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The purpose of this chapter is to explain and to illustrate the symbolism concerned with woman in the Early Church. After a few words concerning the roots of this symbolism in Scripture and its use in Philo of Alexandria, we shall present its different forms: symbolism of virtue, of virginity, of the Church or the soul as the Bride of Christ, of the Church as mother, and of pre-existing Wisdom, gnostic and orthodox. Finally, we shall explain the parallel between Eve and Mary.
Philo of Alexandria, a Jewish exegete and philosopher who lived in the time of Jesus and Paul, is very important as a source of the history of symbolism in Christianity.(232) Although Philo's symbolism concerning women is paralleled in and certainly influenced by Hellenistic symbolism attached to the Egyptian Isis, the Greek Athena, the Syrian Great Mother, etc.(233) it is true and important to observe that it is rooted in the Biblical Wisdom literature. Through Wisdom of Solomon, the Letter of Aristeas, and Philo, certain themes developed with some continuity out of the Old Testament and entered the Christian heritage in an evolved and syncretistic form. This is particularly true of the symbolism relating to women. (234)
Philo was interested in the symbolism of Eve, the wives and concubines of the Patriarchs and Moses, Anna the mother of Samuel, and the pre-existing Wisdom symbolism associated with God in the creation of the world (Prov. 8:22). He was also interested in the parallel between the woman figuring practical wisdom and the woman figuring folly which is found in Proverbs.
Eve (235) figures the irrational part of the soul, or sense perception, which, once excited by pleasure (the serpent) , passed "her" perception of the external world on to the mind (Adam). Succumbing to the seduction of sense-perception, the mind turned away from "his" higher way of knowledge and became the slave of the passions. This symbolism is meant to describe the acquisition of knowledge and its moral implications. As such, it is purely anthropological. Except for Origen's Homily I on Genesis (236) and probably because of the loss of his Commentary on Genesis, which was greatly indebted to Philo, this symbolism seems to be almost unknown to the Fathers. Probably its absence is also due to the emphasis laid on, Eve or Woman as an image of the Church or of the soul seen as the Bride of Christ
In Philo, the wives and concubines of the Patriarchs and a few other women are symbols of wisdom in several aspects. For instance, Sarah and Hagar figure philosophy and profane culture respectively. (237) This is a symbolism which reappeared in Clement of Alexandria and others along with the Pauline symbolism of the two Covenants. (238) without including more detail, we must take into consideration the Platonic aspect of the symbolism of Sarah. When Abraham ceased to call her Sarai my sovereign, i.e. my virtue, but instead called her Sarah, sovereign, i.e.. Virtue in the absolute sense of the terra, the meaning of the shift is explained in the discovery by Abraham of the existence of Virtue or Wisdom, per se as a Platonic Form in which we participate through grace. (239) This participation itself is explained by Philonic sexual terms in a way which reveals the male and female aspects of Wisdom as a Giver of life
Another feminine aspect of divine Wisdom is developed by Philo in his speculation on the pre-existing Wisdom associated with God in the creation of the world and introduced as a female figure in Proverbs 8:22. Philo sees her as the Mother and Nurse of the Universe (24O) and parallels her with the Logos or Word of God. The Logos represents another aspect of divine intervention in the world and in man. The Logos is the divine expression of God in the world. In the man the Logos is right reason. Beginning with the New Testament, Christian theology affirmed its belief in the intervention of God in the world through Christ as the incarnation of the pre-existing Wisdom and Word of God.
Finally, Philo developed the theme of the two ways, that of good and that of evil, under the symbolism of women figuring Wisdom and Folly respectively (Proverbs 9). This theme was given further development in Wisdom of Solomon. (241) It was illustrated in Hellenism by the famous example of Heracles at the crossing of the roads, being solicited by two women figuring pleasure and virtue respectively. (242) Philo refers to Heracles at the crossing of the roads, but also puts the Biblical Jacob in the place of Heracles as the champion of ponos (effort) against pleasure. (243) Of course, the example of Heracles between the two women reappeared in the Fathers as a classical image which did not even need to be purified of its mythological features.
