Day 19

As we continue our examination of the katavasia of Christmas, we continue to see allusions to the Old Testament that point us to the knowledge that there will be a Messiah born to us. In the fourth ode we have talks about the “rod of Jesse”, today we look at another allusion, that of the mount of shaded leafy trees:

Rod of the root of Jesse, and flower that blossomed from his stem, O Christ, You have sprung forth from the Virgin. From the mountain over-shadowed by the forest You came, made flesh from her that knew not wedlock, O God not formed from matter: Glory to Your power, O Lord. (Irmos 4)

This allusion comes to us from the book of Habakkuk, chapter 3, verse 3:

“God will come from Teman, the Holy One from the mount of shaded leafy trees”

Archimandrite Vassilios tells us that Teman is a region of the Sinai Peninsula and that “the mount of shaded leafy trees” refers to Mount Paran, also know as Mount Horeb on Sinai.

I imagine that Mount Horeb (also simply called Mount Sinai) sounds familiar to you. The reason is that it played a vital role in God’s relationship with Moses and the Israelites after they fled Egypt. It was on this mount that God talked with Moses, gave him instruction and the 10 Commandments. It was also here that Moses encountered the burning bush.

The Church teaches us that the flame that Moses saw was in fact the uncreated Energies, or Glory of God. It is because of this that the bush was not burnt. As we read in the Book of Exodus, an angel of the Lord appeared in the bush, but as we continue to read, we see the angel referred to as God, and in fact, He says: “Moses! Moses...I am the God of your fathers…” It does seem to be a contradiction, does it not?

We must, however, remember that the word angel means messenger. The Angel of the Lord mentioned in Exodus above is therefore a messenger sent by God.

There is much theology about God, the Trinity and salvation wrapped up in these events and hymns we are discussing, and we will work through it over the next few reflections.

Until then...

In Christ

Fr. David