ARTISTIC FRAGMENTS
Simeon in the temple, circa 1661
Canvas, oil
National Museum, Stockholm, Sweden
Although this commissioned work began in 1661, it lay unfinished in Rembrandt's studio until his death in 1669.
The painting is based on a prophecy that came true. Elder Simeon was predicted that he “will not see death until he sees Christ the Lord.” And he finally met him when Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the temple. Rembrandt has already created a magnificent commissioned version on this theme (1631).
There the action takes place under the high arches of the temple, and the work itself is done in a detailed manner characteristic of a period of youth, success and glory. Here, the free style of writing of recent years is especially noticeable also because the work is not finished, although this is hardly significant: everything is focused on the moment when the half-blind old man rocks the swaddled Baby in his arms - a scene filled with infinite tenderness.
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“The last of Rembrandt’s works that have come down to us is the painting “Simeon in the Temple” (height ninety-eight, width seventy-nine centimeters), Stockholm. Apparently, this is the same painting that the painter Everdingen saw in his attic studio shortly before Rembrandt’s death. Last days Rembrandt's life is the limit of human trials. The painting remained unfinished and, moreover, badly damaged. But even in this unfinished and dilapidated form, the Stockholm painting allows one to judge the depth of Rembrandt’s concept and enormous artistic skill. In the crucible of fate, he forges his latest masterpiece.
Even in Rembrandt we rarely see such amazing spirituality as is embodied in the image of old, white-bearded Simeon, visible to us from the waist up, approaching from the left. Such unshakable conviction and at the same time tenderness for the tiny creature lying in his arms. And such expressiveness of reverently closed old eyes, and such inner life of these bony hands, carefully holding a swaddled baby.
Simeon is too old, the baby is too small, the weakness of both is immeasurable. But the powerful, jubilant, uncontrollable flow of luminous colors and the face illuminated by a guess and the lowered eyelids of Simeon say that the immeasurable and highest given to a person happiness is believing and waiting, loving and hoping.
A young mother standing in the shadow smiles sadly at her baby. The contrast of the gray-bearded head of the upright Simeon in the foreground on the left, illuminated by the inner radiance, and Mary’s face immersed in the shadow of the dark veil in the background on the right, emphasizes both the shade of tragic forebodings resounding in the picture and the bright optimism of its entire figurative content. Old Simeon, according to Rembrandt, saw with his own eyes, held in his hands the light of the world, the hope of humanity. Now he can die freely.
“God, my eyes have seen the light,” said old Simeon, returning the child to his mother. “Now you let your servant go in peace.”
Mary’s sad smile in this picture seems to personify the whole life of the great artist, its stormy and bright beginning, its sad and lonely end.
But, like Simeon, Rembrandt is calmly waiting for his last hour, since he, too, saw in his dreams the happiness of humanity.
The greatest artist in the world dies in bed, in his sleep, in the cold attic that served as his last studio, on October 4, 1669. The property left behind by the artist consisted only of woolen and linen clothing and working tools. For Rembrandt, to die meant to stop creating.”
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Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (Dutch: Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn [ˈrɛmbrɑnt ˈɦɑrmə(n)soːn vɑn ˈrɛin], 1606-1669) - Dutch artist, draftsman and engraver, great master of chiaroscuro, largest representative the golden age of Dutch painting
ORIGINAL TEXT OF THE FILM SCRIPT
Then there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon. He was a righteous and pious man, looking forward to the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Spirit was upon him. He was predicted by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death until he saw Christ the Lord. And he came by inspiration to the temple. And when the parents brought the Child Jesus to perform the legal rite over Him, he took Him in his arms, blessed God and said: Now you are letting Your servant go, O Master, in peace, according to Your word, for my eyes have seen Your salvation, which You have prepared. before all nations, a light to enlighten the Gentiles and glory to Your people Israel.
Gospel of Luke
S I T H S I M E O N
In the spring of 1669, there was a knock on Rembrandt’s house. His friends, students, and customers left him long ago - who did God bring? Behind the door was Dirk van Kattenburg, an old collector with whom they had known for fifteen years. Rembrandt once borrowed a thousand florins from him, and, having gone bankrupt, took a long time to return them with paintings. Dirk was probably not devoid of kindness: he waited patiently, and perhaps forgave something.
Like a true collector, he started from afar. - How is your health? What are you working on? - Well, something for yourself. - What about ordering? - They don’t take it. - This is because you, stubborn man, are always engaged in papal painting, but you need to be closer to native land, so to speak, to the people... Okay, old man, don’t be offended. I got some money and ask you to paint a small picture on any biblical subject. - It will probably be Candlemas.
A year ago, his charming neighbor, Magdalena van Loo, married The only son, Titus. The whole world knows this gentle couple from “The Jewish Bride.” But the happiness of the young people was short-lived - on September 4, without waiting for the birth of his daughter, Titus van Rijn died. So now, in March, little Titia was welcomed into this world by her grandfather.
