“And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of his testament was seen in his temple: and there were lightnings and voices and thunderings and earthquakes and great hail. And there appeared a great sign in the heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars; and she being with child cried out, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.” (Apoc. 11:19-12:1)
This week[1] in our Catholic parish this literary icon of the Church as the Great Sign in Apocalypse 12 was being discussed by many in the light of many diverse ordinary Christians believing that just such an alignment in the constellation of Virgo will appear over Jerusalem on September 23 2017 and its meaning in regards to the future of the Church.[2] Many Protestants are seeing it as a sign connected with the rapture of the Church, many Catholics are seeing its connection with Fatima where Virgin Miriam appeared clothed with the Sun in 1917 and its 100th Anniversary this year. Is this a new form of theological ecclesial ecumenism among the ordinary believers as both devout Protestants and Catholics are associating this Great Sign in the Heavens (Sky) with the Church, Israel and the Virgin Miriam and a time of persecution or chastisement follow by a new springtime or era of peace for the Church and the world? No doubt the theological and clerical elites[3] will ignore such forms of ecclesial ecumenism among the little ones of their flocks much in the way the Pharisees and Sadducees did in Second Temple times until the Temple and religious structures they had built fell down round their ears. The scholarly elites, while bringing much of value, often write much about diversity but often limit that diversity to that which fits their own paradigm of understanding.[4]
Identifying distinct ecclesiological models of the New or Second Testament period is a subject fraught with assumptions and speculations. Many theologians have adopted assumptions about the early Church that are based more on their own (or their favourite scholar’s) self-created literary theories than on any scientific or historical evidence. [5][6]They speak of imaginary Markan, Lukan, Johannine, Pauline, Petrine etc communities for which there is no archaeological, historical or philological evidence.[7][8][9]However the Second Testament is full of what Komtov and Lepakhin call literary or verbal icons of the Church.[10][11]These Second Testament icons of the Church draw on the First Testament and Jewish tradition and literature. It would perhaps be better to refer to Markan, Lukan etc. icons of the Church rather than Markan, Lukan etc. communities. The Church is a mystery that in its inner essence can only truly be spoken about and encountered fully in a poetic and iconic manner using analogical, metaphorical and the symbolic language of imagery.[12]In this short essay I will seek to touch on a few elements of the diverse iconologies of the Church which are in reality united like an onion to its rings or layers. Where some scholars see contradictions and oppositions[13]others encounter diverse iconic layers that serve an ecclesiological unity[14]that sheds light on the mystery that is the Church (Messianic Edah or Kehilla).[15]
The Second Testament period of the Church dates from its ecclesial beginnings in the Cenacle until the destruction of the Jewish Temple and Jerusalem in 70 AD. [16]This Church was a Jewish centred messianic community which also began to have thriving assemblies made up of Gentile believers. It also drew its Jewish members from different strands within Second Temple Judaism that brought their own ideas and insights into the Second Testament Church.
The Hillel and Essene traditions of Pharisaic Judaism were the most influential on the early Church but also the priestly or Temple rituals were also important to many Jews coming into the New Covenant Church especially those from the Sadducee tradition.[17] The Judaisers most likely coming from the Shammai school of the Pharisees into the Messianic community also played a role in the early Church.[18] It would seem that there is some evidence that the Hillel strand of the Jewish Church (centred in Jerusalem headed by a Messianic Davidic Nasi or Abbot) and the Essene strand (centred in Edessa headed by a charismatic prophet or Tzadik) may have developed in separate paths after 70 AD.[19][20]There were also a strong input of the Hellenist Jews to the early Church.[21] The later Church of the Uncircumcision or Gentiles after 70 AD starting developing in different directions with a more monarchical rule by bishops but still with its roots in Jewish thought and practice.[22] In the 5th century most of the remnants of the Jewish Church assimilated either into the Gentile Church or the Jewish Synagogue where they secretly maintained their Jewish Christian traditions and gradually some of these traditions and ideas were integrated into the Church or Synagogue.[23]
This rich diversity of Jewish thought would act as a Jewish leaven as Yeshua revealed in his parable of the Bread or Challah Woman in Matthew 13:33. This parable is also an ecclesiological icon of the Church (the woman Ecclesia or Kneset Yisrael) which is both eschatological and Eucharistic. The Church is the leaven that is to grow into the fullness of the Kingdom of God throughout time and history. This alludes to Paul’s ecclesial and Eucharistic icon of the Church as the one loaf (challah) we all share (1 Cor. 10:17) and Luke’s iconic story of the breaking of the bread by the risen Messiah on the way to Emmaus.[24] Jewish tradition links the patient waiting for the challah dough to rise with the nurturing of a child in the maternal womb.[25] In 2013 Pope Francis linked the resurrection encounter of the Emmaus way experience with the concept of the maternal womb of mercy in his discussion of a new Biblical ecclesiological paradigm.[26] Thus the three strands or braids of the Messianic challah are the Eucharistic (sacrificial and liturgical), Marian (incarnational and mystical) and Petrine (eschatological and doctrinal) strands of the developing Messianic community which is symbolised by the Bread Woman who is Mother of the Church as the woman in labour and the Woman of Israel (Apoc.12).[27][28][29]
