercy.’

In his guidebook, The Holy Land, the late Jerome Murphy-O’Connor points out that two places in Jerusalem are traditionally associated with the end of the Virgin Mary’s earthly life: a monastery on Mount Zion is the traditional site of her death or falling asleep; and the basilica in the Garden of Gethsemane is said to be the site of her tomb.

Since the end of the 19th century, however, Mereyama, 8 km east of Selçuk, near ancient Ephesus, has been venerated by many Roman Catholics as the site of the Virgin Mary’s last earthly home. This tradition is based not on tradition or history, but on the writings of an 18th century German nun and visionary, Sister Catherine Emmerich, who never left her own country, and the interpretation of her visions by some late 19th century French Lazarist priests who were living in Smyrna (Izmir).

The pilgrim industry was boosted by a papal visit in 1967. Today, undoubtedly, Mereyama has been thronged by thousands of tourists staying in Kuşadasi, the Turkish coastal resort near Ephesus. Few of them may ever know that the commemoration of this feast has different emphases in the Roman Catholic and Orthodox traditions. The Dormition and the Assumption may appear to be different names for the same event – the Virgin Mary’s departure from this earth – but the beliefs surrounding this day are not actually the same.

A fresco depicting the Dormition of the Virgin Mary in the parish church in Georgioupoli in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Dormition: death or dogma?

The Feast of the Dormition is one of the Twelve Great Feasts of the Orthodox Church. However, this belief has never been formally defined as dogma by the Orthodox Church, nor is it made a precondition of baptism.

The Orthodox Church teaches that the Virgin Mary died a natural death, like any human being; that her soul was received by Christ upon death; and that her body was resurrected on the third day after her burial, at which time she was taken up, bodily only, into heaven, so that her tomb was found empty on the third day.

The death or Dormition of Mary is not recorded in the New Testament. Hippolytus of Thebes, writing in the seventh or eighth century, claims in his partially preserved chronology to the New Testament that the Virgin Mary lived for 11 years after the death of Jesus and died in AD 41.

On the other hand, Roman Catholic teaching says she was ‘assumed’ into heaven in bodily form. Some Roman Catholics agree with the Orthodox that this happened after her death, while others hold that she did not experience death. In his dogmatic definition of the Assumption in Munificentissimus Deus (1950), Pope Pius XII was not so dogmatic, for he appears to leave open the question of whether or not she actually underwent death and even alludes to the fact of her death at least five times.

In the Orthodox tradition, Mary died as all people die, for she had a mortal human nature like all of us. The Orthodox Church teaches that Mary was subject to being saved from the trials, sufferings, and death of this world by Christ. Having died truly, she was raised by him and she already takes part in the eternal life that is promised to all who ‘hear the word of God and keep it’ (Luke 11: 27-28). But what happens to Mary happens to all who imitate her holy life of humility, obedience and love.

The icon of the Dormition was completed by El Greco (Doménikos Theotokópoulos) in Crete, probably before 1567

An ancient tradition

In the Orthodox tradition, it is said that after the Day of Pentecost, the Theotokos remained in Jerusalem with the infant Church, living in the house of Saint John the Evangelist. That tradition says she was in her 50s at the time of her death. As the early Christians stood around her deathbed, she commended her spirit to the Lord, and tradition says Christ then descended from Heaven, taking up her soul in his arms. The apostles sang funeral hymns in her honour and carried her body to a tomb in Cedron near Gethsemane. When a man tried to interrupt their solemn procession, an angel came and cut off his hands, but he was healed later.

The story says that the Apostle Thomas arrived on the third day and wished to see the Virgin Mary for the last time. The stone was rolled back, and an empty tomb was discovered. Orthodox tradition says that the Theotokos was resurrected bodily and taken to heaven, and teaches that the same reward awaits all the righteous on the Last Day.

Icons of the Dormition date from the 10th century, although there may have been earlier representations. In traditional icons of the Dormition, the Theotokos is shown on the funeral bier. Christ, who is standing behind her, has come to receive his mother’s soul into heaven. In his left arm, he holds her as an infant in white, symbolising the soul of the Theotokos reborn in her glory in heaven.

Greek icons of the Dormition, Η Κοιμηcισ τησ Θεοτοκου, follow a 1,000-year-old tradition that some say dates back to early texts.

Behind the bier, Christ stands robed in white and – as in icons of the Transfiguration, the Resurrection and the Last Judgment – he appears surrounded by the aureole, or elongated halo, depicting the Light of his Divinity and signifying his heavenly glory.

Christ receives the soul of the Mother of God, but here the imagery reverses the traditional picture of mother and son, as he holds her soul, like a child, in his arms.

The Twelve Apostles are present; sometimes they are shown twice: grouped around the bier, and transported to the scene on clouds accompanied by angels.

The Apostles are usually seen on either side of the bier – the group on the left led by Saint Peter, who stands at the head of the bier; the group on the right led by Saint Paul, who stands at the foot of the bier.

In many icons, we also see four early Christian writers, who are identified by their bishops’ robes decorated with crosses – James, Dionysios the Areopagite, Hierotheos and Timotheos of Ephesus. In the background, mourning women are a reminder too, perhaps, of the women who wept when they met Christ carrying his cross to Calvary, or who arrived at his tomb early on Easter morning ready to anoint his dead body.