In Justin, Clement of Alexandria, Basil, and probably many others, we find the classical example of Heracles at the crossing of the road, (244) being solicited by two women, Virtue and Folly. For instance, Clement of Alexandria wrote the following:
Wherefore I admire the Ceian sophist (Heracles) who delineated like and suitable images of Virtue and Vice, representing the former of these, viz., Virtue, standing simply, white-robed and pure, adorned with modesty alone. But the other, viz., Vice, on the contrary, he introduces dressed in superfluous attire, brightened up with colour not her own; and her gait and mien are depicted as studiously framed to give pleasure. forming a sketch of wanton women. (245)
In Shepherd of Hermas, a kind of note-book of a second-century revival preacher of the Church of Rome, we find woman as symbol of the Church, and also women as symbols of virtue or vice. This second symbolism is developed in Similitude IX, which introduces women as cooperating in the construction of a tower:
In the middle of the plain, he (the Shepherd) showed me a great white rock, which had risen out of the plain, and the rock was higher than the hills, four-square, so that it could hold the whole world. And that rock was old, and had a door hewn out of it. But it seemed to me that the cutting of the door was recent. And the door glistened so in the sun, that I marvelled at the brightness of the door. And round the door there stood twelve virgins; the four who stood at the corner seemed to me to be the more glorious, but the others also were glorious, and they -stood at the four parts of the door, each with two other virgins on each side. And they were clothed in linen mantles, and were beautifully girded, and had their right shoulders outside, as if they were going to carry a load. Thus they were very joyful and eager. ....
I saw six men who came, tall and glorious and alike in appearance, and they summoned a multitude of men, and they who came were tall men and beautiful and strong, and the six men commanded them to build a certain tower above the rock. . . And the six men called the virgins and commanded them to take all the stones which were to come for the building of the tower, and to go through the gate, and give them to the men who were going to build the tower. (246)
Of course, the tower is the Church. The virgins are holy spirits: only those who "are clothed with the raiments of these virgins" are allowed to enter the kingdom of God. For through these clothes they are made one spirit with the son of God who himself bears the names of these virgins. (247) Their names are those of all the virtues: (248)
Listen to the names of the stronger virgins who stand at the corners. The first is Faith, the second is Temperance, the third is Power, the fourth is Long-suffering, and the others who stand between them have these names : Simplicity, Guilelessness, Holiness, Joyfulness, Truth, Understanding, Concord, Love. He who bears these names and the name of the Son of God shall be able to enter into the Kingdom of God!
Hermas himself is bidden by the Shepherd to play and sleep with these virgins. (249) These virgins are, as we read above, holy spirits--i.e. , virtues endowed with a divine energy which they communicate to their lovers. The only requirement is that the house, i.e., the soul, be pure, because they won't endure the presence of corruption, and will depart from such a place. (250) The virgins are one of the several figures describing the virtues in Hermas, who elsewhere speaks of two ways, two spirits, and two desires.
But the holy virgins find their counterpart in the women clothed in black who appear in the same Similitude:
And there were called twelve women, very beautiful to look at, clothed in black, girded, and their shoulders bare, and their hair loose. And these women looked to me to be cruel. And the Shepherd commanded them to take the stones which were rejected from the building, and take them back to the mountains, from which they had been brought. And they were glad and took them up and took away all the stones, and put them whence they had been taken (251)
Of course these women are symbols of moral vices, and are named after them:
Hear also the names of the women who ' have black raiment. Of these also four are more powerful. The first is Unbelief, the second Impurity, the third Disobedience, and the fourth Deceit; and those who follow them are called Grief, Wickedness, Licentiousness, Bitterness, Lying, Foolishness, Evil-speaking, Hate. The servant of God who bears these names shall see the Kingdom of God, but shall not enter into it. (252)
A very strange representation indeed, of the women figured in Proverbs as Wisdom and Folly.
Women as Symbols of the Church, and Derived Meanings
The essence of the Christian faith, or the "mystery of faith", was not only to believe in Jesus as the Son of God incarnate, but also in the Church as the Bride or body of Christ, the Son of God. Thus the old marriage between God and His people Israel was given a new meaning in relation to the Church of the Gentiles. And Christians reinterpreted the old image of Israel as a woman so that it served as a figure of the Church. This symbolism appears clearly in the development of Ephesians 5:21-33 on marriage, and in the Woman clothed in the sun who crushes the Dragon underfoot in Apocalypse 12-14. There is also, of course, a symbolism of Woman as Babylon in the same context. Moreover, the story of Suzanna in Daniel 13 has been interpreted in relation to the Church by Hippolytus in his commentary on Daniel. (253)
The Shepherd of Hermas
We must begin with Hermas, who comes to us from the first half of the second century. His symbolism of Woman as a figure of the Church is certainly, together with the Tower, one of the most remarkable representations of the Church. He" handles this symbolism easily in his preaching as a familiar tool. The story of the Lady runs through Visions I, II and III. She reveals her identity as the Church in Vision II. 8. Her three successive appearances include a symbol of revival for the Church of Rome and a strong exhortation to repentance addressed to every member of this community. One could say that the section appears as though it were the enforcement of the teaching of Ephesians 5:21-33 about the loving preservation of the youth of the Bride:
Why did she appear to you in the first vision as old and seated on a chair? Because your spirit is old and already fading away, and has no power through your weakness and double-mindedness. For just as old people, who have no longer any hope of becoming young again, look for nothing except their last sleep, so also you, who have been weakened by the occupations of this life, have given yourself up to worry, and have not cast your cares upon the lord. But your mind was broken, and you grew old in your sorrows. — Why, then, I should like to know, did she sit in a chair, sir? — Because every sick person sits in a chair because of his sickness, that the weakness of the body may find support.
