Art/ Heritage

ART through the AGES: through the lens of ‘The Parable of the two sons’

 ‘The artist is a witness of the invisible. Arts give expression to the beauty of faith’ – Pope Francis

Undoubtedly the Church has been the greatest patron of art over centuries. Painters and sculptors laboured generously to fill places of worship with marvellous art forms. Art was perceived as a medium of transition of faith and remission of sins. But when and where did it all begin? Today’s article will take us through the history and development of Christian art through the pictorial lens of the ‘Parable of the two sons.’ (Matthew 21: 28 – 32). Let’s begin at the beginning.

The art of the catacombs: (200 – 325 C.E)

Identifiable Christian art can be traced to the late 2nd century and early 3rd century. As the burial practice of the people of Rome changed from cremation to inhumation, huge catacombs were dug into the ground to bury the dead. The catacombs had chambers and were decorated with imagery and symbols familiar to the early Christians. Regular threats of persecution added impetus to the practice.

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God’s firewall – Saturday, 25th Week in ordinary time – Zechariah 2:5-9, 14-15A

Zechariah and Haggai were contemporaries in Jerusalem and both were concerned with the rebuilding of the ruined temple. Yet, judging by the books named after them, they were very different types of men.

The book of Zechariah is set in the period after the return of the exiles from Babylon to Jerusalem. In Ezra 5: 1-2, Zechariah and Haggai together motivated the people to look for the fulfillment of God’s promises. Long ago, Jeremiah said that Israel’s exile would last for seventy years after which God would restore his presence to a new temple and bring His kingdom and the rule of the Messiah over all nations. The dates at the beginning of this book tell us that those seventy years were almost up.

Back then, life in the land was hard and nothing seemed like these promises were going to come true. The book of Zechariah offers an explanation to this situation through a large collection of Zechariah’s visions.

‘Zechariah’s visions’ are a collection of eight nighttime visions that he experienced. These visions are bizarre with strange images. The idea that people got communicated through and people communicated to other people, through symbolic dreams, seems very old fashioned. But such visions go back to the book of Genesis (Jacob in Genesis 28, Joseph dream and in chapter 37, Pharaoh’s vision in chapter 41). These gave meaning to current events at the time but they also gave a window into the future.

The vision taken from today’s reading is the third vision of the ‘surveyor’. This, along with the sixth vision of the ‘flying scroll’, focuses on Jerusalem. Jerusalem is being rebuilt in the third dream. A man with a plumb line is measuring the city. This is an image of God’s promise that Jerusalem will be rebuilt and become a beacon to the nations who will join God’s people in worship.

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Three Angels and Young Tobias- Fra Filippo Lippi. 1485.

Not just harping around- Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, archangels

The word angel comes from the Greek, “aggelos,” and means “messenger”. Although the Catholic Church acknowledges that there are seven Archangels according to Sacred Scripture and sacred tradition the Council of Rome in 745, under the reign of Pope Saint Zachary, officially acknowledges the names of only three of the seven Archangels: St. Michael, St. Gabriel, and St. Raphael. This is because these three Archangels are the only angels named in Scripture.

The names of the other four Archangels appear in Jewish and Christian sources outside of the canon of Sacred Scripture (an example is the Book of Enoch chapter 20) and their names are: Uriel, Raguel, Zerachiel, and Remiel.

Since the fourth century, nine choirs or types of angels were identified in the Bible and popularized in the Middle Ages by various theologians and writers, like St. Thomas Aquinas, Dante, Hildegard of Bingen and John Scotus Erigena. Together, they form the “hosts of heaven,” i.e., God’s army of angels. Almighty God is called “Lord of Hosts” (in Hebrew, “Yahweh Sabaoth”) over three hundred times in the Old Testament and twice in the New Testament (Rom 9:29 and Jas 5:4).