The cherubim in blue, the seraphim in red and the golden stars in these icons refer to the hierarchy of cosmic powers, described by Dionysios the Areopagite, who serve the Lord. Archangels are present in the foreground in the lower left and right corners. In the centre foreground, the Archangel Michael threatens the non-believing Jephonias who dared to touch her bier in an attempt to disrupt her funeral. The story is told that his hands were cut off but that later they were miraculously restored when he repented, was converted to Christianity, and was baptised.

The best-known version of this icon is the work of El Greco, or Doménikos Theotokópoulos (1541-1614), painted in Crete probably before 1567.

Christ holding his mother’s soul wrapped like a new-born baby … a detail from Alexandra Kaouki’s icon of the Dormition as it neared completion

Watching the creation of an icon

It was my privilege in Crete some years ago to watch a new icon on this theme in Orthodoxy being shaped and created by Alexandra Kaouki, perhaps the most talented and innovative iconographer in Crete today, as she worked in her studio, then below the Venetian Fortezza in the in the old town of Rethymnon.

She was creating this new icon for the Church of Our Lady of the Angels, or the Little Church of Our Lady, on a small square in the old town.

It was a careful, slow, step-by-step work in progress, based on El Greco’s celebrated icon. But, as her work progressed, Alexandra made what she describes as ‘necessary corrections’ to allow her to ‘entirely follow the Byzantine rules.’

In her studio, we discussed why El Greco places three candelabra in front of the bier. Perhaps he is using them as a Trinitarian symbol. However, Alexandra has returned to the traditional depiction of only one to remain true to Byzantine traditions.

How many of the Twelve should be depicted?

Should Saint Thomas be shown, or was he too late?

Why did she omit stories from later developments in the tradition, yet introduce women?

Alexandra completed her icon in time for the Feast of the Dormition in Rethymnon on 15 August that year.

A traditional depiction of the Dormition in a fresco in a Greek church

Ecumenical agreement

The name Theotokos was given to the Virgin Mary by the Third Ecumenical Council at Ephesus in 431 CE. That council decreed that she should be honoured by this name which confirms the Orthodox belief in the Incarnation: that Christ was both true God and true man.

As so often happened in those days, this action was a response to heretical teachings that needed to be addressed. Thus, once and for all, the Church affirmed its teachings about Christ and Mary.

It is a custom in some Orthodox parishes to bring fragrant herbs or flowers to the church to be blessed on the Feast of the Dormition. These are then used to decorate an icon or the family table.

In some places, the Rite of the ‘Burial of the Theotokos’ is commemorated an all-night vigil, with an order of service based on the service of the Burial of Christ on Great Saturday.

Tinos, one of the largest islands in the Greek Cyclades, is best-known for its large Church of Panagia Megalochori (The Virgin with All Graces), on a hill above the capital, Chora. Each year, the church attracts thousands of pilgrims from all over Greece to Tinos on 15 August.

A fresco depicting the Dormition of the Virgin Mary in a church in Thessaloniki (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The Collect:

Almighty God,
who looked upon the lowliness of the Blessed Virgin Mary
and chose her to be the mother of your only Son:
grant that we who are redeemed by his blood
may share with her in the glory of your eternal kingdom;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post Communion Prayer:

God Most High,
whose handmaid bore the Word made flesh:
we thank you that in this sacrament of our redemption
you visit us with your Holy Spirit
and overshadow us by your power;
strengthen us to walk with Mary the joyful path of obedience
and so to bring forth the fruits of holiness;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Troparion (Tone 1)

In giving birth, you preserved your virginity!
In falling asleep you did not forsake the world, O Theotokos!
You were translated to life, O Mother of Life,
and by your prayers you deliver our souls from death!

Kontakion (Tone 2)

Neither the tomb, nor death, could hold the Theotokos,
who is constant in prayer and our firm hope in her intercessions.
For being the Mother of Life,
she was translated to life by the One who dwelt in her virginal womb!

An icon depicting the Dormition of the Virgin Mary in the Church of Aghiou Philippou in Athens (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Is Turkey voting this Christmas for a new Aegean conflict with Greece?

Ephesus, a major Greek classical site, is at the heart of a new Turkish tourism campaign for the Aegean (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

The phrase about ‘Turkeys voting for Christmas’ is often used to describe a situation when a choice is made that is clearly against one’s self-interest. The phrase is not easily explained outside these islands, because while turkeys are commonly associated with (non-vegetarian) Christmas dinners here, in the US they are associated with Thanksgiving, which falls on the fourth Thursday in November.

‘Turkeys voting for Christmas’ is an idiom with a very recent history. It seems the first time that phrase was used in 1977 by the Liberal politician David Penhaligon, when he said Liberal MPs voting the proposed ‘Lib-Lab’ pact between the Liberals and the Labour party was ‘like a turkey voting for Christmas.’

The phrase was used again in 1979 when the Labour Prime Minister James Callaghan said Scottish Nationalists voting alongside Conservative MPs against the Labour government was ‘the first time in recorded history that turkeys have been known to vote for an early Christmas.’

Sunset in the Aegean at Kusadasi … a popular destination for Irish tourists (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

* * *

The ‘Avian Flu’ epidemic has created a shortage of turkeys in many places this year. And since earlier this year there has been no Turkey at the United Nations either.