And the father is afraid to take this precious, fragile creature in his arms, tremulous and defenseless, like a heart. And for the old man it is a touch to the mystery of Life, to Eternity; both anxious and reverent. And if he, Rembrandt, could not hold back his tears, then how worried Simeon was, holding his God in his arms. A baby in Whom, incomprehensibly, already contained all the Power and Love of the Creator, who entrusted Himself to man. Of course, it will only be “Candlemas”...
Joseph and His Mother marveled at what was said about Him. And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, His Mother: Behold, this One is destined for the fall and the uprising of many in Israel and for the subject of controversy - and a weapon will pierce Your own soul, so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.
Rembrandt wrote his first “Candlemas” exactly forty years ago, back in his native Leiden. And then he chose this very moment. How many times did the elder see how parents dedicated their firstborn to God in memory of the fact that the price of delivering the Jews from Egypt was the death of their babies. But, looking at the Child of Mary, he suddenly felt that for the first time in the history of the world the Lord would accept the Sacrifice.
As a prophet, Simeon must tell the Mother about this, but as a person he immediately reaches out to console Her. And he can't speak. And she does not dare to touch - she sees that She knows about everything, and has experienced a lot before voluntarily giving up her Son for the salvation of her people and all people.
Rembrandt will take this unthinkable feat of faith into his next famous painting - The Sacrifice of Abraham. The hundred-year-old patriarch receives a command from above to bring his only legitimate heir, the long-awaited Isaac, to the slaughter. He knows that his God hates human sacrifice, and that He promised to produce countless offspring from this youth. But, after all, it was the Lord who gave the child, maybe, for some unknown reason, He now wants to take His own? Hope, faith, love struggle in Abraham with doubts, and he goes and raises his hand over his son. And only at the very last moment an Angel stops her and says:
I swear by me, says the Lord, that since you have done this deed and have not withheld your son, your only son, for Me, I will bless you with blessing and multiply I will multiply your seed like the stars of heaven and like the sand on the seashore; and your seed shall take possession of the cities of their enemies; and through your seed all the nations of the earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice. Genesis
Abraham was given to understand how much the Lord loves man and how much he believes in him. It was given to touch the future Mystery of the Salvation of people and, in part, to feel the experiences of the Heavenly Father Himself.
On September 19, 1641, students approaching Rembrandt’s house learned that there would be no classes today or in the coming days: the master’s son had been born. This was already his fourth child. But the firstborn, Rombartus, lived only two months. Afterwards a girl was born, whom the artist named Cornelia in honor of her mother, but she was destined to live only three weeks. The third child (also Cornelia) is fourteen days old. And a month later his mother died.
And life came to this sad house again, filling it with the cry of Titus van Rijn. And again the baby turned out to be weak. And again the time came for desperate, continuous prayer for his life. Rembrandt and Saskia counted down the days, weeks, months... Lord! May Your holy will be done for everything! But, if possible, please save this child, so that we can raise him for the joy of You and others!
Struggling with death, he works all the time and, with all his strength, supports his wife, who could not recover after a difficult birth. He creates one of her best images - a mother who has lost three children, smiling, hands him a red flower of her love from her heart. When Titus was almost nine (!) months old, Rembrandt buried Saskia...
Now he paints a stunning portrait of his mother and puts on it the date of two years ago, when Cornelia van Rijn was still alive - because for him there is no death.
Eight years later, when Oliver Cromwell is in charge of the palace of the executed king, he will sell off everything that seems uninteresting to him for the needs of the revolution, but he will leave this portrait. It’s unlikely that the author’s name meant anything to him; Rather, the name impressed me: “The Prophetess Anna.”
There was also Anna the prophetess, daughter of Phanuel, from the tribe of Asher, who had reached a very old age, having lived with her husband for seven years from her virginity, a widow of eighty-four years old, who did not leave the temple, serving God day and night with fasting and prayer. And at that time she came up, glorified the Lord and spoke about Him to everyone who was waiting for deliverance in Jerusalem.
Like Simeon, Anna was one of those who sought the consolation of Israel. They hoped for the speedy arrival of the Messiah, who, according to all the prophecies, was about to be born of a Virgin; they fasted, prayed and did not go far from the holy place. Because the faithful knew from Scripture that a great event was about to happen here, and they were afraid to miss it.