There are many other diverse but interconnected icons of the Church (Ecclesia or Kehilla) found in the Second Testament Scriptures which all draw on the First Testament and Jewish tradition. It is difficult to discuss one without linking them to other iconic verses and passages of Scripture. Some of these literary icons found in the Second Testament are Body of the Messiah,[30]the Vineyard,[31]the Temple of God,[32]the Rock,[33]the Sign of Jonah,[34]the Yesod,[35]the Chuppah,[36]the Betrothed Virgin,[37]Manna eater,[38]the Light Bearer,[39]Seed of the Kingdom,[40]Follower of the Halakah (Way),[41]a Holy City,[42]the Olive Tree,[43]the Great Sign[44]and many others. All of these Second or New Testament icons of the Church have a rich heritage in the First Testament Scriptures and People.
The later models of the Church would draw on these ecclesial Jewish icons and use them for their own understanding of the nature and mission of the Church. However like in the parable of the seeds some of these understandings of the Church would bear good fruit and others not, some would flourish for a season and then wither away.[45]Avery lists six ecclesiological models of the Church as Institution, Mystical Communion, Sacrament, Herald, Servant and Community of Disciples.[46]All of these models for Church build on some of the Scriptural ecclesiological literary icons mentioned above. They are adapted to suit the period of history and the development of doctrine since the time of the Second Testament period. The Western and Eastern rite Churches have developed these icons and insights in different ways. This short essay is not able to discuss this in any detail.
One of the icons of the Church which has had prominence in the Western Church due especially to St Augustine is the icon of the Church as Holy City or City of God.[47]This idea has also a Sophiological and Marian dimension and understanding of the Church which is also found in Eastern rite Christianity especially in Russian Orthodoxy.[48][49]This perceives the Church as both Wisdom and Mother which when understood in a mystical and spiritual sense bears good fruit in a richness of diversity in unity but mixed with politics and power can become totalitarian, oppressive, conformist, uniform, utilitarian and monolithic (rather than universal). The visible man-made structures of the Church can then appear more like Lilith or Dame Folly rather than the maternal Lady of Wisdom of which the humble Virgin Miriam or the Repentant Miriam of Magdala is the icon or model.[50]
The pagan Roman governmental model adapted to the Church organisation was one post Biblical model used by the Churches of the Gentiles in both East and West. This model is the one Avery calls Institutional. This model may have served the Church well in the past in some sense, but is it time to revisit the earlier Jewish and scriptural models of Church governance without compromising the infallible teachings of faith and morals? Has the Church used the model of the Church as the rock and pillar and foundation of the truth through the ages in the true spirit of the Gospel or have we used it to enforce our truth rather than proclaim and offer it? During the time of the Church of the Gentiles[51]have we not truly discerned what is truly of the Spirit of the Messiah rather than the spirit of the world? Has the Church exercised power and authority like Gentile Lords?[52]
The Church of the Gentiles has often confused the Church which is the seed or leaven of the Kingdom with the Kingdom of God (in Matthew called the Kingdom of Heaven) itself.[58]This has in certain places and times led to an overemphasis on the institutional and power aspects of the Church rather than the humble messianic servant of the people of God which is the mystical Body of the Messiah.[59]The important place of the Holy Spirit and communion in the Divine Life of the Holy Trinity in animating and breathing life into the Church and its structures and institutions has in the past been neglected by the scholars of the Latin Church.[60][61] The mystical dimension in both Christianity and Judaism has often been swamped by a legalistic and rigid emphasis on rules and laws. Religious rules and laws are meant to be signposts to guide us on the spiritual and mystical journey into encounter with the Divine. When Torah is interpreted with the spirit and not the letter then it is perfect and converts or restores the soul.[62]
One of the Second Testament icons of the Church is the Chuppah or bridal tent or chamber in which the marriage is consummated. Yeshua refers to his disciples as children of the Chuppah and to himself as the Chatan (bridegroom)[63]which alludes to the Song of Songs and Psalm 19. Psalm 19 also mystically and conceptually draws on Genesis 1.[64]This bridegroom in Psalm 19 is identified as the Sun and the bridal tent as the tent or chamber of the sun and linked by the early Jewish –Christians with the Messiah mentioned in Malachi as the Sun of righteousness who arises with healing in his wings (the tent flaps).