Turkey is now known officially as Türkiye at the UN, following a formal request from Ankara. Several international bodies are being asked to make the name change too as part of a rebranding campaign launched a year ago by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

‘Türkiye is the best representation and expression of the Turkish people’s culture, civilisation, and values,’ he said last December.

Although most Turks know their country as Türkiye, the anglicised form Turkey is widely used, even within Turkey. The Anglicised forms of the names of many countries are commonly used in the English language – think not only of Ireland, but also Germany, Spain and Greece. Indeed, Erdoğan has no problems about using the name Yunanistan for neighbouring Greece when he is speaking Turkish.

The Turkish state television channel TRT explained the reason for the image rebrand, saying Ergdogan was unhappy of the association of his country’s name with the Christmas, New Year or Thanksgiving bird. TRT also pointed out that the word is also used in some dictionaries as a synonym for ‘something that fails badly’ or ‘a stupid or silly person.’

Turkish and Greek flags fly side-by-side on a ferry between Samos and Kusadasi (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Tension rooted
in old wounds

For the past year, tension has been growing between Greece and Turkey, rooted in old wounds, stoked by insults and causing frayed nerves. Hardly a day has gone by this year without shots being fired between the two armies. On national news channels, military and diplomatic experts daily debate the risks of conflict.

A visit to Istanbul in March by the Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis was expected to lead to attempts to bridge the gap between both sides. But Erdoğan is known for his outbursts, anger and insults. In recent months, his insults have been directed in particular at the Greek government and Mitsotakis.

At the G20 meeting in Bali last month, Erdoğan issued new threats to Greece, warning Greeks that the Turks may ‘overnight come suddenly.’ Speaking at a press conference, Erdoğan was defiant as he took the advantage of a unique international to repeat the threat that ‘one night we will come suddenly.’

He was repeating the words of an old Turkish song that says: ‘I can come suddenly one night.’ The same song was regularly broadcast on Turkish radio during the Turkish invasion of Cyprus almost half a century ago in 1974.

He said: ‘I insist on one night we will come suddenly. This statement is important to me. Greece must know its borders and the terms of the neighbourhood ... If they read the past, they will see what has happened. What I said is not a question of power, it is a question of the heart.’

At the same time, Erdoğan told a Turkish television station: ‘What I’ve been saying for ever, that we can come suddenly one night, this is a basic principle. To me, this is a phrase that cannot be taken back … So, we can suddenly get there again.’

But he has been saying the same throughout the year. On the eve of the European Summit in Prague in October, the Greek prime minister left the official dinner during a speech in which Erdoğan once again threatened Greece with the words of that old Turkish song, ‘I can come suddenly one night.’

‘For me, no one named Mitsotakis will exist any longer from now on,’ Erdoğan said at the end of May. ‘I will never accept [seeing] him again,’ he added, accusing the Greek Prime Minister of being ‘dishonest.’

‘Warehouse: Greek Shop’ … a Greek sign seen in the Bazaar in Kuşadasi, once known to Greeks as Neopolis (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

* * *

Communications through normal diplomatic channels have all but broken down, and Turkish air patrols over Greek territory have never been so frequent as today.

Greek Ministry of Defence records show that between January and October this year there were 8,880 violations of Greek airspace by Turkish planes and drones, compared with 2,744 in 2021 and barely a few hundred in previous years.

A maritime and gas deal signed by Turkey and Libya earlier this year has been seen as an attempt by Turkey to expand its influence in the East Mediterranean. In response, the Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias called off the first leg of a visit to Libya, and refused to get off his plane in Tripoli.

Greece and Turkey are both NATO members, but they came close to armed conflict in 1996 and again in 2020. Periklis Zorzovilis of the Greek Institute for Security and Defence Analysis points out, ‘When so many fighter jets fly over such a small area, the possibility of an accident is very real.’

Windmills in the harbour in Rhodes … a narrow strait separates Rhodes from the thin peninsulas of Anatolian Turkey (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Aegean tensions on
identity and tourism

The tensions between Turkey and Greece are not only political and military, they have also become conflicts over culture, heritage identity and tourism. Turkey recently launched a campaign to lure tourists with a ‘TurkAegean’ promotional campaign – against a backdrop of historic Greek sites and the sound of bouzouki music.

Turkey’s west coast faces the Aegean Sea, and Turkey claims the time has come to stop associating the region exclusively with Greece. But the campaign has caused anger and embarrassment in Athens. The ancient Greek name is derived from Aegeus, the father of the mythical king Theseus who founded Athens, and the Aegean’s Hellenic heritage has rarely been disputed.

Turkey filed a request with the EU a year ago to trademark the term ‘TurkAegean.’ Angry Greek politicians and officials were caught off guard and accused Turkey of usurping Greek culture. ‘Obviously the [Greek] government will exhaust every legal possibility to deal with this development,’ Prime Minister Mitsotakis said. Margaritis Schinas, the Greek vice-president of the European Commission, demanded a review of the decision.

The TurkAegean slogan is being used in advertising and promoting what Turkey is labelling its ‘coastline of happiness’ with ‘idyllic beaches to soak up the beaming sun.’ The classical and historical sites in the area include ancient Troy, Ephesus, once the most important Greek port in the Mediterranean, and sites dating back to the second century BCE.

‘It is not just an innocent advert but another argument that is being used to ultimately question our sovereignty over Greek islands in the Aegean,’ the former foreign minister and Syriza MP, George Katrougalos, was quoted as saying. ‘… the term implies, as a corollary of their propaganda, that all, or most, of the Aegean is Turkish and that is clearly wrong.’