But in the second vision you saw her standing, and with a more youthful and more cheerful countenance than the former time, but with the body and hair
of old age. Listen, also to this parable. When anyone is old, he already despairs of himself by reason of his weakness and poverty, and expects nothing except the last day of his life. Then an inheritance was suddenly left him, and he heard it, and rose up and was very glad and put on his strength; and he no longer lies down but stands up, and his spirit which was already destroyed by his former deeds is renewed, and he no longer sits still, but takes courage. So also did you, when you heard the revelation, which the Lord revealed to you, that he had mercy upon you, and renewed your spirit; and you put aside your weakness, and strength came to you, and you were made mighty in faith and the Lord saw that you had been made strong and he rejoiced. . . .
But in the third vision you saw her young and beautiful and joyful and her appearance was beautiful. For just as if some good news come to one who is in grief, he straightway forgets his former sorrow, and thinks of nothing but the news which he had heard, and for the future is strengthened to do good, and his spirit is renewed because of the joy which he has received; so you also have received the renewal of your spirits by seeing these good things. (254) (Abbreviated text.)
Tertullian
Tertullian, living in the end of the second and beginning of the third century, was the author of the most striking image of the birth of the Church according to the symbolism of Eve. He gives the following explanation as a point of his discussion of a question regarding sleep in De anima 43:
For as Adam was a figure of Christ, Adam's sleep shadowed out the death of Christ, who was to sleep a mortal slumber, that from the wound inflicted on His side might, in like manner (as Eve was formed), be typified the Church, the true mother of the living, this is why sleep is so salutary, so rational, and is actually formed into the model of that death which is general and common to the race of man. (255)
The sleep of Adam becomes a prophetic symbol of the sleep of Christ on the Cross. The origin of Eve from the side of Adam foreshadows the birth of the Church, the second Eve, the true mother of the living, occurring because of the death of Christ. In De anima 11, Tertullian identifies the sleep of Adam with the mystery of Christ and the Church found in Ephesians 5:21-33.
Origen
In the third century, Origen and Methodius made an interesting use of the symbolism of Woman. On the one hand, and basically, the Bride remains a symbol of the Church. In a more particular sense, since the bride is a virgin and the writings referred to are seemingly addressed to virgins, she represents the life and order of virgins in the Church, or the soul in union with the Word of God. The following text from Origen's Commentary on Song of Songs , explains the classical symbolism of the Bride as the figure of the Church and the meaning derived from it--the mystical life of the individual soul, or the spiritual marriage of the virgins to Christ:
Let Him kiss me with kisses of His mouth
The appellations of Bride and Bridegroom denote either the Church in her relation to Christ, or the soul in her union with God the Word.
Reading it as a simple story, then, we see a bride appearing on the stage, having for her betrothal and by way of dowry most fitting gifts from a most noble bridegroom; but, because the bridegroom delays his coming for so long, she, grieved with longing for his love, is pining at home and doing all she can to bring herself at last to see her spouse, and to enjoy his kisses . . . Vexed by the inward wound of love, she is pouring out her prayer to God, and saying concerning her Spouse: Let Him kiss me with the kiss of His mouth .
This is the content of the actual story, presented in dramatic form. But let us see if the inner meaning also can be fittingly supplied along these lines. Let it be the Church who longs for union with Christ; but the Church, you must observe, is the whole assembly of the saints. So it must be the Church as a corporate personality who speaks and says:--I am sated with the gifts which I received as betrothal presents or as dowry before my marriage. For of old, while I was prepared for ray wedding with the King's Son and the Firstborn of all creation, His holy angels put themselves at my service and ministered to me, bringing me the Law as a betrothal gift; for the law, it is said, was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator (Gal.3:19). The prophets also ministered to me. For they uttered all the things that were to tell me and to show me about the Son of God, to betroth me, when all these so- called betrothal gifts and dowry presents should have been taken away. Moreover, in order to enkindle me with love and longing for Him, they with prophetic voice proclaimed to me about His coming; filled with the Holy Spirit, they foretold His countless acts of power and His mighty works. His beauty also they described, His charm and gentleness, that I might be inflamed beyond all bearing with the love of Him by all these things. But, since the age is almost ended and His own presence is not granted me, and I see only His ministers ascending and descending upon me, because of this I pour out my petition to Thee, the Father of my Spouse, beseeching Thee to have compassion at last upon my love, and to send Him, that He may now no longer
speak to me only by His servants the angels and the prophets, but may come Himself, directly, and kiss me with the kisses of His mouth--that is to say, may pour the words of His mouth into mine, that I may hear Him speak Himself, and see Him teaching. The kisses are Christ's, which He bestowed upon His Church when at His coming, being present in the flesh, He in His own person spoke to her the words of faith and love and peace, according to the promise of Isaias who, when sent beforehand to the Bride, had said: Not a messenger, nor an angel, but the Lord Himself shall save us.