Thus says the Lord of hosts: Once again, and it will be soon, I will shake heaven and earth, sea and dry land, and I will shake all nations, and the One desired by all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory. The glory of this last temple will be greater than the first, says the Lord of hosts; and in this place I will give peace. Book of the Prophet Haggai
About ten years before this painting, Rembrandt painted the second “Candlemas”. The look is the complete opposite of the first. The Lord came into a hostile world. He is surrounded by darkness, the sight of cold, evil curiosity and the oppressive bulk of the temple - that priesthood that, thirty-three years later, instead of announcing the coming of Christ to the peoples, without flinching, will pronounce the sentence “Guilty of death.”
But for some reason the prophetess Anna is not in this “Candlemas”. Probably, this is how he wanted to increase the loneliness of the Holy Family. And then, working on a huge gospel cycle, I realized that the apostles do not use either embellishment or artificial thickening of colors: they value truth. Maybe then he decided to “apologize” to the prophetess by painting her separate portrait...
Rembrandt wrote “The Life of Christ” in Holland alone and was busy with this work from the age of twenty-seven to forty. Christian painting did not know such a scale even among Catholics, and in a country where “papal” paintings were expelled from churches, they could be created practically only at one’s own expense. Secular authorities treated him tolerantly, and sometimes even ordered him spiritual works; but they also considered van Rijn a proud man who went too far.
At the center of "The Raising of the Cross" he painted himself as the man who helps lift the instrument of execution of the Savior; and not everyone understood this challenge correctly. And the artist spoke very in simple language: I, like every sinner, am an accomplice in the murder of the Son of God.
Once Rembrandt displayed a portrait of a neighbor’s girl in the window of his house, and passers-by greeted her. Just as vividly, as close as possible to modern reality, he depicted biblical stories so that they became familiar. In its tender scenes from the life of the Holy Family, everyone could recognize their home. And in the engravings - yourself or one friend...
While still the richest artist in Amsterdam, Rembrandt most often painted beggars, cripples, and wanderers. Without any sentimentality or, especially, condemnation, but with great attention, he peered at these people, trying to understand their inner world. After all, Christ Himself was born into a family of poor people and came to them with the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. In 1949, one of the most famous of these engravings appeared - “The One Hundred Florin Leaf,” which received its name because of the fabulously high price for which it was purchased at auction. But the maestro himself gave her a completely different name: “Let the children come to Me.” This is a philosophical picture, because, at first glance, children are not visible in it...
One day, probably after a long conversation with people, when the Lord was tired, several women brought their children to Him for a blessing, and the apostles, considering this an unnecessary effort for the Teacher, did not want to let them through. Then Christ forever forbade them to do this and said that the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such people. He didn’t ask the children anything, didn’t give them any instructions, but simply stroked their heads, sat them on his knees, and pressed them to his chest. God gave them His tenderness, His warmth.
The memory that we all need to be like children has always been in great short supply among believing citizens, and especially among the capital. In Amsterdam, it seems they have completely forgotten about this. Having finally gained access to the Holy Scriptures during the Reformation, people began to fall into the opposite extreme of ignorance - excessive adherence to the letter, which quietly but surely kills the spirit. And so to those scribes who stand in the engraving to the left of Christ, to those to whom the Gospel themes as pictorial subjects seemed something deeply old-fashioned and hostile, Rembrandt denies Candlemas. And he creates another engraving especially for them - the notorious Doctor Faustus, whose soulless attempts to dissect the Bible brought him to the brink of witchcraft (it is this painting that Goethe will take for the first edition of his tragedy).
And now, seven years later, Pharisaism took revenge on Meister van Rijn. To avoid going to debtor's prison, he was forced to sell off his property. Now four paintings cost a hundred florins. He loses everything - his work, things, the house that he and Saskia bought in installments for six years, but even after fifteen years the loan was not repaid. All that remains is what cannot be taken away: God's gift and ministry.
Fourth studio. At the end of September 1669, two artists came to Rembrandt - the landscape painter Allart van Everdingen and his son Cornelius. Allart had just returned from Scandinavia and probably did not know about the “ostracism” of old man van Rijn. Christian art was held in much higher esteem abroad, and Everdingen hurried to his famous colleague. Or maybe they wanted to buy something or just gawk at the great eccentric.
The most natural poverty lived in this house: among the valuable objects that caught my eye were four chairs, a printing press, which the master clearly used himself, a Bible and about twenty paintings placed against the wall. But the mistress here was not poverty at all - a kind of warm, joyful light, peace and quiet reigned in the room.
Despite his illness, Rembrandt warmly received the guests. While my daughter was assembling a simple table, he took them to the workshop and engaged them in a lively conversation about paints. He wanted to impress the fifty-year-old Allart, and he cheerfully, as if playfully, began to rub the hard mineral, but soon got tired, and, smiling, sat down: “Yes, the hands are not the same anymore - I left myself three colors...”
The guests appreciated this modest joke, but did not find the words to answer - “St. Simeon” stood on the easel. It was not quite finished, but it already evoked a feeling of such harmony and perfection that it was breathtaking.
