The Protecting Veil

A recent carving of the Protecting Veil, with some ramblings on beauty and what not...

The icon of the Protecting Veil has always struck me. Not only because of its tenderness and beauty, but the reality of it. The veil which covers the true reality of heaven was momentarily lifted for St Andrew in the 10th century, and in that domed church, reaching towards the heavens, surrounded by barbarians, appeared a veil of a different kind, the veil of protection. The tearful stream of prayers shining a light brighter than the rays of the sun. Which is always there with or without our knowing. In this moment St. Andrew asked blessed Epiphanios, his disciple stood beside him “Brother, do you see the Queen and Sovereign Lady, praying for the entire world?” Epiphanios replied, “I see, holy father, and am terrified.”

In seeing this, I reckon we would all be like Epiphanios, terrified. In the comforts of this modern life, what on earth would we make of such a vision? Would our eyes endure it for even a second…

The miracle and the mystery of the Mother of God is something I have spent most of life being completely oblivious to. It is a huge blessing that the reality and relationship to her is slowly becoming greater known through the faithfulness of Orthodoxy. I think there is some kind of mystical theory out there which ponders upon the ‘dethroning’ of the Virgin Mary as the Queen of Heaven, taking a far less exalted view, having a role to play in the Christian West to become perhaps overly masculine, cold and ruthless. Which has come to form the machine. The machine of science, progress and enlightenment has lead us to an imagination which creates something like this….

Hannibal House, Elephant and Castle

Over this…..

Woodspring Priory, Near Weston-Super-Mare

This

Prestonwood Baptist Church (Plano, Texas)

Over this….

Abbey Church of Saint-Savin-sur-Gartempe

Of course this isn’t the only reason for the resulting changes in beauty and in the imagination, yet I do have a strong hunch if Christianity loses the mystery and it’s relationship with the Mother of God it loses its ability to respect and create beauty. Britain is a testament to this, where 500 years of anti-Catholic propaganda has left our landscape with the monasteries and churches weeping in the wind and the rain as ruins. The early reformers set us on the path that has changed our heart, it has grown cold and hardened. It’s as if we have taken a child away from their mother and packed them off to boarding school, forcing them into a way of life that walls of thick stone are built to protect the fragility underneath that a nursing mother could soothe. As said by the radiant St. Paisios to a visiting protestant. “I’m not saying this with pride, I’m saying this with humility and love, I feel bad for you protestants because we have the Virgin Mary but you guys are like spiritual orphans.”

To compare the thought that any woman could have been the Mother of God to something like this…

“The Creator unites with His creation, and in that union, His creation does not burn to ash in the fire of Divinity. That is the meaning of the Protection of the Mother of God. Because of that protection, the Church attributes to the Mother of God the most beautiful, precious names! What a plethora of terms and poetic comparisons are used to honor the Theotokos and Ever-virgin Mary! Here are some of the liturgical terms that the Church uses to describe the Unwedded Bride, the Virgin Mary: The Mother of God is the Queen of Heaven and the central point of beauty of the earth; she is the flower of the earth, and a hyacinth, azure vase; she is a sweet-sounding lyre, she is a most-holy ark and a sunbright ray; she is incense and the Spring of grace; she is precious myrrh and a gold/porphyry robe; she is all-holy, and robed in the sun; she is the pearl of the kingdom; she is joy, praise, chanting and glory… She is the power of Divine infiniteness… “ Archpriest Victor Potapov

This is quite the contrast of thought, veneration and love.

An example of a work created before things went sour… The Ascension of the Mother of God, St. Andrews in Sandford on Thames, Oxfordshire, at the beginning of the 15th century. The carving of the Virgin is surrounded by an aureole with two angels below the figure holding a reliquary. The carving was hidden to protect it during the civil war and was discovered in 1723 face down near the south porch where it had been used as a step. Another saving grace, which highlights that every medieval church probably housed these kind of icons before they were destroyed.

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The lyrics of Townes Van Zandt

“Well, the diamond fades quickly when matched to the face of Maria
All the harps, they sound empty when she lifts her lips to the sky….

Ah, the sculptor stands stricken and the artist he throws away his brushes
When her image comes dancin', the sun, she turns sullen with shame
And the birds, they go silent, and the wind stops his sad mournful singing
When the trees of the forest start gently to whisperin' her name”

How can you capture the beauty of the Virgin Mary? I don’t know if you can truly with paint or wood! But we can attempt….