As the third point in our exposition, let us bring in the soul whose only desire is to be united to the Word of God and to be in fellowship with Him and to enter into the mysteries of His wisdom and knowledge as into the chambers of her Bridegroom; which soul has already received His gifts — that is to say, her dowry. For, just as the Church's dowry was the volumes of the Law and the Prophets, so let us regard natural law and reason and free will as the soul's betrothal gifts. And let the teaching, which comes down to her from her masters and teachers, following on these gifts of her natural endowment, be to her for her earliest instruction. But, since she does not find in these the full and perfect satisfaction of her desire and love, let her pray that her pure and virginal mind may be enlightened by the illumination and the visitation of the Word of God Himself. For, when her mind is filled with divine perception and understanding without the agency of human or angelic ministration, then she may believe she has received the kisses of the Word of God Himself. (256) [cf. Similar treatment in Gregory of Nyssa, Homilies on Song of Songs]
Methodius Olympus
In his Symposium, Methodius Olympus develops several symbolisms relating to women but relates them all to the ideals of virginity which a group of ten virgins praise in each of their ten respective discourses. In Discourse Seven Procilla follows the theme of the Bride which she finds in Song of Songs:
In praise of chastity I shall not refer to the opinion of men, but to Him who has made it wholly His own and in whose keeping we are, showing that He is a creditable witness as the husbandman of chastity and the lover of its beauty. And this is something that anyone who so wishes can see clearly in the Canticle of Canticles, where Christ Himself, in praising those who are firmly established in the state of virginity, says, As the lily among thorns, so is my neighbor among the daughters comparing the gifts of chastity to a lily because of its purity, its fragrance, its sweetness and its charm. For chastity is a spring flower, ever putting forth in delicate white petals the blossom of incorruptibility. Hence, he is not ashamed to admit that He is indeed in love with its ripe beauty: Thou haste wounded my heart, my sister, my spouse ...
Such are the praises that Christ sings of those who have achieved the perfection of virginity, comprising them all under the title of His spouse. For the spouse must be betrothed to the bridegroom and call herself by his name, and till then she must remain pure and undefiled, like a sealed garden in which all the spices of heaven's fragrance . grow, that Christ alone may come and pluck them as they blossom and grow with incorporeal seed. For the Word is in love with none of the things of the flesh -- such as, for example, hands or face or feet -- for He cannot by nature admit anything corruptible. But He takes delight in regarding only spiritual and immaterial beauty, without touching the beauty of the body. (257)
Already in Discourse 6, a commentary on the parable of the ten virgins which interprets the parable as the quest for chastity, the symbolism of the Bride and Bridegroom is present: only through chastity can one follow the Bridegroom into the Kingdom of Heaven,
In Discourse 8, Thecla chooses to speak on the theme of the Woman of Apocalypse 12. The Church is praised as the mother of virgins, i.e., of spirituals endowed with higher virtues. This turns her exile in the desert far from the reach of the crowd into a paradise of delight: (258)
The Woman who appeared in heaven clothed with the sun and crowned with twelve stars and with the moon as her footstool, travailing in birth and in pain to be delivered, this, ray dear virgins, is properly and in the exact sense of the term our Mother, a power in herself distinct from her children, whom the prophets have, according to the aspect of their message, sometimes called Jerusalem, sometimes the Bride, sometimes Mount Sion, and sometimes the Temple of God's Tabernacle. She is the force mentioned by the prophet, whom the Spirit urges to be enlightened, crying out to her: Be enlightened, 0 Jerusalem, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. Behold, darkness and storm clouds shall cover the people; but the Lord shall appear upon thee, and the Lord's glory shall be seen upon thee. And kings shall walk in thy light, and nations in thy brightness. Lift up thy eyes round about, and see thy children gathered together. All thy eons have come from afar, and thy daughters shall rise up at thy side (Is. 60:1-4). It is the Church whose children by baptism will swiftly come running to her from all sides after the resurrection. She it is who rejoices to receive the light which knows no evening, clothed as she is in the brightness of the Word as with a robe. Surely, having light for her garment, what was there more precious or more honorable for her to be clothed in as befitted a queen, to be led as a bride to the Lord, and thus to be called on by the Spirit?
Continuing therefore, I beg you to consider this great Woman as representing virgins prepared for (spiritual) marriage, as she gleams in pure and wholly unsullied and abiding beauty, emulating the brilliance of the lights. For her robe, she is clothed in pure light: instead of jewels, her head is adorned with shining stars. For this light is for her what clothing is for us. And she uses the stars as we do gold and brilliant gems; but her stars are not like those visible to us on earth, but finer and brighter ones, such that our own are merely their copies and representations.
