Olga Shulcheva-Jarman ponders how the image of the surviving altar strengthens people in faith, and why is this a miracle, and not an accident or the merit of an engineer.
Why the altar survived
Why does the altar of a ruined temple make us hold our gaze on the snapshot that flashed in the feed of the social network - is it destroyed by an earthquake or human malice?
Thousands of people died during natural disasters and wars, but somewhere the altar survived? That is, stone and wood are dearer to God than human lives? Isn't this a mockery of the photographer, and not a miracle of God?
But the image of the surviving altar impresses and strengthens people in faith more than the stories of miraculously saved people. Alas, this is so.
We are weak and see more support in the stone than in the uncomplicated words conveyed in the report and immediately forgotten, and we are inclined not to believe - you never know, well, just lucky. The stone speaks better to our hearts of stone.
And Christ, the cornerstone, due to the lack of faith and weakness of our faith in man, gives us loud, sonorous images. This is what the archetype of stone speaks to our hearts - the most ancient image, hierophany, sacred, from the megaliths to the stone, on which Jacob poured oil, honoring the God of his fathers, Abraham and Isaac, after seeing the ladder reaching up to heaven, along which the angels ascended and descended …
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Christ spoke of "the temple of His body"
In Ancient Mesopotamia, the temple of a god was perceived as the body of a god. In Lamentation of Sumer and Ur, the patron goddess of the city mourns both the city and herself as doomed - she is expelled with the exiles, and she perishes with her city, and she, the temple - her body, the temple does not exist - and she, the goddess, touches nothingness.
But in the vision of Ezekiel (Ezekiel 1: 1-28) the connection between God and the Temple is rethought - the God of Israel goes into captivity with his people, but does not go away with weeping and lamentations, like the goddesses of conquered cities, like even the crying daughter of Zion herself - His people … He voluntarily goes to suffer with His people, in the terrible vision of Man among rainbows and winged creatures - those before whom all Mesopotamia trembled. Eye-filled unearthly animals, powerful and terrible heavenly forces accompany Him, they carry His chariot, they are obedient to Him, for God voluntarily goes into captivity with His old Church. He is not bound by the destroyed Temple, He is the God of the whole earth.
Many years have passed. Jesus, the Son of God, was crucified and raised by the God of Israel from the dead instead of the Temple of Jerusalem. He Himself - God and the Temple Himself - and the former temple is canceled. And in Him the whole world was restored, because as a Man, He was a part of this world with His Flesh and Blood.
And this saved the early Christians from the Jews from a religious catastrophe, who attended the temple and performed religious acts there - but it receded into the background compared to the Lord's Supper, and when the Temple was destroyed, it was a tragedy, but not the end of everything.
But when Christians no longer had the need to gather in the catacombs and began to build temples that were beautiful and reminiscent of the Temple of Jerusalem, did this mean that they forgot that Christ spoke about “the temple of His body”? Of course not - because in temples, in churches, the Sacrifice of Christ was performed, and the people of God gathered around it. And the temple did not belong to some holy place - but on the contrary, just as the Eucharist can be celebrated throughout the entire universe, so a temple and a church can be erected anywhere.
So before us is a miracle
And she is the image of the Eucharist of Christ, the image of His Sacrifice for the life of the world, and it grows out of the Eucharist, like everything that is done in the temple, in the church. It is no coincidence that the See is clothed in robes, like a man - a minister and a priest. Everything in the temple is Eucharistic.
And because everything is permeated by His Sacrifice, when the temple collapses and falls - it is like the Passion of the Godfathers, which do not destroy hope.
Christ God was crucified and desecrated, dishonored and mutilated, and disappeared from the face of the earth, hidden in a tomb. But this earthly end of the life of the Preacher, Priest and King was a turning point for the entire universe.
His earthly life was cut off by the hands of people, His life was returned to Him by God - for He Himself became a Man, and in this amazing unmerged and indivisible life of Christ everything that is devoid of hope received it. Therefore, the Cross is an instrument of the painful death of criminals - a sign of victory over death. Therefore, the destroyed temple is an image of the saving suffering of Christ, and it is full of the expectation of the Resurrection of all and the joy of all creation. Therefore, at the sight of the destroyed and desecrated "body" of the temple, sadness turns into hope. The temple shared the fate of Christ, like a man-martyr …
What is a surviving altar - an accident, an engineering rule, or a miracle?
A miracle in its original antique version is something amazing in itself, and not at all "contrary to the laws of nature." So there is a miracle in front of us. It will strengthen someone in faith and give hope. And for those who do not need crutches, turning to ancient archetypes, to deep layers of the soul - for that, Christ God has other miracles. He can speak to everyone's heart.