I take refuge in this quote from Andrei Tarkovsky:

“Art affirms all that is best in man - hope, faith, love, beauty, prayer… What he dreams of and what he hopes for… When someone who doesn’t know how to swim is thrown into the water, instinct tells his body what movements will save him. The artist, too is driven by a kind of instinct, and his work furthers man’s search for what is eternal, transcendent, divine - often in spite of the sinfulness of the poet himself.”

Instinct says to copy with humility. The action of a mallet hitting a chisel has heard the tones of gaelic poetry and the chanting within the walls of Byzantium. Beyond that, it has heard the many languages that man has spoken. In those spoken languages all manner of beauty has emerged. The response to the language, time and place has brought forth the beauty of technique, an art form that each participant in a lineage of craft develops. Intricate skills, little touches, variations and notes of grace. Though there is variation, there is always a connecting thread. A huge part of my carving practice revolves around sailing between Eastern and Western imagery, trying to tap back into what was once known here before it was neglected. Both contain a rich history of creating beauty. Though they have strayed from one another, the thread can be followed back to when there was a greater unity between the two.

The practicalities of this piece came from two inspirations, the first of course being the Protecting Veil, though not the whole image. The other being a depiction of the Mother of God, coming from the Lambeth Bible, c.1150.

I was drawn to this image because it oozes beauty, and because the pose of the Virgin Mary reminded me of the Protecting Veil. I was quite ignorant in being able to read the symbolism of the whole image, I shall include it to show how brilliantly this image shows complex theology in pictorial form. It is a depiction of the tree of Jesse. The rod stems from Jesse, leading to the mother of God to Christ, who is surrounded by seven doves, symbolising the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. In the upper roundels the personification of the Church triumphant is flanked by two Apostles while on the right, the veil (Symbol of her blindness) is torn from the face of the personification of the Synagogue. The lower roundels are four prophets pointing towards Christ. In the middle roundels are personifications of the four virtues referred to in Psalm 85 (KJV) :

“Mercy and truth are met together; Righteousness and Peace have kissed each other.”

Mercy holds a vase and Justice her scales. St. Jerome’s homily on Psalm 85, Truth symbolises the Jews and Mercy the Gentiles. The inclusion of these 4 elements refers to the union of Jew and Gentile, Old and New testament, which is a theme of the Tree of Jesse itself. It is a masterpiece!

Below shows the new carving, which I hope you can see how it came to be formed:

“Better is her medicine than any mead or any wine; her herbs smell sweet. From Caithness to Dublin there is no doctor so good for the healing of our sorrows: the man who feels any grief and wishes to forsake his folly, without gold or any treasure may be made whole and well by turning to her.”

From MS. Harley 2253 (What a boring title), an important collection of Medieval poetry, dating from the 14th century.

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I was listening to a talk by Fr. Stephen Freeman, and was completely struck. I am mostly parroting him here, around the great Mystery of the Queen of Heaven. She had the most interconnected and deepest connection with Christ. His body was formed in her womb. She nursed Christ, that eternal bond of mother and child was known between them. She looked God face to face in her arms with a bond that goes beyond my male understanding of parenthood. She is doing this with God, it almost goes beyond comprehension… I heard him say that you cannot eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ without participating in the body and blood of Mary, as she is bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh, the Holy Spirit took flesh of the Virgin Mary and He was made man. This knocked my socks off and sat with me. As writing this, I was looking at the image and noticed that the veil forms a chalice, and within that chalice shape is her belly, her womb, in which Christ was formed. It was upon doing further research, that this is of course nothing new, I am continually being humbled by things I do not know. There is the wonderworking icon of the Inexhaustible Chalice, and the The Nicaea Icon of the Mother of God. With the hymn "Your womb has become a Holy Table, which held the Heavenly Bread. Those who partake of it shall not die, as the Nourisher of all has said, O Theotokos."

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A final note, I came across this video recently, and I was incredibly struck by this Romanian chap called Fr. Constantin Galeriu, the love is expressed in the movement of his eyebrows! It is a short watch and I think you may enjoy it also if you are subscribed to my substack.