And her standing on the moon, I think, refers by way of allegory to the faith of those who have been purified from corruption by baptism; for moonlight is rather like lukewarm water, and all moist substance depends upon the moon. Thus the Church stands upon our faith and our adoption — signified here by the moon— until the fullness of the Gentiles shall come in (Rom. 11:25), laboring and bringing forth natural men as spiritual men, and under this aspect is she indeed their mother. For just as a woman receives the unformed seed of her husband and after a period of time brings forth a perfect human being, so too the Church, one might say, constantly conceiving those who take refuge in the Word, and shaping them according to the likeness and form of Christ, after a certain time makes them citizens
of that blessed age. Hence it is necessary that she should stand upon the laver as the mother of those who are washed. So, too, the function she exercises over the laver is called the moon because those who are thus reborn and renewed shine with a new glow, that is, with a new light; and hence too they are designated by the expression 'the newly enlightened', and she continues to reveal to them the spiritual full moon in her periodic representation of His Passion, until the full glow and light of the great day shall appear.
The Church, then, comes .to this spot which is a wilderness and,- as we have said before, is barren of evil, and she receives nourishment; borne on the heaven-traversing wings of virginity, which the Word has called the opinions of a mighty eagle, she has crushed the Serpent and driven away the storm clouds from the full light of the moon which is hers. It was for this that all of our discourses up till now have been held, in order to teach you, my fair virgins, to imitate your Mother as best you can, and not to be disturbed by the pains, afflictions, and reverses of life, that thus you may enter , joyously with her into the bridal chamber, holding your lamps lighted.... With sober and virile heart, then, take up your arms against the swollen Breast; do not on any account yield your ground, and do not be terrified by his fury... One of the Dragon's heads is luxury and incontinence; whoever crushes it wins the diadem of temperance. Another head is weakness and cowardice; whoever tramples on this wins the diadem of martyrdom. Another is folly and disbelief, and so through all the other fruits of wickedness. Whoever overcomes and destroys these will carry off the respective rewards, and in this way the Dragon's power is uprooted in various ways. And further, the ten horns and the goads which he is said to have on his heads represent the ten opposites of the Ten Commandments, by which he has been wont to gore and throw the souls of the many. (259) (Abbreviated text.)
From the theme of the Church as the Bride, it :is easy to pass to that of the Church as Mother. As a Bride, the Church consists of all of us and defines our relation to Christ and God as a marriage. As a Mother, the Church stands as an entity by herself -- the source of regeneration, life, forgiveness and care, and unity.
Already Cyprian, in third century Africa, in reaction to schismatics who were tearing down and afflicting the Church, depicted her as the Mother of all the Christians: (260)
: Our Lord's Church is radiant with light and pours her rays over the whole world; but it is the one and the same light which is spread everywhere, and the unity of her body suffers no division. She spreads her branches in generous growth over all the earth, she extends her abundant streams even further; yet one is the headspring, one the source, one the mother who is prolific in her offspring, generation; after generation, of her womb are we born, of her milk are we fed, of her Spirit our souls draw their life breath.
The spouse of Christ cannot be defiled, she is inviolate and chaste; she knows one home alone, in all modesty she keeps faithfully to one only couch. It is she who rescues us for God, she who seals for the kingdom the sons whom she has borne; Whoever breaks with the Church and enters on an adulterous union (schism), cuts himself, off from the promises made to the Church; and he who has turned his back on the Church of Christ shall not come to the rewards of Christ: he is an alien, a worldling, an enemy, You cannot have God for your Father if you have not the Church for your mother. (261)
Augustine insists on the idea of the Church as the Body and the Spouse of Christ. This may be seen, for instance, in De doctrina christiana 1.15:
For the Church is His body, as the apostle's teaching shows us; and it is even called His spouse. His body, then, which has many members, and all performing different functions, He holds together in the bond of unity and love, which is its true health. Moreover He exercises it in the present time, and purges it with many wholesome afflictions, that when He has transplanted it from this world to the eternal world, he may take it to Himself as His bride, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. (262)
In Sermon 90 on the wedding of the son of the king (Matthew. 22), Augustine finds the opportunity to speak about the Church as Bride and Mother.