This was not just a Meeting with God - it was a life lived with Him. Full of love, the deepest spiritual unity, selflessness and anticipation of that moment when Christ can be touched not only with thought and heart, but also with hand.
Now do You let Your servant go, Master, according to Your word, in peace, for my eyes have seen Your salvation, which You have prepared before the face of all nations, a light to enlighten the Gentiles and the glory of Your people Israel. Gospel of Luke
Rembrandt
Simeon in the temple
One of the participants in the event that the Church remembers on the feast of the Presentation of the Lord is Saint Simeon. It was he who met the Christ Child and the Holy Family in the Jerusalem Temple. Evangelist Luke reports that the righteous elder Simeon “was predicted by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death until he saw Christ the Lord” and the Virgin who gave birth to the Son of God.
From Holy Scripture Simeon knew that the prophets and righteous people met the Lord as an unusually bright light, a cloud with flashing lightning, a chariot of fire. Was he expecting something like this? Have you thought about how the prophecy of the Angel of the Lord will be fulfilled?
One day, as if by some inspiration, he came to the Jerusalem Temple. In the crowd of pilgrims, Simeon saw a young mother with a baby. They were accompanied by an elderly man. Many couples with babies came to the temple, there was nothing special about it. But Simeon immediately recognized who was in front of him, and approached the Mother of God and righteous Joseph. He took the Divine Infant in his arms and blessed the baby. Now death no longer frightened the old man. The prophecy of the Old Testament came true; Simeon saw with his own eyes both the Ever-Virgin and the King of Kings Himself.
Other information about righteous Simeon has been preserved for us by Church Tradition. Thus, it is believed that Simeon was three hundred and sixty years old when he met and blessed the Infant God and the Virgin Mary. In particular, Saint Demetrius of Rostov writes about this in the life of the righteous man. The number three hundred and sixty is full of deep symbolism. The ancient calendar was based on the solar and lunar cycles. It had twelve months of thirty days. Accordingly, three hundred and sixty years is a complete cycle in which a year of human life is like equal to a day heavenly life. That is, the circle has closed, the Monk Simeon has completely completed the time allotted to him. He was honored with great happiness - to meet God, and now he was not afraid to meet death.
Righteous Simeon the God-Receiver died shortly after meeting the Infant Christ. In the second half of the sixth century, the relics of the saint were solemnly delivered to Constantinople. It is known that in the year one thousand two hundred, St. Anthony, the future Archbishop of Novgorod, made a pilgrimage to the shrine. In the middle of the thirteenth century, after the fall of Constantinople, the relics of righteous Simeon were transferred to the Adriatic, to the city of Zara. Now this is the Croatian city of Zadar. And in Aachen, Germany, the right hand, that is, the right hand of Saint Simeon the God-Receiver, is kept. The shrine is located in the church treasury and is not accessible during normal times. Once every seven years old tradition, it is exhibited for the worship of believers - this is the world-famous Aachen pilgrimage.
IN Orthodox Church There is a special day when she remembers and honors Saint Simeon the Receiver of God. This is the sixteenth of February according to the new style, the day after the feast of the Presentation of the Lord.
Rembrandt Harmens van Rijn (1606 - 1669) was a Dutch painter, draftsman and etcher. Creativity is imbued with the desire for a deep, philosophical comprehension of reality and the inner world of man with all the richness of his spiritual experiences.
Realistic and humanistic in its essence, it marked the pinnacle of the development of Dutch art XVII century, embodying high moral ideals, faith in the beauty and dignity of ordinary people in a brightly individual and perfect artistic form.
Rembrandt. Drawing "Huts under a sky foreshadowing a storm" (1635) Rembrandt's artistic heritage is distinguished by its exceptional diversity: portraits, still lifes, landscapes, genre scenes, paintings on biblical, mythological and historical subjects. Rembrandt was an unsurpassed master of drawing and...
Rembrandt. Etching "Mill" (1641) The future great artist was born into a miller's family. After briefly studying at Leiden University in 1620, he devoted himself to art. He studied painting with J. van Swanenburch in Leiden (from 1620 - 1623) and P. Lastman in Amsterdam in 1623. In the period from 1625 to 1631 he worked in Leiden. An example of Lastman’s influence on the artist’s work is the painting " Allegory of Music", painted by Rembrandt in 1626.
Rembrandt "Allegory of Music" In paintings" Apostle Paul"(1629 - 1630) and" Simeon in the temple"(1631) Rembrandt was the first to use chiaroscuro as a means to enhance the spirituality and emotional expressiveness of images.
Rembrandt "Apostle Paul" During these same years, Rembrandt worked hard on the portrait, studying the facial expressions of the human face. The artist’s creative searches during this period are expressed in a series of self-portraits and portraits of members of the artist’s family. This is how Rembrandt portrayed himself at the age of 23.