Jewish tradition as taught by Breslov Hasidism refer to these “wings of the sun” as the sun garments or coverings (bridal garments of the Chatan[65]) which allows God’s glory and Will to be perceived by his creatures. The “wings of the sun” that brings healing is the teachings of the True Tzaddik (righteous one). This True Tzaddik thus fashions vessels that allow us to encounter God’s glory (kavod) and presence (shekhinah) in our lives.[66] Thus the Chuppah alludes to the Sun Temple (tent or tabernacle) where the Sun Bridegroom consummates his union with his Bride (who is symbolised by the Moon) at the midnight hour[67] (see the parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins).[68] At the moment of consummation the Moon Bride eclipses her Lover the Sun Bridegroom. This alludes to the darkness and hiddenness of mystery and sacrament.
This mystical, incarnational and sacramental understanding of the Church has had a revival today in the teachings of Pope John Paul II on the “theology of the Body”. Thus the icon of the Church as Chuppah is closely linked to the icons of the Church as Body of the Messiah and Temple and Tabernacle of the Lord as well as the Bride of Messiah and Betrothed Virgin.
In this brief essay I have sought to touch on some of the mystery of the Church from an iconic ecclesiological perspective drawing in particular on the Jewish roots of the Church interpreted through a paradigm of diversity in unity. While not always agreeing with the theological perspectives of Raymond Brown and Richard McBrien, I concur with them in their understanding that the numerous and diverse Second Testament iconologies of the Church are one of continuity and development within the framework of diversity with unity rather than that of contradictory and competing ecclesiologies as proposed by Kaseman and others. “The Spirit and the Bride say ‘Come!’…”.[69]
Bibliography
Addleshaw, George William Outram. The Pastoral Structure of the Celtic Church in Northern Britain. No. 43. Borthwick Publications, 1973.
Augustine, Aurelius. The City of God. Vol. 1. Lulu. com, 1945.
Bird, Michael F. "The Markan Community, Myth or Maze? Bauckham's the Gospel for all Christians Revisited."The Journal of Theological Studies 57.2 (2006): 474-486.
Brown, Raymond E. "The Unity and Diversity in New Testament Ecclesioyogy."Novum Testamentum 6.Fasc. 4 (1963): 298-308.
Cooley, Jeffrey L. "Psalm 19: A Sabbath Song1."Vetus Testamentum 64.2 (2014): 177-195.
Crossan, John Dominic. Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography Harper: San Francisco, 1994.Doyle, Dennis M. Communion Ecclesiology: Vision and Versions. Mary-knoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2000.
Dulles, Avery. Models of Church, Expanded ed. New York: Image Books, 1974/ 1987.Ebo Annan, Stephen. "“Do not Stifle the Spirit”: The Vision of Yves Congar for Charismatic Ecclesiology."New Blackfriars95.1058 (2014): 443-467.
Falk, Harvey (Rabbi) Jesus the Pharisee; A New Look at the Jewishness of Jesus, New York ; Paulist Press, 1985.Flanagan, Marie Therese. The Transformation of the Irish Church in the Twelfth and Thirteenth centuries. Vol. 29. Boydell & Brewer, 2010.
Friedman OC, Elias (Father). Jewish identity. USA Miriam Press, 1987.
Greenbaum, Avraham. The wings of the sun: Traditional Jewish healing in theory and practice. Azamra Institute, 1995.Hahnenberg, Edward P. "The Mystical Body of Christ and Communion Ecclesiology: Historical Parallels."Irish Theological Quarterly 70.1 (2005): 3-30.
Käsemann, Ernst. "Unity and diversity in New Testament ecclesiology."Novum Testamentum 6.Fasc. 4 (1963): 290-297.
Komkov, Oleg. "The Vertical Form: Iconological Dimension in 20th Century Russian Religious Aesthetics and Literary Criticism."Literature and Theology 20.1 (2006): 7-19.
Kornblatt, Judith Deutsch. Divine Sophia: The Wisdom writings of Vladimir Solovyov New York; Cornell University Press, 2009.Lane, Dermot A. "The Eucharist as Sacrament of the Eschaton."The Furrow 47.9 (1996): 467-473.