The wedding dress which is required to enter the room of the banquet is not baptism, or the Eucharist, or fasting, or the gift of miracles, but charity. The Bridegroom is Christ and the Bride is the Church. He who honours both of them deserves to be their child. Through charity we honour them. If we love the Lord, we learn how to love ourselves and our neighbour rightly, and every human being is our neighbour. We have one [fore] father, not one [fore] father and one [fore] mother, since our first mother was created by, God out of the first man. We all became wild olive trees because this our common stock turned into bitterness. But a second man came, who brought about unity and life for those who were scattered and dead in Adam. Those who. believe in Christ are given life, but they must wear the wedding dress in order to be admitted to the banquet. The wedding dress is faith working through charity. Charity must be extended to all, even to our enemies, and should not stop with our spouse and children. Charity must be gratuitous and disinterested, taking as a model small birds which feed their little ones without considering whether these will feed them when they are old. Stretch your charity beyond the love for children and conjugal love. Believe in God. Love God first. Lift yourself up to God, and take up together with you all those you can; a stranger and an enemy as well as a son, a wife or a servant. (263) (Resume of Text.-)
Philo of Alexandria was interested in speculating on the divine pre-existing Wisdom, and we remember that his basis was the female figure associated with the creation of the world in Proverbs 8:22 and .developed in connection with the wives of the Patriarchs. As we suggested above, orthodox Christianity interpreted the divine aspect of Christ through all possible titles: Son of God, ,Word of God, Wisdom, etc. (264) The consequence was both the multiplication of titles for Christ, and, very soon, the confusion of their meaning. In the third century, Origen is a good example of this and is perhaps the: last one who develops a theology of Divine Wisdom along the lines of the tradition of Proverbs 8:22 and Philo:
Christ is demiurge (creator) as a beginning (arche}, inasmuch as, He is wisdom. It is in virtue of His being wisdom that He is called archeFor Wisdom says in Solomon: God created me the beginning of His ways, for His works, (Prov. 8:22), so that the Word might be an archenamely, in wisdom. Considered in relation to the structure of contemplation and thoughts about the whole of things, it is regarded as wisdom; but in relation to that side of the objects of thought, in which reasonable beings apprehend them, it is considered as the Word. (265),
More freedom of speculation idevelopments. Many gnostic systems ascribe an important role to Sophia (Wisdom), and she is present in one way or another in all gnostic writings. R. M. Grant follows the development of the myth of Helen, the companion of Simon Magus and a figure of Wisdom, from Acts of Apostles 8 to Irenaeus (Adv. Haer, I, 23) and the Clementine Homilies (II, 22-25). The prostitute ends as "the Queen, the all-maternal Being and Wisdom." (266)
The Valentinian gnostic system presents a Pleroma consisting of a series of thirty coupled aeons. This consists of a progression of 15 males. and 15 female entities which emanate Sophia (Wisdom); a female principle, at the limit between the Pleroma and the world. The word itself is not the work of the Father, or of his Logos, but of a Creator who is also the God of the Jews. While the physical world remains evil, the moral world is subjected to this God-author of the Law and exactor of righteousness,. However, because of the intermediary position of Sophia, seeds of divine substance are found upon earth and, through the unknowing instrumentality of the Creator, enter certain individuals. These individuals are the Spirituals or the Gnostics. The Saviour was sent to the world .in order to gather them and return every particle of divine substance to the Pleroma. While the Psychics (those who only understand moral teachings and obey the Creator) will enjoy their reward outside the Pleroma, the Gnostics (those who know themselves as other and divine) will enter the wedding room and join their male consort in the Pleroma, which will thereby be completed, (267)
Origen's excerpts from Heracleon's Exegesis of John, found in his own Homilies on John, illustrate this teaching. For instance, in Heracleon's interpretation of John 4 the' Samaritan woman is a Gnostic, a soul divinely endowed with Sophia. The Saviour reveals this to her. In the world she is a prostitute, since her true husband is above, in the Pleroma, where now after her encounter with the Saviour, she longs to join him. Neither Jerusalem, where the Jews worship the Creator, nor the Mountain, where the Gentiles worship the world, may be said to be the right place of worship. The Spirituals will worship neither the creation nor the Creator, but the Father of Truth, who is worshipped in a spiritual 'and, not a fleshly fashion, "since^ those who are of the same nature as the Father are spirit." (268)
In order to end this section with a poetic and prayerfull expression of orthodox inspiration, we turn to Odes of Salomon 33 Again grace ran and forsook corruption, and came down in Him to bring it to nought; And He destroyed perdition from before Him, and devastated all its order; And He stood on a lofty summit and uttered His voice from one end of the earth to the other; And drew to Him all those who obeyed Him; and there did not appear as it were an evil person. But there stood a perfect virgin who was proclaiming and calling and saying, 0 ye sons of men, return ye, and ye daughters of men, come ye: And foresake the ways of that corruption into you, and will bring you forth from perdition, And make you wish in the ways of truth: that you be not destroyed nor perish: Hear me and be redeemed. For the grace of God I am telling among you: and by my means you shall be redeemed and become blessed. I am your judge; and they who have put me on shall not be injured: but they shall possess the new world that is incorrupt: My chosen ones walk in me, and my ways I will make known to them that seek me, and I will make them trust in my name. Hallelujah. (269)
SYMBOLISM OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
The early Christianity knew the Blessed Virgin as the mother of the Saviour, and proclaimed her the Mother of God.(270) In the liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, she is exalted as "higher in honour than the Cherubim, and more glorious than the Seraphim". (271) Thus her privileged place in the Christian system of salvation, and her pre-eminence in the heavenly hierarchy were acknowledged. But we do not see the existence of a devotion to Mary as an object of worship or a center of interest apart from the faith reflected in the whole Creed.