Rembrandt "Self-Portrait" In 1632, Rembrandt moved to Amsterdam, where he soon married the wealthy patrician Saskia van Uylenbruch. The 30s of the 17th century for the artist were years of family happiness and enormous artistic success. The family couple is depicted in the painting" Prodigal Son in a Tavern"(1635).
Rembrandt "The Prodigal Son in the Tavern" (1635) At the same time, the artist paints the canvas" Christ during a storm on the Sea of Galilee"(1633). The painting is unique in that it is the artist’s only seascape.
Rembrandt "Christ during a storm on the Sea of Galilee" Painting " Anatomy Lesson by Dr. Tulpa"(1632), in which the artist solved the problem of a group portrait in a new way, giving the composition a vital ease, and uniting the people in the portrait with a single action, brought Rembrandt wide fame. He received many orders, and numerous students worked in his workshop.
Rembrandt "Dr. Tulp's Anatomy Lesson" In commissioned portraits of wealthy burghers, the artist carefully conveyed facial features, the smallest details of clothing, and the shine of luxurious jewelry. This can be seen on the canvas" Portrait of the Burgrave", written in 1633. At the same time, models often received apt social characteristics.
Rembrandt "Portrait of the Burgrave" His self-portraits and portraits of close people are more free and varied in their composition:
- » Self-portrait", written in 1634. The painting is currently on display at the Louvre.
Rembrandt "Self-Portrait" (1634) - » Smiling Saskia". The portrait was painted in 1633. Today it is located in the Dresden Art Gallery.
Rembrandt "Smiling Saskia" These works are distinguished by lively spontaneity and elation of the composition, free manner of painting, major, light-filled, golden color scheme.
A bold challenge to classical canons and traditions in the artist’s work can be seen in the example of the canvas" The Abduction of Ganymede", written in 1635. IN this moment the work is in the Dresden Art Gallery.
Rembrandt "The Rape of Ganymede" Painting "Danae"
The monumental composition was a vivid embodiment of the artist’s new aesthetic views" Danae"(written in 1636), in which he enters into an argument with the great masters of the Italian Renaissance. The artist went against the generally accepted canons of depiction and created a beautiful picture that went beyond the then ideas of true beauty.
Rembrandt painted the nude figure of Danae, far from the classical ideals of female beauty, with bold, realistic spontaneity, and the artist contrasted the ideal beauty of the images of Italian masters with the sublime beauty of spirituality and the warmth of a person’s intimate feeling.
Rembrandt "Danae" (1636) Subtle shades of emotional experiences were expressed by the painter in his paintings" David and Jonathan"(1642) and" Holy family"(1645). High-quality reproductions of Rembrandt paintings can be used for decoration in many styles.
In 1656, Rembrandt was declared an insolvent debtor and all his property was sold at public auction. He was forced to move to the Jewish quarter of Amsterdam, where he spent the rest of his life.
Rembrandt "The Holy Family" (1645) Painting "Return of the Prodigal Son".
Cold misunderstanding of the Dutch burghers surrounded Rembrandt in last years his life. However, the artist continued to create. A year before his death, he began creating his brilliant canvas" Return of the Prodigal Son"(1668 - 1669), in which all artistic, moral and ethical issues were embodied.
In this painting, the artist creates a whole range of complex and deep human feelings. The main idea of the picture is the beauty of human understanding, compassion and forgiveness. The climax, the tension of feelings and the subsequent moment of resolution of passions are embodied in expressive poses and stingy, laconic gestures of father and son.
Rembrandt "Return of the Prodigal Son" Who meets with whom on the Feast of the Presentation? The Virgin Mary and Joseph with Elder Simeon, Simeon with God, the Old Testament with the New, hope with its justification. Sretensky stichera tell about the paradoxes of these meetings. Commentary by priest, philologist Fyodor LYUDOGOVSKY and poet, translator Olga SEDAKOVA.
Simeon in the temple. Rembrandt Harmens van Rijn, 1669
Stichera “Who is worn on the Cherubim” on the verse, Glory, and now, tone 8, St. Andrey Kritsky. Sung during all-night vigil after lithium:
Like the Cherubimex worn
and sung by Seraphim,
today we bring it to the Divine Sanctuary according to the law,
on senile hands, as if he sits on a throne
and from Joseph he receives gifts divinely,
like the husband of the doves, the undefiled Church
and from the language of the newly chosen people,
the pigeon has two chicks,
as the Chief of Vetkhago and Novago.
Even Simeon’s promises to Him are over,
blessing the Virgin, Mary the Mother of God,
images of passions, like those from Her, proclaim
and from Him we asked for forgiveness, crying:
“Now let me go, Master,
as before to build upon me,
as if I saw Thee, the Primordial Light
and the Savior of the Lord to the people named after Christ.”