Analysts do not rule out these tensions escalating into a military clash, either deliberately or by accident. ‘There has been a very aggressive, almost apocalyptic upgrading of Turkish claims in the Aegean,’ Professor Constantinos Filis of the American College of Greece has warned. ‘It is like Turkey is preparing the international audience for what could possibly lie ahead.’

Fishing boats and tourist boats by night in the harbour in Fethiye, south-west Turkey (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

* * *

For many decades, Turkey accepted the maritime boundaries in the Aegean, defined by treaties and agreements with the Italians in 1923 and 1932, and ratified by the Treaty of Paris in 1947. The boundaries were never challenged until 1996, when Turkish journalists from the daily Hurriyet landed on the tiny Imia islets, tore down the blue and white Greek flag and hoisted the red and white star and crescent of Turkey.

As the crisis deepened, I was sent as a journalist to Rhodes and Kos to look at the potential of war. Two years later, I wrote in The Irish Times how, looking across the narrow strait that separates Rhodes from the thin, finger-like peninsulas that jut out from Anatolian Turkey, it is easy to understand why local people talk in terms of ‘when the Turks come,’ and rarely ‘if …’

This year marks the centenary of the Greek-Turkish war of 1919-1922 and its culmination in the massacre of Smyrna and the military defeat for Greece. Erdoğan repeatedly invokes that war, saying that, 100 years on, Greece should not be bristling for a fight that it would once again ‘regret’.

Canon Patrick Comerford blogs daily at www.patrickcomerford.com. This feature was originally prepared for the ‘Church Review’ (Dublin and Glendalough)

Praying with the Psalms in Lent: 25 March 2022 (Psalms 45)

The Annunciation depicted in the Anglican Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Gibraltar … 25 March is the Feast of the Annunciation (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Today is the Feast of the Annunciation, one of the welcome celebrations during the Season of Lent. Before this day begins, I am taking some time early this morning (25 March 2022) for prayer, reflection and reading.

During Lent this year, in this Prayer Diary on my blog each morning, I am reflecting in these ways:

1, Short reflections on a psalm or psalms;

2, reading the psalm or psalms;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

Psalm 45:

Psalm 45 is sometimes known by its opening Latin words, Eructavit cor meum. In the slightly different numbering system in the Greek Septuagint and Latin Vulgate, this psalm is numbered as Psalm 44.

Psalm 45 is described in the superscript: ‘To the leader: according to Lilies. Of the Korahites. A Maskil. A love song.’ This is one of the royal psalms and was composed by the sons of Korah on the shoshanim, either a musical instrument or the tune to which the psalm should be sung.

This psalm has been interpreted as an epithalamium or wedding song, written to a king on the day of his marriage to a foreign woman, and is one of the royal psalms. It has been called ‘A Royal Wedding Song,’ ‘The Celebration of the Marriage of a King,’ ‘A Nuptial Song of a King,’ ‘An Ode for a Royal Marriage,’ ‘A Wedding Benediction,’ and so on.

Some commentators suggest that Psalm 45 is the only example of profane poetry in the Psalms and was composed and sung by a minstrel or cult prophets on the occasion of the marriage of the king.

Modern scholars have two radically different views among about the nature of Psalm 45. Jewish tradition sees this psalm as a general prayer for the end of the exile and the coming of the Messiah. Some say this psalm is dealing with an actual king, not with an ideal, future Messiah, although we cannot say who this king was. Others say that there is a long tradition, both in the synagogue and in the church, that this psalm deals with the future. A third interpretation says the psalm applies it to some literal king of Israel, but agree some of the language was later applied to Christ.

If Psalm 45 is a wedding song for the marriage of a king of Israel, who was the king in this psalm, and who was the princess he was marrying?

Some suggest Solomon and Pharaoh’s daughter; others suggest Ahab and Jezebel, the marriage of King Jehoram of Judah marriage to Athaliah.

The psalm is often organised in this way:

1, Verse 1, the introduction;
2, Verses 2-9, address to the King;
3, Verses 10-14: address to the Bride;
4, Verses 16-17, the conclusion.

‘In many-coloured robes she is led to the king’ (Psalm 45: 14) … an Italian bride arrives for her wedding in Amalfi (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Psalm 45 (NRSVA):

To the leader: according to Lilies. Of the Korahites. A Maskil. A love song.

1 My heart overflows with a goodly theme;
I address my verses to the king;
my tongue is like the pen of a ready scribe.

2 You are the most handsome of men;
grace is poured upon your lips;
therefore God has blessed you for ever.
3 Gird your sword on your thigh, O mighty one,
in your glory and majesty.

4 In your majesty ride on victoriously
for the cause of truth and to defend the right;
let your right hand teach you dread deeds.
5 Your arrows are sharp
in the heart of the king’s enemies;
the peoples fall under you.

6 Your throne, O God, endures for ever and ever.
Your royal sceptre is a sceptre of equity;
7 you love righteousness and hate wickedness.
Therefore God, your God, has anointed you
with the oil of gladness beyond your companions;
8 your robes are all fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia.
From ivory palaces stringed instruments make you glad;
9 daughters of kings are among your ladies of honour;
at your right hand stands the queen in gold of Ophir.

