Hans Memling – Virgin showing the Man of sorrowsHAPPY ORTHODOX EASTER – 2008!
A TALE OF THE HOLY EASTER (Dedicated to my Teacher the Saint Nicolae Steinhardt)
Mary had kept those words in her heart where she thought about them. There could have been no other way as the Archangel Gabriel and Elisabeth and old Simon had recognized her and had blessed her forever. But there was something else old Simon had said… And Mary shuddered once more as she pronounced them to herself: …even if your soul be run through by a sword, that the thoughts of many hearts may be uncovered… And Mary had seen and known everything. She had heeded, learned and gathered the burden of the Light for ten, twenty, indeed, maybe thirty years during the late nights, by the flickering candle with her child, the modest carpenter, beside her and the teacher, Rabboni…
***
And it was spring. And it was the feast of Easter. And it was little before the sixth hour on the Place of the Skull. The sun had gone pale, clouds were gathering and a soft, humid mist stifled the breath. On her knees, Mary appeared
to the world like a carved agony. But she kept all those words – kept them alive in her heart. The One, whose eyes were burnt with the terror and awe of human death. Although she knew. Drained, Mary the Mother stood there petrified in front of her Son, her carpenter, the child killed by the scholars, by whose people? God’s? she asked herself as if she, Mary, was the one crucified. And she prayed with all her heart, with all her soul, with all her mind, with all the strength of her being: No, my Lord… My Lord wherefore do you forsake me? No, my Lord, forsake me not!
***
And it was spring. And it was the feast of Easter. And it was little after the ninth hour on the Place of the Skull. Darkness had fallen upon the land. And yet each man could see. And in the Temple the curtain had been torn from top to bottom. And each man could hear.
Mary alone looked like a second cross, raised in front of Christ. Crucified by Christ’s words, the One on the Cross of the World: see that your hearts become not heavy with the food and the drink and the worries of this life, or that day shall come unexpectedly upon you. His words alone started the healing of the clay creature, Mary.
Mary alone felt then, as if the Heavens, the air, the earth, and the waters had been kneaded with blood and Light, that she is overcome by her child’s cry, the One who had been humiliated and killed: E’lo-i, E’lo-i, la’ma sabach-tha’ni?
But in the Place of the Skull, the Jews, the Romans and the men of other nations only felt a deep, inscrutable fear, like hundreds of blind, dumb, and deaf ants on a rocking anthill.
***
John’s arm enveloped Mary’s shoulders when the spear ran through the chest of Jesus.
At that very moment, when blood and water gushed out of the wound, marking, forgiving, and redeeming the place and the people, Mary was awaken by His drops that touched her. She looked up and she saw the smile in the light of the eyes of the Crucified. Jesus Christ was smiling to Mary.
And the Virgin Mary heard the call like a chiding commandment: Thou shalt not fear…, as she had done before the Birth.
And John the apprentice at once said to her:
‘Come, Mother. He shall not orphan us; He shall return. Let us wait for Him properly.
***
(from TRILOGY of THEOPHIL MAGUS – The Truth/ by Leonard Oprea/ Ed. Xlibris Corporation / Random House Ventures, 2008, USA)