Greek original:
Ὁ τοῖς Χερουβὶμ ἐποχούμενος,
καὶ ὑμνούμενος ὑπὸ τῶν Σεραφίμ,
σήμερον τῷ θείῳ Ἱερῷ κατὰ νόμον προσφερόμενος,
πρεσβυτικαῖς ἐνθρονίζεται ἀγκάλαις,
καὶ ὑπὸ Ἰωσὴφ εἰσδέχεται δῶρα θεοπρεπῶς,
ὡς ζεῦγος τρυγόνων τὴν ἀμίαντον Ἐκκλησίαν,
καὶ τῶν ἐθνῶν τὸν νεόλεκτον λαόν,
περιστερῶν δὲ δύο νεοσσούς,
ὡς ἀρχηγὸς Παλαιᾶς τε καὶ Καινῆς.
Τοῦ πρὸς αὐτὸν χρησμοῦ δὲ Συμεών, τὸ πέρας δεξάμενος,
εὐλογῶν τὴν Παρθένον, Θεοτόκον Μαρίαν,
τὰ τοῦ πάθους σύμβολα τοῦ ἐξ αὐτῆς προηγόρευσε,
καὶ παρ" αὐτοῦ ἐξαιτεῖται τὴν ἀπόλυσιν βοῶν·
Νῦν ἀπολύεις με Δέσποτα,
καθὼς προεπηγγείλω μοι,
ὅτι εἶδόν σε τὸ προαιώνιον φῶς,
καὶ Σωτῆρα Κύριον τοῦ Χριστωνύμου λαοῦ.
Russian translation (hieromonk Ambrose (Timrot):
Worn by cherubs
and glorified by the Seraphim,
on this day brought into the Divine Sanctuary according to the Law,
how he sits on the throne in old hands
and receives gifts from Joseph, as befits God:
like a pair of turtle doves - the Immaculate Church
and from the Gentiles a newly chosen people,
two pigeon chicks -
as the Founder of the Old and New Testaments.
Simeon, having accepted the fulfillment of the prediction that was made to him,
blessing the Virgin, Mother of God Mary,
foreshadowed the images of suffering from Her who was born,
and asks Him for liberation, crying:
“Now you release me, Lord,
as he told me before:
for I saw You, Eternal Light,
Savior and Lord of Christ who bears the name of the people!”
Bringer and Bringer.
Priest Theodore LYUDOGOVSKY:
- The events of the Presentation, that is, the meeting of the baby Jesus and His parents, on the one hand, and the elder Simeon and Anna the prophetess, on the other, are known to us from the narrative of the Evangelist Luke (Luke 2:22-39). Mary and Joseph bring the forty-day-old Child to the Temple, in accordance with the Mosaic Law. The author of the stichera (in the Menaion it is inscribed with the name of St. Andrew of Crete) shows us the paradoxical nature of the situation: gifts are brought to God, seated on the Cherubim and sung by the Seraphim, but these gifts are brought in connection with His birth in the flesh. Let us note that the idea of Sacrifice receives its development and completion in the life, death and resurrection of Christ: if at the beginning his parents sacrificed for Him, then three decades later He sacrificed Himself. This is beautifully expressed in the prayer read by the priest at the liturgy during the singing of the song of offering (usually the Cherubic Hymn): “Thou art the bringer, and the offered, and the receiver, and the distributed, O Christ our God.”
According to the law (Lev. 12:6 - 8), after the birth of a child, a woman had to sacrifice a lamb. But if the family was poor, they could limit themselves to two turtle doves or two young pigeons. The Evangelist quotes this instruction of the Law without mentioning the lamb or saying exactly what Joseph and Mary did (Luke 2:24). In the stichera, as we see, it is assumed that they sacrificed And two turtle doves, And two pigeon chicks. It seems that the hymnographer needed this technique in order to consistently convey the idea of the unity revealed by Christ: the unity of the Old and New Testaments (i.e., the Old and New treaties of God with people), the unity of the Church, the basis of which was the believing representatives of the chosen people and converts pagans to Christ.
About Elder Simeon, the Evangelist says that he “was predicted by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death until he saw Christ the Lord,” that is, the Messiah desired by all the Israeli people. There is a common belief that Simeon was one of the translators of the Old Testament from Hebrew into Greek; translating the famous passage from the prophet Isaiah about the conception of a virgin (or young woman?) son, who will be named Emmanuel, which means “God with us” (Is. 7:14 et seq.), Simeon thought about how best to translate the Hebrew word Alma: as a “virgin” or as a “woman” (which would seem more natural). And at that moment an Angel appeared to him and resolved his doubts in favor of the first option. This is the story that is traditionally told in the life of the righteous Simeon. Meanwhile, this legend is quite late. As St. Petersburg researcher Yu. I. Ruban points out, such a plot first appears in the 10th century - more than nine centuries after the Presentation and thirteen and a half centuries after the creation of the Septuagint, the Greek version of the Old Testament. At the same time, this legend acquires familiar features even later.