10 Hear, O daughter, consider and incline your ear;
forget your people and your father’s house,
11 and the king will desire your beauty.
Since he is your lord, bow to him;
12 the people of Tyre will seek your favour with gifts,
the richest of the people 13 with all kinds of wealth.

The princess is decked in her chamber with gold-woven robes;
14 in many-coloured robes she is led to the king;
behind her the virgins, her companions, follow.
15 With joy and gladness they are led along
as they enter the palace of the king.

16 In the place of ancestors you, O king, shall have sons;
you will make them princes in all the earth.
17 I will cause your name to be celebrated in all generations;
therefore the peoples will praise you for ever and ever.

Today’s Prayer:

The USPG Prayer Diary this week has a particular focus on ‘Lingering Legacies’ and remembering the victims of slavery and the transatlantic slave trade. The Prayer in the USPG Prayer Diary this morning (25 March 2022, the Annunciation of Our Lord to the Blessed Virgin Mary) invites us to pray:

Today we pray for the strength to follow the calling of the Lord. May we embrace unexpected events and trust in God.

Yesterday’s reflection

Continued tomorrow

‘With joy and gladness they are led along’ (Psalm 45: 15) … a wedding dance is re-enacted at a Turkish floorshow in Kusadasi (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

Seven Last Words (2): ‘Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise’

Blue skies, golden sands and turquoise waters in bay on the Greek island of Antipaxos … what is your image of Paradise? (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Patrick Comerford

Good Friday, 10 April 2020

2, Luke 23: 43

Reading: Luke 23: 39-43.

The words: ‘Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.’

Reflection: (2) Salvation

The Deposition of Christ from the Cross … a painting in Valencia Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

‘Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.’

This saying, the second of the seven last words of Christ on the Cross, is traditionally called ‘The Word of Salvation.’ According to Saint Luke’s Gospel, Jesus was crucified between two thieves. One of these two thieves realises that Christ is innocent and calls on him to remember him when he comes into his kingdom.

Christ replies to the Good Thief: ‘Truly, I say to you …,’ or ‘Amen, I say to you …’ (Αμήν λέγω σοί, amen legō soi), and then, on the only occasion recorded in the Gospels, he uses the word ‘Paradise’ (Παράδεισος, Paradeisōs), from the Persian word pairidaeza, meaning a ‘walled garden,’ and by extension, a ‘royal park’ or enclosure.

There are only two other uses of the word Paradise in the New Testament, neither of which is spoken by Christ:

The first is in the Second Letter to the Corinthians, when the Apostle Paul gives a description of how ‘a certain person’ – perhaps Saint Paul himself – ‘was caught up into Paradise and heard things that are not to be told, that no mortal is permitted to repeat’ (II Corinthians 12: 4).

The second is by Saint John the Divine in his Letter to the Church in Ephesus in the Book of Revelation, when Christ says: ‘To everyone who conquers, I will give permission to eat from the tree of life that is in the paradise of God’ (Revelation 2: 7).

In listening to the Word of God, Saint Paul is caught up into a vision of Paradise.

In listening to the Word of God in the cave in Patmos, Saint John has a vision of Paradise as a taste of God’s promises.

In speaking this ‘Word of Salvation’ from the Cross, Christ is inviting the penitent thief to join him in the royal enclosure.

And he invites you and me, in Word and Sacrament, into the Royal Enclosure too. Not to look back to the Garden of Eden, but to look forward to the heavenly city, to join the heavenly host before the Lamb on the throne.

Paradise on Sandford Street, Lichfield … but have you ever had a glimpse of Paradise? (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Have you ever had a glimpse of Paradise?

I know a pub on Sandford Street in Lichfield that is called Paradise, and a tavern called Paradise in Georgioupoli in Crete. But they are not the sort of places I am talking about.

I have a few favourite places that offer me glimpses of what I dream Paradise might be like: I snatch these glimpses walking the beaches in Co Kerry I have got to know in these two years here in this parish; strolling around the Cathedral Close in Lichfield at night, when the lights are out, beneath the star-filled skies; travelling by train along the banks of the River Slaney from Enniscorthy down to Wexford Harbour; on the bus from Iráklion to Rethymnon in Crete, as the sun is about the set behind the Venetian fortezza; the road down the Knockmealdown Mountains that descends from Mount Melleray to Cappoquin, and then passes along the banks of the Blackwater to Lismore.

Have you ever had a glimpse of Paradise?

I don’t mean to ask did you ever have a mystical vision, like that reported by Saint Paul, or those described by Saint Teresa of Avila or Saint John of the Cross.

I mean did you ever have a glimpse of what God’s promise might be like for you?

I know of at least three places that actually have the name Paradise.

The Byzantine Church of Aghios Pandeleímon … next to the Paradise Taverna near Kastélli in the mountains above Iráklion

The first of these three places named Paradise is on the Greek island of Crete. Many years ago, on one of our many, lengthy holidays in Crete, we drove up to Kastélli, in the mountains above Iráklion, when we came across a sign pointing down a dirt track with the words: ‘Byzantine Church and Paradise.’

The route passes through vast orchards and a densely vegetated landscape. But the Paradise we were being pointed to is the Paradise Taverna, which is run by the eccentric Nikolaides family. But the family also holds the keys to the Byzantine Church of Aghios Pandeleímon dating back to the tenth century, with powerful frescoes.

Over the centuries, the monastery has been destroyed several times by pirate raiders and by the Turks. In more recent years, there has only been one monk at the most living in Aghios Pandeleímon.

