Fresco painting by monk Ilie, Holy Monastery Slănic
1
The Union of my Parents is begetting my Body,
The Dwelling Place
Of my New Created Soul.
Oh, what a Mystery is this Body!
Water-Earth, Flesh and Blood,
Which Relates me to the World!...
This Body is Sealed with my Parents’ Image,
With the Inheritance of an entire People...
I am also Related to the Stars Above,
To the tiniest blade of grass and the smallest Creature.
Flesh is the Mystery that gathers
The whole World as Memory,
And Blood is the Mystery
That makes this Relation Flow through everything.
Therefore, my Body is first Created,
Just as You, my LORD,
Have created first Adam’s Body.
The Body, Earth made Flesh and Water made Blood,
Is the first GATHERING of the World’s Image,
So that the Soul You create,
May have the Semblance of Creation.
The Body is the Seal of the Image of Creation,
And this is your MEASURE of the World.
My Parents give me the Image of Creation,
Yet they cannot give me a Soul,
And the Mystery of my Being is the Union of the two Likenesses,
Likeness of GOD and Likeness of Creation.
2
This is the Day of my Begetting,
It is the Day of my Birth LITURGY.
The Begetting from my Parents
Is the PROSPHORA that Ascends,
Reaching the HEAVENLY ALTAR,
Where the Saints’ LITURGY is celebrated.
Lots of PROSPHORA-Begettings are arriving,
And while celebrating, each Saint takes one...
Each Saint sees what Image is sealed on the PROSPHORA,
Aware that by choosing one, he will have to ADOPT that Soul,
Taking upon Himself the WOUNDS of that Soul’s “sins”...
The PROSPHORA of my Begetting thus enters
The CHURCH Above, the Image of the MOTHER of God
Who RECEIVES all the PROSPHORAS.
SHE is the FIRST to see the Image of the PROSPHORA
And how sinful it is...
Oh, MOTHER of GOD, You have seen my Image
And Look, You have started to cry...
You have seen the multitude of inherited sins,
And all the sins that I myself would do in my LIFE,
Yet You were the First to EMBRACE the PROSPHORA...
You KISSED it, thus becoming
My HEAVENLY MOTHER.
You, MOTHER OF GOD, chose an Angel,
And with Tearful Eyes You asked him...
“Please take this PROSPHORA,
Take it to the SERVICE and be its GUARDIAN”...
And the Angel took my PROSPHORA
To the LITURGY ALTAR,
Where a Saint was just Celebrating.
He took it in his Arms, regarded it pensively,
Wanted to refuse it several times...
But a Tear dropped down on it...
“Oh, You Saint who took my PROSPHORA,
You have received me as Your Son for ever”
3
And the Saint who chose my PROSPHORA
Starts LITURGISING,
He lifts it UP
Where the LORD CHRIST Himself receives it
In His DIVINE HANDS,
UTTERING a WORD of MYSTERY.
At that, the HOLY SPIRIT comes
And takes the PROSPHORA on His HANDS
With a DEEP SIGH of MERCY...
“HEAVENLY FATHER,
Give Life to yet one more Soul.
My WORD has Conceived it
And the HOLY SPIRIT too,
Only Your BLESSING must Be
For one more Being to Live”...
The Celebrating Saint is CUTTING the AMNOS
Out of the PROSPHORA,
And from the AMNOS is flowing BLOOD,
That the Saint puts in the CHALICE...
Oh, what awesome MYSTERY,
The AMNOS is full of WOUNDS
And bitter sorrows...
These are my Wounds from inherited sins,
Wounds, from sins that I will do,
Which are now foreseen and revealed...
And these Wounds also WOUND CHRIST’S BODY
From which DIVINE BLOOD is Flowing
And mingling with my own Blood,
And in the CHALICE of MYSTERY
They UNITE and BECOME RELATED...
I, as a Soul, am Born
Here, in the CHALICE of MYSTERY.
A BABY Born to Life,
How frightening! I am wearing CHRIST’S BODY,
While HE is wearing my Body...
Like an Embodiment of ONE into the OTHER.
Suddenly the Two Entwine...
Oh, MYSTERY of the LITURGY of LIFE!...
SON of GOD, through a CERTAIN WORD
You have Created my Soul,
SEALING it with Your WORD in eternity,
As a HEART-IMAGE of GOD.
Oh, ALLHOLY SPIRIT,
A CERTAIN BREATH of Yours
Was SEALED on and enlivened my HEART.
Oh, FATHER, Your Absolute BLESSING
United the TRINITARY SEAL,
And thus my Soul was Begotten.
And through the AMNOS cut out from the PROSPHORA,
GOD’S BLOOD and Created Blood,
My Soul Embodied.
The AMNOS, THREEFOLD LOVE of GOD,
The AMNOS, Creation Love as well,
The AMNOS, Love of the CHURCH,
The AMNOS, Heaven and Earth UNITED,
The AMNOS, KINDRED Soul and Body,
The AMNOS, MYSTERY beyond Nature,
The AMNOS, MYSTERY of the LITURGY,
The AMNOS, MYSTERY of MYSTERIES – EUCHARIST.
4
What am I, the New Born?
I am a Body begotten from my Parents,
Endowed with the Image of Creation
And my People’s Kinship,
With a Legacy of both Virtues and “sins”,
All united in my flesh and blood,
The PROSPHORA of the Earthly CHURCH.
And the DESTINY of this PROSPHORA is to ASCEND to HEAVEN.
To Heaven, where the CHURCH ABOVE is,
Where the Soul is Born.
The Body is the Seal of the Image Below
The Soul is the Seal of the Image ABOVE,
And thus I am a UNION of HEAVEN and Earth.
My Soul is begotten
Through a CREATING WORD
And through the BREATH of the HOLY SPIRIT
In the FATHER’S BLESSING,
The SEAL of GOD’S IMAGE.
The WORD is the Image of the HEART and BLOOD,
Of the PROSPHORA and the CHALICE,
Of the Earth and Water.
The SPIRIT is the Image of LIFE-the RITUAL,
The BLESSING is the Image of Being.
Thus my New Born Soul
Has got the SEAL-LIKENESS of the WORD,
The LIFE-LIKENESS of the SPIRIT,
In a UNION of BLESSING.
And the DESTINY of my Created Being
Is Life of the Earth and Life of HEAVEN,
In the SINGING of the WORD and VOICE of the SPIRIT,
All united in the EUCHARIST-COMMUNION.
5
I THANK You LORD for Creating me,
Though You have seen me unworthy to LIVE...
You were the FIRST to take me in Your CRUCIFIXION,
And the MOTHER of GOD was the FIRST,
Who ADOPTED me as a Son of the CHURCH,
An Angel offered to be my Guardian,
While a Saint became my PROTECTOR...
And below, my Parents and my People
Made me the inheritor of the MYSTERY of LIFE.
GLORY to You LORD, GLORY to YOU
MYSTERY of the LOVE-EUCHARIST!
Published in the volume "Hesychasm", Platytera Publishing House, Bucharest, 2007, pp. 74-80. Translation from Romanian: Alice Butnar.
Copyright: Platytera Publishing House.
The Romanian (Original) Version can be found here.
The German Version can be found here.
Niciun comentariu:
Trimiteți un comentariu