The stichera “Which is worn on the cherubim and sung by the seraphim...”, the last of the stichera on the stichera, is adjacent to the chant “Now you let go...”. On the Feast of the Presentation, this hymn, entirely borrowed from the Gospel (Luke 2:29-32), becomes especially significant: if on other days of the year it represents a metaphor (Christians, having heard the Good News again, prepare to go to sleep), then on this day it sounds exactly like the song of the righteous Simeon, as one of the most significant texts of the festive service.
Sub specie poeticae
Olga SEDAKOVA:
Translation
He whom the Cherubim carry
And the Seraphim sing,
On this day, according to the law, it is brought to the Temple of God,
The hands of the elderly sit on the (royal) throne
And he accepts gifts from Joseph, as befits God:
A pair of turtle doves - the immaculate Church
And from the Gentiles a newly chosen people;
A couple of pigeon chicks -
As the Founder of both the Old and New (Testaments).
Simeon accepted the fulfillment of what was promised to him,
Blessing the Virgin, Mother of God Mary,
Images of suffering from Her foreshadowed to the Born
And he asks Him for liberation, crying out:
“Let me go now, Lord,
As You once promised me,
For I saw You, Eternal Light
And the Savior of the people, who bears the name of Christ.”
Liturgical hymns and psalms (their source) in the hymns themselves are sometimes called “verbal icons”: “Like the hymn of David on the icon.” Today's holiday stichera are just such “verbal icons”, almost visibly appearing before us images of what is happening or being recalled in memory. Comparing a chant with an icon speaks, among other things, about how to perceive it”: both the text itself and its melodic presentation. If in prayer (in the narrow sense of this word) the words of petition should, in the words of the psalmist, ascend “like fragrant smoke” upward to the One who is asked, then the words of the chant are also contemplated by us, like images written on a board or on a wall. We kind of have to let them look at us. Of course, this division into “prayer” and “hymn” is arbitrary and crude, and usually the same text includes both petition and “images.” The petition begins to sprout in images, and the song (as we have already said, the liturgical song is primarily a song of praise) naturally goes to what (or whom) it praises.
A “verbal icon,” unlike one painted with paints, has its own capabilities: it has the power to give an image of the invisible, insubstantial, indescribable. In this case, the icon painter can only use a sign, a known and accepted symbol of this immaterial.
The first two lines in both of our stichera are precisely the image of the invisible, that which the isographer cannot depict.
IN stichera on stichera The Lord is described through the service of “smart powers” to Him: the six-winged Cherubim carrying Him on the wings and the fiery Seraphim silently praising Him. We will not dwell in detail on these images themselves (and on other images from the hierarchy of heavenly powers). This is a separate topic. Their presence in liturgical poetry is important to us. They - Cherubim and Seraphim - often appear together, as two types of highest closeness to the Creator, highest service to Him. Connected with this is their mention in connection with the dignity of the Mother of God (“Most honorable Cherubim and most glorious without comparison Seraphim”), which is higher than this proximity and these two ministries - but at the same time it is compared with them. In the “Cherubim Song,” people performing the liturgy are likened to these two Powers (although the name of the Cherubim is not directly named): they carry God, like the Cherubim, and sing to Him the “trisagion,” that is, they perform the ministry of the Seraphim. And righteous Simeon in our stichera fulfills the work of the Cherubim and Seraphim: he carries the Child God and sings a song to Him.
Both today's stichera are more complex and extensive than those texts that we commented on before. They have 17 and 18 lines. They are structured in a similar way: their first part retells the event to which the Holiday is dedicated, the second retells the Song of Simeon “Now You Let Go” (Fr. Theodore Ludogovsky writes about it and its role in the holiday service).
Retells is an inaccurate word. As we have already said, liturgical poetry transfers the content of the gospel event to another area: not story, but praise and theology. Today's holiday stichera are especially focused on theology. They concern the most important dogmatic topics: the divine humanity of Christ, the Trinity, the relationship of the Old and New Testaments, the “old” and “new” Israel.
In the Gospel narrative about the event of the Presentation, we will not see these themes with the naked eye. It should be noted that neither in the first nor in the second sticheron do we find traces of that later legend about the righteous Simeon, which Father Theodore talks about: about Simeon as one of the seventy interpreters of the Old Testament and his bewilderment in connection with the translation of the word “Virgin” ", which thus - Meeting with Holy Mother of God and the Child Christ - is finally resolved. The fulfillment of the promise that Simeon sings about in the gospel narrative is the fulfillment of his hope to live to see the salvation of Israel, to see the Messiah about whom the Prophets speak and whom he recognizes in the Baby. This is a meeting of biblical prophecy - and its fulfillment, a meeting of the persistent hope of the righteous - and its justification. This is a light phenomenon, epiphany. Simeon confirms that he saw with his own eyes the Light, which he had long known about and which he had been waiting for all his long years.