When we arrived, we found it was up to the Nikolaides family at the Paradise Taverna to decide who could or who could not enter the church. They may not have had the keys to Paradise, but they certainly had the keys to the basilica. And we were allowed in that hot summer’s morning.

Inside, there are unusual icons of Saint Anne mothering the Child Mary, Mary who would mother the Christ Child and mourn the Christ who is taken down from the Cross on Good Friday.

One of the notable surviving frescoes from the same monastery is one of the Αποκαθήλωσις (Apokathelosis). This is a traditional representation of the dead Christ in Orthodox iconography. And it was a timely reminder in that shaded garden café on that summer’s day of the link between the death of Christ and our invitation to Paradise, the royal garden.

The Gates of Paradise in Cambridge at Owlstone Croft, once known as Paradise Garden and now part of Queens’ College (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The second of these three places named Paradise is in Cambridge. On the north bank of the River Cam as it enters the city, Paradise is a small, low-lying nature reserve that includes Paradise Island.

This fragment of semi-natural habitat was once a common on the margins of Cambridge. Because it is still on the flood plain of the Cam, large parts of Paradise are frequently under water during winter, turning it into a wet and muddy wood. But this also guarantees that Paradise is safe from building development.

Extensive work was carried out on Paradise Nature Reserve a few years ago, so that over-hanging trees were cleared from the footpaths, making access to the site unimpeded. Pollarding and coppicing – forms of pruning that allow regenerative growth – have increased the potential life span of the willows in Paradise, and in recent years 50 hazel whips were planted along with a rural hedgerow.

Paradise in Cambridge is a reminder that we are entrusted with the care of God’s creation, that we are co-partners with God in creation, but have responsibility for how we take care of his garden.

Swimming is a pleasure in the clean, clear, aquamarine waters at Lost Paradise Beach, with sand that seems to stretch for miles out into the sea (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The third Paradise I know is a small sandy beach with blue waters and the delightful name of ‘Lost Paradise,’ below an hotel near Kuşadasi in western Turkey where we stayed for a week or two, on two holidays some years ago.

A steep path behind the Palmin Sunset Hotel leads down to the small beach known as Kayip Cennet or Lost Paradise. The path is tough and difficult for anyone with my health problems, but the reward is wonderful, and I would have to be wallowing in self-pity not to want to walk down to this beach. One afternoon there ten years ago (16 August 2010), when the temperatures were in the high 30s each day, hovering between 37 and 39 into the afternoon, I started reading Janet Soskice’s Sisters of Sinai. This is her account of Scottish twin sisters who lived in Cambridge and their discovery of an early copy of the Four Gospels in Saint Catherine’s Monastery in Mount Sinai.

This is an historical work by the Professor of Philosophical Theology at Cambridge. But she writes with the pace of a first-class novelist, and the book is full of people and places I know and delight in – from Cambridge to Greece, Turkey and the Middle East, and there are even people I have met, including Father Justin, who once welcomed me to the Library in Saint Catherine’s Monastery on Mount Sinai.

I could have sat there all day on Lost Paradise, reading this book. But I was also tempted constantly to take breaks to swim in the clean, clear, aquamarine water, with sand beneath that seems to stretch for miles out into the sea.

These three Paradises have been gifts to me. They have given me glimpses of God’s promises to me. If I have enjoyed them so much, I have been so appreciative of the gifts God gives me in his creation, if I have felt so welcome in God’s enclosure, if I have had a foretaste of the promises of Paradise, then I can only describe them for you in inadequate snapshots, in words that cannot give you the experience, but only give you a glimpse, a taste of ‘things that are not to be told, that no mortal is permitted to repeat.’

Prayer:

Lord Jesus Christ,
you spoke in love to the thief
who asked to be remembered in your kingdom;
Speak the words of eternal life
to all who are sincerely penitent,
with the assurance of being with you in Paradise,
for your mercy’s sake. Amen.

Paradise Taverna in Georgioupoli in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)

(Revd Canon Professor) Patrick Comerford is priest-in-charge, the Rathkeale and Kilnaughtin Group of Parishes. This is the second of seven reflections on ‘the Seven Last Words’ prepared for Good Friday, 10 April 2020.

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Watching an icon of the Dormition taking shape in Rethymnon

The Dormition of the Theotokos … a new icon by Alexandra Kaouki, completed for a church in the old town of Rethymnon

Patrick Comerford

The Orthodox Church celebrates the Dormition of the Theotokos today [15 August], the same day as the Roman Catholic Feast of the Assumption, and in recent weeks it has been a privilege to watch a new icon on this important theme in Orthodoxy being shaped and created by Alexandra Kaouki (Αλεξανδρα Καουκι), perhaps the most talented and innovative iconographers in Crete today, as she worked in her studio below the Venetian fortezza in the in the old town of Rethymnon.

The Dormition and the Assumption are different names for the same event, the Virgin Mary’s death departure from the earth, although the two feasts do not necessarily have an identical understanding of the event or sequence of events.

In the Orthodox Church, the Dormition of the Mother of God (Η Κοίμησις τησ Θεοτόκου, Koímēsos tis Theotokou) is a Great Feast and recalls the “falling asleep” or death of the Virgin Mary, the Theotokos, and her body being taken into heaven. In the Greek of Scripture and Orthodoxy, death is often called a ‘sleeping’ or ‘falling asleep’. The Greek word κοίμησις gives us the word κοιμητήριον and the Latin coemetērium for a cemetery, meaning ‘a place of sleeping.’