There are three hierarchies and orders existing among the angels. These names are often heard in the prayer (depending upon the liturgical solemnity) just before the Sanctus or Holy Holy is sung.  The highest hierarchy includes the orders of Seraphim, Cherubim, and Thrones. The middle hierarchy includes Dominations, Virtues and Powers. The lowest hierarchy includes Principalities, Archangels and Angels. This classification is accepted by the doctors of the Church. In Paul’s Epistles to the Ephesians and Colossians, he mentions– Thrones, Dominions (or Dominations), Powers, Virtues, and Principalities.

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From Apathy to Action- Thursday, 25th Week in ordinary time- Haggai 1: 1-8

Haggai lived more than half a century after that great exile at a time when a new page of history lay bare before the Jewish people.   Yet this time was also the lowest point in the experience of the Hebrew people throughout the whole biblical period. 

Some 66 years earlier, in 586 B.C., the city of Jerusalem had been defeated by the armies of Babylon and its temple had been desecrated.  A large portion of Jerusalem’s population had been exiled to live in the labour camps of Babylon. Others had escaped the invaders and had settled in foreign countries, far from their homeland.  Only a few had remained in the Promised Land. Devoid of any leadership, they had survived, but they had neither the vision nor the will to retain the vitality of faith which used to be celebrated in Jerusalem.

The international situation began to change in 539 B.C.  The newly powerful Persian Empire, under the leadership of Cyrus, defeated Babylon and thus became the new master of the fate of the exiled Jews who lived in the territories Persia now controlled.  Cyrus made it possible, perhaps as early as 538 B.C. for exiles that lived in his newly acquired territories to return to their homelands.  And so, some of the Jews, after half a century of residence in Babylon, began to move back to their own country, a land that many of them (having been born in exile) had never visited.

Of those who returned home, in and after 538 B.C., a few seem to have set about the task of restoring the temple, which had been destroyed in 586 B.C.  Their efforts, however, were too little.  Most of them would have been hard pressed to eke out a living in their new circumstances, and though the foundations for a restored temple were cleared and prepared, little progress seems to have been made with the reconstruction as such.

It is against this background that we are provided with a brief glimpse of the ministry of the prophet Haggai. Where the pre-exilic prophets had ministered to a violent and evil nation; Haggai was faced with the inertia of despair and sluggishness.  Some of this people sought merely to survive; others survived in reasonable comfort, but had no vision for the people as a whole.  

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The prophet Ezra praying, engraving by Gustave Doré. 1832 

Pleading for a second chance- Wednesday, 25th week in ordinary time – Ezra 9:5-9

Ezra accompanies the second batch of exiles from Babylon in the year 458 BC to Jerusalem. His priestly background gave him clarity of vision for he knew the importance of having the people back where the sacrificial system was being practiced. That story is told in chapters seven and eight which sets the scene for chapter nine, where sin is uncovered in the post-exilic community.

The first days after Ezra’s arrival in Jerusalem were occupied in executing the different trusts committed to him but a further acquaintance discovered the existence of great corruptions, which demanded immediate correction.

Some leaders, perhaps men who had previously returned to the land under Zerubbabel, soon realized that Ezra was a man who was devoted to the accurate teaching of the Law. They felt compelled to disclose to Ezra that a number of the people who had returned in the first group under Zerubbabel, were in violation of divine law.

What was this law that the people had broken? One of God’s major prohibitions was that His people were not to marry outside the community of believers and now it is disclosed that many have contracted marriages with Gentile women. These men included several of the priests and Levites, as well as of the leading men in the country.

Who were these Gentiles? There were a small number of Jews who were not taken to Assyria or Babylon and had intermarried with gentiles forming the nucleus of the later race of Samaritans. Over a period of time there was great hostility between the Jews who returned from exile and those who had stayed back and intermarried with the people of nations such as Ammon, Moab, and Egypt

 Even though they were both of the same Semitic races, their reasons for not associating with each other were religious. The fear was that If God’s people married outside Israel then they would inevitably be encouraged towards idolatry. Foreign marriages contaminated Israel, fostered the foreigners’ prosperity, weakened Israel spiritually, and decreased her opportunity to enjoy the land’s crops.

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