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Robinson, John A T (Bishop) Redating the New Testament Philedelphia: Westminister Press, 1976).Skarsaune, Oskar. In the shadow of the Temple: Jewish influences on early Christianity. InterVarsity Press, 2008.
Skarsaune, Oskar, and Reidar Hvalvik, eds. Jewish believers in Jesus: the early centuries. Hendrickson Pub, 2007.
Schillebeeckx, Edward. Jesus: An Experiment in Christology London: Collins, 1979.Schipflinger, Thomas. Sophia-Maria: A Holistic Vision of Creation, USA: Samuel Weiser Inc, 1998.
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van de Sandt, Hubertus Waltherus Maria, ed. Matthew and the Didache: two documents from the same Jewish-Christian milieu?. Uitgeverij Van Gorcum, 2005.
[1]August 15 and the readings of Our Lady’s Assumption.
[2]According to these reports on September 23 the constellation Virgo will appear in the sky above Jerusalem with 12 stars- nine from Leo and the other three are planets and the sun over the shoulder of Virgo and the moon under her feet. Jupiter will spend about 9 months in the “womb” of Virgo before exiting a few days earlier. Apparently this last occurred 7,000 years ago.
[3]Brendan O’Neill the political commentator and journalist speaks of the sneering political elites but one could extend this to the sneering theological and religious elites too.
[4] Richard P McBrien, The Church: The Evolution of Catholicism. (Harper Collins, 2008), 25.
[5]Edward Schillebeeckx, Jesus: An Experiment in Christology (London: Collins, 1979), 364-379.
[7]Michael F Bird, “The Markan Community, Myth or Maze: Bauckham’s The Gospel For All Christians Revisited” Journal of Theological Studies Vol 57 pt 2 (UK: Oxford University Press, 2006), 475-477
[8]Dwight N Peterson, The Origins of Mark: The Markan Community in Current Debate, (Leiden:Brill, 2000), 4-5.
[9]Bishop John A T Robinson, Redating the New Testament (Philedelphia: Westminister Press, 1976) 1-30.
[10] Valerii Lepakhin, "Basic Types of Correlation between Text and Icon, between Verbal and Visual Icons."Literature and Theology 20, no. 1 (2006): 20.
[11] Oleg Komkov, "The Vertical Form: Iconological Dimension in 20th Century Russian Religious Aesthetics and Literary Criticism."Literature and Theology20, no. 1 (2006), 8-9.
[12] McBrien, The Church: The Evolution of Catholicism, 16.
[13] Ernst Käsemann, "Unity and diversity in New Testament ecclesiology."Novum Testamentum 6.Fasc. 4 (1963): 291-293.
[14] Brown, Raymond E. "The Unity and Diversity in New Testament Ecclesioyogy."Novum Testamentum 6.Fasc. 4 (1963): 298-308.
[15] McBrien, The Church: The Evolution of Catholicism, 27.
[17]Rabbi Harvey Falk, Jesus the Pharisee; A New Look at the Jewishness of Jesus, New York ; Paulist Press, 1985.
[18]Book of Acts
[19]These questions are tied up with the role of the Davidic Nassim in the later Jewish, Christian and Muslim communities and cannot be discussed here in any detail. The Jerusalem Church had three pillars- a Messianic Davidic Nasi in St James (kingly), a Av Beth Din or Chief Rabbi (prophetic) in St John and a Chief Priest or Hegmon Parnas (Priestly) in St Peter. The later Celtic communities called these three the Abbot, the Chief Scribe and the Chief Bishop. A community could have more than one Bishop who were selected from the priests due to their wisdom and sanctity. An Abbot could be a layman or woman as long as they came from the right noble lineage.
[20] Hubertus Waltherus Maria van de Sandt, ed. Matthew and the Didache: two documents from the same Jewish-Christian milieu?. (Uitgeverij Van Gorcum, 2005), 28-30.
[21] Käsemann, "Unity and diversity in New Testament ecclesiology.", 291.
[22]Oskar Skarsaune, In the shadow of the Temple: Jewish influences on early Christianity. InterVarsity Press, 2008.
[23]See Skarsaune, Oskar, and Reidar Hvalvik, eds. Jewish believers in Jesus: the early centuries. Hendrickson Pub, 2007.
[24]Luke 24
[25]See Rochie Pinson The Rising Life: Challah Baking, Elevated. Orly Press, 2015.