The tradition of the Dormition is associated with a number of places, including Jerusalem, Ephesus and Constantinople. In his guidebook, The Holy Land, the late Jerome Murphy-O’Connor points out that two places in Jerusalem are traditionally associated with the end of the Virgin Mary’s earthly life: a monastery on Mount Zion is the traditional site of her death or falling asleep; and the basilica in the Garden of Gethsemane is said to be the site of her tomb. Since the end of the 19th century, Mereyama, 8 km east of Selçuk and Ephesus, has been venerated by many Roman Catholics as the site of Virgin Mary’s last earthly home, and it is a popular destination for tourists on day-trips from Kusadasi. It is also claimed that the Girdle of the Theotokos was enshrined in Constantinople for centuries. Since the 14th century, it has been kept in Vatopedi, the monastery where I have stayed on Mount Athos.

However, the first four Christian centuries are silent about the death of the Virgin Mary. Even as late as the fourth century, some Christian writers believed that she was martyred. For this reason, Saint Ambrose, for example, wrote: “Neither the letter of Scripture nor Tradition does not teach us that Mary had left this life as a consequence of suffering from bodily ulcers.”

Epiphanius of Salamis, who was born a Jew in Phoenicia and converted to Christianity when he was an adult, lived as a monk for over 20 years in Palestine in the late fourth century and died ca 403. He writes that nothing certain was known of the death of Virgin Mary: “If any think I am mistaken, moreover, let them search through the scriptures any neither find Mary’s death, nor whether or not she died, nor whether or not she was buried.”

There is no documentary evidence to support the claim sometimes made that the feast of the Dormition was observed in Jerusalem around the time of the Council of Ephesus in 431. Until the fifth century, the Church Fathers do not mention the Dormition of the Virgin. The earliest traditions about the Dormition are found in manuscripts in the late fifth century, when three distinct narrative traditions emerge describing the end of the Virgin Mary’s life.

Even in the early sixth century, the Dormition was not celebrated as a holy day. According to Nikephoros Kallistos Xanthopoulos in his History of the Church, the Emperor Maurice (582-602) issued an edict that set 15 August as the date for the marking the Dormition. In a sermon on this feast day a generation later, Patriarch Modestus of Jerusalem (630-632), regretted the lack of specific information about the death of the Virgin Mary. The Byzantine tradition was adapted in Rome when Pope Sergius I (687-701) declared the feast called Dormitio Beatae Virginis.

A 16th century icon of the Dormition from Crete

An early version of the story of the Dormition is found in ‘The Account of Saint John the Theologian of the Dormition of the Mother of God,’ a Greek text usually dated to the sixth century, although some would date it earlier.

After Pentecost, according to later traditions, the Virgin Mary spent her later life supporting the early Apostolic Church, and lived in the house of Saint John the Divine in Jerusalem. There the Archangel Gabriel told her she was going to die three days later. The apostles, scattered throughout the world, are said to have been miraculously transported to be at her side when she died.

Earlier traditions also say that the Virgin Mary was buried in Gethsemane, according to her request. However, Saint Thomas is said to have arrived from India three days after her death. When he saw her body in a cloud above her tomb and rising to heaven, he asked her: ‘Where are you going, O Holy One’ She took off her girdle and gave it to him, saying ‘Receive this my friend,’ and then disappeared.

When the Apostles arrived with Saint Thomas at her grave, her body was gone, and an apparition is said to have confirmed that Christ had taken her body to heaven three days after her death to be reunited with her soul.

Traditional icons of the Dormition depicting the death of the Virgin Mary incorporate many apocryphal elements or details from writings known as pseudepigrapha.

In the earliest of these icons in the Byzantine tradition, Christ is coming to receive the soul of his dying mother, surrounded by an aureola or cloud of blinding light and accompanied by the angels and prophets. Christ is shown in a similar cloud of light in icons of the Transfiguration, the Resurrection and the Last Judgment.

In the centre, Mary is lying on a bier. In the sky above, the Apostles are arriving on clouds, and they are see too after their arrival, standing around her bier, so that they are represented twice in the icon to show two stages of time.

The stories say Saint Peter arrived for her death from Rome, Saint Paul from Tiberia, Saint James from Jerusalem, and Saint Mark from Alexandria. Saint Andrew, Saint Philip, Saint Luke, Saint Simon the Cananaean, and Saint Thaddaeus who had died were raised from their tombs to be present. Only Saint Thomas was late in arriving from India.

Christ holding his mother’s soul wrapped like a new-born baby … a detail from Alexandra Kaouki’s icon of the Dormition as it neared completion

Christ stands directly above the Virgin Mary, holding his mother’s soul on his left arm. But her soul is shown wrapped in swaddling clothes as an infant because she is just born into Heaven. Above Christ is a red-winged angel of the rank of the cherubim.

In traditional icons, Dionysius the Areopagite is in the lower right in the stole of a bishop. Many icons also show the Apostle Paul’s companion, Saint Timothy, and Saint Hierotheus, the first Bishop of Athens. Other icons include saints of later periods.

In the clouds at the top, two angels wait on the other side of the opened doors of Heaven, their hands covered with cloths as a sign of veneration for a sacred object or person.

