Category Archives: Bible Study

Presentation of the Blessed Virgin

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In this Georgian icon, we see the Blessed Virgin presented to the priests in the Temple by her parents SS. Joachim and Anna with the young girls who also marched with her in procession; above, we see the archangel Gabriel bringing the Virgin bread from heaven. The Presentation of the Virgin is celebrated in East and West on November 21.

We read of the Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple when she was three years old in the Protoevangelium of James. SS. Joachim and Anna bring their daughter Mary to the Temple, as they promised to do before she was born, and give her to the service of God. Seven pairs of young girls march in procession with Mary. The priests meet this procession and take Mary into the Temple–into the Holy of Holies!–to live; she joins a community of women who care for the Temple fabrics and vestments. The archangel Gabriel brought the Blessed Virgin bread from heaven each day. When she was older, she was chosen to assist in weaving a new veil to hang before the Holy of Holies; it was while she was working with the purple thread to be used in the weaving that Gabriel appeared to her one last time, asking her to become the mother of Jesus (the Annunciation).

The two things in the story that usually strike people as outlandish or impossible is the assertion that the Blessed Virgin enters the Holy of Holies itself and that she grows up at the Temple, cared for a community of woman in the Temple compound.

The Virgin is said to enter the Holy of Holies because she herself becomes the Holy of Holies–the innermost sanctuary where God dwells. Clearly, it would have been impossible for a three-year old to “accidently” enter the Holy of Holies as it was heavily guarded and protected; the Holy of Holies here stands for the Temple itself in its entirety as well as its being synonymous with the Virgin herself.

The community of women who live at the Temple is alluded to by St. Luke in his Gospel by the Prophetess Anna (in Luke 2), an elderly woman who meets Christ in the Temple when he is forty days old. But the story in the Protoevangelium still strikes many as unlikely. Throughout the Old Testament we read of women who waited at the door of the Temple or the Tent of Meeting in the wilderness (Exodus 38:8; Numbers 4:23, 8:24; 1 Sam. 2; as well as 2 Maccabees 3).

We have also recently made archeological discoveries that reveal the presence of a 3-story women’s dormitory alongside the Temple and we read in Josephus (an important 1st century historian) that the young women and their chaperones made a Nazarite vow and who lived in this dormitory; he also tells us that these young women (virgins) jumped out of the windows into fires below to avoid being attacked, raped, and killed by the Roman soldiers who pulled down the Temple in AD 70. Jewish sources–such as the Mishnah and the Talmud–tell us that a community of women were, in fact, responsible for the care of Temple linens as well as baking the showbread and mixing the incense to be used.

That the Virgin is presented when she is three-years old relates to the expectation that children were weaned at that age and the prophet Samuel was given to the priest Eli when the boy was three-years old. Heifers and other animals to be sacrificed were also three-years old when given as offerings to God. The archangel Gabriel is said to bring her bread from heaven because she eventually gives birth to the Living Bread, the True Bread come down from heaven. In the meanwhile, she is sustained by a rich life of prayer and devotion to God.

The story of the Presentation of the Virgin makes the point that the two most important signs of the Old Covenant become flesh in the New Covenant: the Torah–the living Word of God–is made flesh in Jesus and the Temple–the place where God dwells and where people can meet him–becomes a woman. The Protoevangelium recalls many details of 1st century Jewish life that were otherwise forgotten for centuries and is more reliable as a source than many people realize.

Nativity of Christ in Early Christian Literature

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The Martyrdom of St. James, who was thrown from a parapet of the Temple (where Jesus was tempted by the Devil) and then clubbed to death—Mosaic from St. Mark’s in Venice.

Much early Christian literature, the so-called “apocrypha” of the New Testament, are collections of Christian folktales and sermonettes that are meant to make connections between the Old Testament and the experiences of the early Christian communities. The audience of these collections were not stupid people; they knew what was an exciting novella based on the experiences of the martyrs and what were the scenes made up to fill in the gaps of the story.

One example of such “midrash,” the homiletic-style of telling a Bible story with commentary included, is the Protoevangelium of James which tells the stories of the birth and childhood of the Virgin Mary and Jesus. The Protoevangelium is said to have been written by the Apostle James, the author of the epistle with his name in the New Testament. James was the step-brother of Jesus; he was the youngest son of St. Joseph, who was an older man who had been married before. The stories in the Protoevangelium make explicit what the New Testament implies and underscore-reiterate what the Gospels tells us of Christ.

The Protoevangelium was written approx. AD 150 but incorporates much older material, including the memories of the Jerusalem community of Christians. Long thought by Western scholars to be a complete fiction because of its unusual details, many of these details in the Protoevangelium have been proven correct by recent archeological discoveries (such as the dormitory of a women’s community that lived adjacent to the Temple) and the discovery of other manuscripts that reveal previously unknown 1st century Jewish practices. So, rather than making up fairy tales about Christ and his mother, we now know that the Protoevangelium has preserved long-forgotten details that the original readers would have been familiar with.

Beginning next week, and continuing for the next three-four weeks, we will examine some of the stories in the Protoevangelium about Jesus’ birth and discover what these old stories, meant to supplement the Gospel accounts, can tell us about Christ’s nativity.

Apostle James & Prophet Job

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The prophet Job is seen in these two Byzantine manuscript illuminations and a Russian icon: the illuminations show Job’s initial affliction with boils and his arguments with his wife and friends as well as Job’s final discussion with the Logos at the conclusion of the Old Testament book (“Where were you when I made the world?” God asks Job). The Russian icon depicts Job as a king (which is how Job is described in the oldest texts of the Old Testament).

Brothers and sisters, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. You know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy. (James 5:10-11)

The figure of Job in the Old Testament has commonly been considered a prophet for most of Christian history because of his stalwart preaching to his friends during the afflictions he suffered and because he was thought to be a type–a prefiguration–of Christ because of his patient, innocent endurance. In the version of the Old Testament that James and his audience knew, the conclusion of the book of Job reads:

“And it is written that he will rise again with those whom the Lord raises up.

  “This man is described in the Syriac book as dwelling in the land of Ausis, on the borders of Idumea and Arabia; and his name before was Jobab; and having taken an Arabian wife, he begat a son whose name was Ennon. He himself was the son of his father Zara, a son of the sons of Esau, and of his mother Bosorrha, so that he was the fifth from Abraham. And these were the kings who reigned in Edom, which country he also ruled over. First Balak the son of Beor, and the name of his city was Dennaba. After Balak, Jobab, who is called Job….”

(Job 42, LXX)

Job not only endured his unjust suffering patiently, he was expected to be among the just who would be raised on the Last Day. His suffering and promised resurrection were both seen by early Christians as pointing to the innocent suffering and promised resurrection of Christ as well as the innocent suffering of the early Christian community and the resurrection they expected to share as well at the Last Day. (It is this version of the conclusion of the Book of Job that is read on Good Friday afternoon by Eastern Christians each year.)

Patiently enduring undeserved suffering and affliction is one of the major themes of the epistle of James. Various sins–pride, hypocrisy, favoritism, slander–only bring more suffering to the community. James urges his readers to live with humility and godly–not secular–wisdom. Prayer is an essential part of this, James tells his readers.

Patience and humility are the direct result of the prayerful expectation of the coming Resurrection. Knowing they will be raised, James’ readers are able to see their experiences from a different perspective and in another light than those who think their deaths will mean the end of their existence. Expecting the resurrection, James’ readers no longer need to fear death and because they do not fear death, they can endure suffering with patient prayerful endurance. They can be like the prophet Job, sharing in Christ’s patient suffering and victorious resurrection.