The great theologian of Mary is Irenaeus. He sees her as part of the salvific plan of God. Irenaeus develops the Pauline (272) parallel of the two Adams. The human race needed to be recapitulated, i.e., to be given a new head since its first head, Adam, yielded to sin and brought to us the consequence of sin, death. Christ thus appears as the source of life, even for the generations before the Incarnation.
Irenaeus completes the parallel between the two Adams with a parallel between Eve and Mary. The obedience of Mary is paralleled with the disobedience of Eve. The two women appear at the origin of two divine dispensations, and stand as the symbol of two opposite attitudes towards God: obedience and disobedience,
In addition, against the Gnostics who condemned the flesh and rejected the Incarnation, Irenaeus sees in the reality of the flesh of Jesus and of its formation in the womb of Mary the guarantee of our salvation. Without it, there would be no reality of the remission of our sins in His blood, and our hope for the resurrection would be vain. Mary thus is seen as the sign of the faith in the Incarnation. Even her virginity finds its relevance in the parallel of the two women:
For as by one man's disobedience sin entered, and death obtained a place through sin; so also by the obedience of one man, righteousness having been introduced, shall cause life to fructify in those persons who in times past were dead (Rom. 5:19). And as the protoplast himself, Adam, had his substance from untilled and as yet virgin soil, and was formed by the hand of God, that is, by the Word of God..., and the Lord took dust from the earth and formed man; so did He who is the Word, recapitulating Adam in Himself, rightly receive a birth, enabling him to gather up Adam (into Himself), from Mary, who was as yet a virgin. . .
Those therefore who allege that He took, nothing from the virgin do greatly err, since, in order that they may cast away the inheritance of the flesh, they also reject the analogy (between Him and Adam). For if the one who sprang from the earth had indeed formation and substance from both the hand and workmanship of God, then He who was made after the image and likeness of the former did not, in that case, preserve the analogy of man, and He must seem an inconsistent piece of work, not having wherewith He may show His wisdom. But this is to say, that He also appeared putatively as man when he was not man, and that He was made man while taking nothing from man. For if He did not receive the substance of flesh from a human being, He neither was made man nor the Son of man; and if He was not made what we were, He did no great thing in what He suffered and endured. But every one will allow that we are composed of a body taken from the earth, and a soul receiving spirit from God. This, therefore, the Word of God was made, recapitulating in Himself His own handiwork; and on this account does He confess Himself the Son of man....
Superfluous, too, in that case is His descent into Mary; for why did He come down into her if He were to take nothing of her? Still further, if He had taken nothing of Mary, He would never have availed Himself of those kinds of food which are derived from the earth, by which that body which has been taken from the earth is nourished; nor would He have hungered, fasting those forty days, like Moses and Elias, unless His body was craving after its own nourishment; nor, again, would John His disciple have said, when writing of Him, But Jesus, being wearied with the journey, was sitting (to rest); (John 4:6) nor would David have proclaimed of Him before hand, They have added to the grief of my wounds; (Ps. 119:27) nor would He have wept over Lazarus, nor have sweated drops of blood; nor have declared. My soul is exceeding sorrowful; (Mat. 26:38) nor, when His side was pierced, would there have come forth blood and water. For all these tokens of the flesh had been derived from the earth, which He had recapitulated in Himself, bearing salvation to His own handiwork.
Wherefore Luke points out that the pedigree which traces the generation of our Lord back to Adam contains seventy-two generations, connecting the end with the beginning, and implying that it is He who has summed up in Himself all nations dispersed from Adam downwards, and all languages and generations of men, together with Adam himself. Hence also was Adam himself termed by Paul the figure of Sim that was to come, (Rom. 5:14) because the Word, the Maker of all things, had formed beforehand for Himself the future dispensation of the human race, connected with the Son of God; God having predestined that the first man should be of an animal nature, with this view, that he might be saved by the spiritual One. For inasmuch as He had a pre-existence as a saving Being, it was necessary that what might be saved should also be called into existence, in order that the Being who saves should not exist in vain.
In accordance with this design, Mary the Virgin is found obedient, saying, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. (Luke 1:38). But Eve was disobedient; for she did not obey when as yet she was a virgin. And even as she, having indeed a husband, Adam, but being nevertheless as yet a virgin, for in Paradise they were both naked, and were not ashamed, (Gen. 2:25) inasmuch as they, having been created a short time previously, had no understanding of the procreation of children: for it was necessary that they should first come to adult age, and then multiply from that time onward, having become disobedient, was made the cause of death, both to herself and to the whole human race; so also did Mary, having a man betrothed to her, although she was as yet a virgin, by yielding obedience, become the cause of salvation, both to herself and the whole human race.