The Dormition … a traditional icon in the Benaki Museum in Athens

In many icons of the Dormition, there is a strange scene just below the bier where a man has his hands reaching upward. According to tradition, he is Athonios or Jephonias, a Jew who was jealous of the honour being shown to Mary. He tries to push over the bier but is blocked by an angel – some say the Archangel Michael – severed his hands with a sword. In some icons his hands have not yet been cut off, in others his hands are severed from his arms.

Tradition says Jephonias repented and with faith, was healed, joined the funeral procession, and became a Christian.

The legend of Jephonias first appears in apocryphal texts in the fifth and sixth centuries. But is this an early example of anti-Semitism? Professor Elisheva Revel-Neher of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, points out in her study of ‘The Image of the Jew in Byzantine Art,’ that the earliest known depictions of this scene are found in Cappadocia in the ninth and tenth centuries.

In Orthodox theology, the conception of Christ by the Theotokos is sometimes said to be foreshadowed in the Old Testament by the Ark of the Covenant, and the procession of the body of the Theotokos by the Apostles is then seen as being foreshadowed by the Ark of the Covenant being captured by the Philistines and eventually brought to Jerusalem.

The story of Jephonias has been compared with the story of how the Philistines captured the ark of God, took it to Ashdod, and placed it in Dagon’s temple, setting it beside Dagon. The next day, the people of Ashdod found Dagon had fallen on his face before the ark of the Lord. They put Dagon back in place. But the next day they found Dagon had fallen on his face on before the ark of the Lord, with his head and hands broken off and lying on the threshold (see I Samuel 5: 1-5).

The Dormition by El Greco (Doménikos Theotokópoulos, Δομήνικος Θεοτοκόπουλος) was probably painted while he was still working in Crete

The best-known version is by El Greco, or Doménikos Theotokópoulos (Δομήνικος Θεοτοκόπουλος, 1541-1614), from Crete. He painted his Dormition of the Virgin near the end of his Cretan period, probably before 1567. His signature on the base of the central candelabrum was found in 1983.

El Greco’s interpretation combines post-Byzantine and Italian mannerist stylistic and iconographic elements. El Greco’s icon, which is now venerated in the Church of the Dormition in Syros, was probably brought to the island during the Greek War of Independence.

His icon conforms closely to the established Orthodox pattern for this subject, although it has lost some elements of traditional Byzantine austerity.

The Church of Our Lady of the Angels in the old town of Rethymnon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Last month when I visited her studio in Rethymnon, Alexandra Kaouki, who is one of the foremost iconographers in Crete, was completing her new icon of the Dormition of the Theotokos (Κοιμησεωσ τησ Θεοτοκου). This new icon, measuring 45 cm X 33 cm, has been created for the Church of Our Lady of the Angels (Κυρίας των Αγγέλων, Kyrias ton Angelon), or the Little Church of Our Lady (Μικρή Παναγία, Mikrí Panaghía) in the old town of Rethymnon.

The Church of Our Lady of the Angels faces a small square on the corner of two of the main streets of the old town of Rethymnon, Nikifórou Foká Street and Arampatzoglou (Thessaloníkis) Street.

In the closing days of Venetian rule, the Dominican friars built a three-aisled church on this corner and dedicated it to Saint Mary Magdalene. After the Turkish conquest of Crete, Huseyin Pasha ordered that the church should be converted into a mosque. The new mosque was named after Huseyin Pasha’s successor, Angebut Ahmed Pasha, and was built with the support of a special edict from the Sultan. A minaret was built beside the former north aisle, but the top soon fell to the ground and the minaret was known to later generations as Koutsotroúlis, “the Old Stump.”

On the night of 3 and 4 April 1917, local people claimed the miraculous discovery of an icon of the Virgin Mary on the steps of the minaret. The mosque was turned back into a church, and was dedicated to Our Lady of the Angels – to distinguish it from the Venetian cathedral, “Great Saint Mary’s.” A shrine of the icon was set up in the restored church and a new belfry was added in 1920.

Alexandra Kaouki’s icon of the Dormition as it neared completion

It was a privilege to watch this icon taking shape. It has been a careful, slow step-by-step work in progress, based on the celebrated icon by El Greco. But as the work progressed, Alexandra made what she describes as ‘necessary corrections’ to allow her to ‘entirely follow the Byzantine rules.’

In her studio below the Venetian Fortezza in the old town of Rethymnon, we discussed why El Greco places three candelabra in front of the bier. Perhaps he is using then as a Trinitarian symbol. However, Alexandra has returned to the traditional depiction of only one to remain true to Byzantine traditions.

How many of the Twelve should be depicted?

Should Saint Thomas be shown as being present?

She also decided to omit the story of Jephonias, not because it is gruesome but because it is a later development in the tradition. On the other hand, she has included some of the woman we might imagine were present at the Dormition.

Alexandra has posted photographs of this work on her Facebook page as her work has progressed, and it was completed at the end of last week in time for today’s Feast of the Dormition.

Alexandra Kaouki at work on her icon of the Dormition of the Theotokos in her studio in Rethymnon

● Since 2011, the Abbot of the Benedictine Abbey of the Dormition in Jerusalem has been Abbot Gregory Collins. He was born in Belfast in 1960 and was a monk Glenstal Abbey before going to Jerusalem. His books include The Glenstal Book of Icons (2002).