[26] Pope Francis, APOSTOLIC JOURNEY TO RIO DE JANEIRO ON THE OCCASION OF THE XXVIII WORLD YOUTH DAY MEETING WITH THE BISHOPS OF BRAZIL http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2013/july/documents/papa-francesco_20130727_gmg-episcopato-brasile.html
[27]John Panteleimon Manoussakis, “The Anarchic Principle of Christian Eschatology in the Eucharistic Tradition of the Eastern Church” in Harvard Theological Review Volume 100 , Issue 1 (January 2007), 29.
[28]Dermot A Lane, “The Eucharist as Sacrament of the Eschaton” The Furrow Vol. 47, No. 9 (September 1996), 467.
[29]Judith Deutsch Kornblatt, Divine Sophia: The Wisdom writings of Vladimir Solovyov (New York; Cornell University Press, 2009) 204-209.
[30]1 Cor.12:12-27 and Eph.1:22-23
[31]John 15:1-11
[32]Eph.2:20-21 and 1 Cor.3:16
[33]Matt.16:18 and Matt. 7:24
[34]Matt.12:39-40
[35]1 Timothy 3:15
[36]Luke 5:33-34 and John 14:1-4
[37]2 Cor.11:2
[38]John 6
[39]Matt.5:13-16
[40]Matt.13:1-23 and Matt:13:31-32
[41]Acts 9:2; 19:9, 23; 22:4; 24:14, 22
[42]Matt.5:14
[43]Romans 11
[44]Apoc.12:1
[45]Matt.13
[46]Avery Dulles, Models of Church, Expanded ed. (New York: Image Books, 1974/ 1987), 197-210.
[47] Augustine, Aurelius. The city of God. Vol. 1. Lulu. com, 1945.
[48]Thomas Schipflinger, Sophia-Maria: A Holistic Vision of Creation, (USA: Samuel Weiser Inc, 1998), 67-71.
[49]Kornblatt, Divine Sophia: The Wisdom Writings of Vladimir Solovyov, 208-9.
[50]See Proverbs
[51]Luke 21:24 and Romans 11:25 Father Elias Friedman founder of the Association of Hebrew Catholics saw the restoration of Jerusalem to the Jewish people in 1967 as ushering in the period known as the end of the time of the Gentiles which will culminate with Paul’s resurrection and restoration and ingathering or ingrafting of the Jewish people into the Church. See Elias Friedman, Jewish identity. USA: Miriam Press, 1987.
[52]Matthew 20:25-26
[53]Monsignor Harry Entwhistle a former Anglican Bishop and present Ordinary of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross (established for those of Anglican tradition who enter into union with the Pope) has proposed this Celtic model as a better pastoral structure for the Church of the future.
[54] George William Outram Addleshaw, The Pastoral Structure of the Celtic Church in Northern Britain. No. 43. Borthwick Publications, 1973, 1-2
[55] Marie Therese Flanagan. The Transformation of the Irish Church in the Twelfth and Thirteenth centuries. Vol. 29. Boydell & Brewer, 2010.
[56]Song of Songs 6:11
[57]The nut is also associated with the Bridegroom in the Jewish wedding blessings. See Idel, Moshe. Mystical Experience in Abraham Abulafia, The. Suny Press, 2012.
[58] McBrien, The church: The Evolution of Catholicism, 4-5
[59] Edward P Hahnenberg, "The Mystical Body of Christ and Communion Ecclesiology: Historical Parallels."Irish Theological Quarterly 70.1 (2005): 4-12.
[60] Stephen Ebo Annan, "“Do not Stifle the Spirit”: The Vision of Yves Congar for Charismatic Ecclesiology."New Blackfriars 95.1058 (2014): 443-467.
[61]Dennis M Doyle, Communion Ecclesiology: Vision and Versions. Mary-knoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2000.
[62]Psalm 19:7
[63]Luke 5:33-34
[64] Jeffrey L Cooley, "Psalm 19: A Sabbath Song1."Vetus Testamentum 64.2 (2014): 179-81.
[65]See Matthew 22
[66]See Greenbaum, Avraham. The wings of the sun: Traditional Jewish healing in theory and practice. Azamra Institute, 1995.
[67]Orthodox Jews make love on Friday nights (Sabbath) at midnight and see it as uniting the Divine King with his Shekhinah who is the Sabbath Bride. In a sense the weekly Sabbath meal is the mystical wedding feast. Some scholars believe that many of these mystical understandings in Orthodox Judaism have their source in those Jewish-Christians who rejoined the Synagogue in the 5th century while drawing from the early mystical traditions of Second Temple Judaism.
[68]Matthew 25:1-13
[69]Apoc.22:17