And on this account does the law term a woman betrothed to a man, the wife of him who had betrothed her, although she was as yet a virgin; thus indicating the back-reference from Mary to Eve, because what was joined together could not otherwise be put asunder than by inversion of the process by which these bonds of union had arisen; so that the former ties be cancelled by the latter, that the latter may set the former again at liberty.. And it has, in fact, happened that the first compact looses from the second tie, but that the second tie takes the position of the first which has been cancelled. For this reason did the Lord declare that the first should in truth be last, and the last first. And the prophet, too, indicates the same, saying, Instead of fathers, children have been born unto thee. (Ps. 45:17) For the Lord, having been born the First-begotten of the dead, (Apoc. 1:5) and receiving into His bosom the ancient fathers, has regenerated them into the life of God, He having been made Himself the beginning of those who die.
Wherefore also Luke, commencing the genealogy with the Lord, carried it back to Adam, indicating that it was He who regenerated them into the Gospel of life, and not they Him. And thus also it was that the knot of Eve's disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary. For what the virgin Eve had bound Mary set free through faith. (273) (Abbreviated text.)
The condition of women in Jewish and Hellenistic society is responsible for ideas and formulas which rightly offend our modern sensitivity because we live in a period of struggle regarding the condition of women. In one sense, the ongoing promotion of women adds to the power of the challenge, which in return, brings about a real improvement of their condition. In another sense modern society, because of its insensitivity, constantly creates new categories of weaker members who are not granted their fair share. For this reason we should not superficially adopt a position of superiority over the past, but should try to understand its meaning. Thus, many positive things regarding women can be found in the ancient texts. For example, instead of interpreting Ephesians 5:21-33 as a relation of domination versus subjection in marriage -- a biased interpretation -- we should rather point out the relation between the self-dedication of the husband and the spontaneous love of the wife, which is in the mind of the author of the epistle.
Concerning the symbolism of women, I would like to add a remark about the present change in language toward unisex expressions, especially in religion. I do not criticize the move, which is certainly useful, and with broad usage may become the rule. But I want to point out the danger of losing a certain priceless symbolism. So much of the symbolism attached to ways of life has already disappeared during the 20th century! Who today can explain to students, who have never seen a smithshop, the symbolism of the fire and iron used by Origen to represent the Incarnation of the Word and the communication of divine energy?
We owe the idea of marriage, between God and His people Israel to the "He" of God. We also owe the idea of marriage between Christ and the Church to the "He" of Christ, the divine Word. This is the heart of Ecclesiology. This symbol of the church is what Paul had in mind when he said, "this mystery is great". The same idea of a spiritual marriage between Christ and the soul -- a "he" and a "she" respectively is found at the heart of mystical life and has been for centuries the form of the profession of religious life for women. Men, who could not be identified as "she". had to find another image -- that of a servant of God, or a disciple of Christ. For the ancients, love itself is not an abstract term or a philosophical concept, but an image borrowed from sex and marriage. This term is still carrying some of the power received from its sexual origin in its spiritual extension. We can only hope that mystical and religious life will not be too radically severed from its sexual expression. While accepting the modern linguistic movement, we may wish to preserve the Biblical symbolism of Woman attached to reflection on God, Christ, and spiritual life. It is derived from a rich tradition in the early Church and belongs to the heart of Christian life.
(232) R. A. Baer, Philo's use of the Categories Male and Female(Leiden, 1970; S. Belkin, "The Interpretation of Names in Philo," Horeb(1956) 3-61: L. Mack Burton, "Weisheit und Allegorie bei Philo von Alexandrien," Studia Philonica 5 (1978) pp. 57-106; E.R. Goodenough, By Light, Light: The Mystic Gospel of Hellenistic Judaism(New Haven, 1935); A.T. Hanson, "Philo's Etymologies," Journal of |Theological Studies18 (1967); J. Laporte, La doctrine eucharistique chez Philon d'Alexandrie(Paris, 1972); V Nikiprowetzky, "Rebecca, vertu de constance et constance de vertu chez Philon d'Alexandrie," Semitica26 (1976): pp. 109-136; W Schwartz, "A Study in Pre-Christian Symbolism: Philo, De Som.I 216-218 and Plutarch, De Iside et Osiride4 and 77," Institute of Classical Studies Bulletin 20 (1973): pp. 104-117
(233) L Bouyer, The seat of wisdom, translated by A.V. Littledale (New York, 1962); Cl. Chavasse, The Bride of Christ (London, 1940); E.R. Goodenough,By Light, Light," The God of the Mystery" (New Haven, 1935),pp. 11-26; R
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