Christmas holiday carols also have light as their main motive. The Nativity of Christ “shone (lit) the light of the world.” Light and Glory are related concepts in biblical and liturgical theology. “A light for the revelation of the tongue and the glory of your people.” To be glorified means to appear in the light. Christmas is also contemplated in hymns as a manifestation of light and glory, as a “meeting”: the meeting of the world, “the whole universe” with its Creator in the form of a newborn baby. We are not far from this point yet. The Lord is still a baby and for the first time, as a first-born boy, he is brought to the Temple to “fulfill the law.” In the Sretensky hymns we are faced with the same miracle of the Incarnation, unimaginable to the mind: the appearance of the Almighty - in the completely helpless; The One who is more ancient than all times - in the Baby who has just seen the light; The One Whom the universe cannot contain is in a tiny being; The Almighty - in that fragile body that is passed from hand to hand; The One to whom all sacrifices are offered - in the One for whom His parents sacrifice to God, according to the rank for the poor, and who Himself is brought to the Temple as a sacrifice (about “the one who offers and the one who is offered,” see Father Theodore). Sretensky stichera, like the Christmas stichera, one might say, do not take their eyes off this combination of the incompatible. This is the poetically expressed theology of the Incarnation, the affirmation of the divine-human nature of Christ, “indivisible and unmerged.”
But the Sretensky meeting also has its own theme. This is no longer a meeting of the Creator with the entire Universe, as on Christmas Day, but a meeting of the Creator of the Law - with his own Law, with its executors, with the space of the Temple, with the righteous of the Old Testament. In particular, the theme of law is developed stichera on lithium: "Ancient of days." IN stichera on stichera The baby accepts legitimate sacrifices as Boss(founder) of both the Old and New Testaments (that is, the legal contracts of God with people). And, finally, this is the meeting of the very end of life (the departure song that Simeon sings to himself) - with its beginning. Having blessed the beginning, the righteous man departs from life. For this blessing he endured for so long. Does He know that He is holding in His arms “one flying on cherubim”?
How can we see here the thought of the Trinity? It is not expressed directly, as in the troparion of Baptism (“trinitarian adoration appeared”). But the fact that the divine in the Child is described by Old Testament prophetic images (“Ancient of Days”, He who gave the Law to Moses at Sinai - in stichera on lithium, "flying on Cherubim and sung by Seraphim" in stichera on stichera), which in the Christian era are usually referred to God the Father, implicitly speaks of the unity of the Father and the Son. They destroy in our minds the usual separate “pictures” of the Father as a gray-haired old man and a young Son at His right hand (late iconographic tradition). The “verbal icon” of the stichera shows the indescribable unity of the Persons and with extraordinary power makes one feel the divine principle of Christ.
The love for such paradoxical comparisons of the incompatible is one of the most common properties of the poetics of liturgical hymns. It operates on different scales, different levels, right down to phrases like “The bride is not a bride.” Researchers of Byzantine hymnography call this principle “primary dialectic.”
And the last theological topic that we will touch upon in connection with our stichera is the attitude of Israel, the first chosen people, the pagans and the “new people”, “Christ-named”, the Church. It is important in Sretensky chants. The theme of Salvation going beyond the chosen people (“light revealed by the tongue”) is directly taken from the Song of Simeon. Simeon has not yet said anything about the “new people of God”. On the theme of “two churches”, which are in stichera on stichera symbolizes two doves sacrificed for the first-born, we can say that from a certain moment it escapes the attention of Christian thought.
In temple images of the first millennium, one often encounters the image of two doves drinking from the same cup, or two deer drinking from the same spring, which flows at the foot of the Cross. These images are traditionally interpreted as two churches: “the church from the sources of Israel” and “the church from the (former) pagans” (the prototype of this image is the Psalter: “In the same way the tree desires the springs of water, my soul desires thee to you, O God” (Ps. .41.2) “Like a deer to springs of water, so my soul longs for You, O God.” There is an interpretation of this representation of the Church from two components as a combination of a “Christian community of Jews” and a “community of pagans.”
This interpretation is given by Fr. Theodore Ludogovsky. But there is another vision - for example, in the letters of St. Anthony the Great: he sees all the Old Testament saints and righteous people as the “first Church” founded by the “father of all believers” Abraham. What the author of our stichera means by “undefiled Church,” we probably cannot know. The theme of the “two Churches” receded during the Christian centuries, and images of this kind disappeared. But the thought about the fate of his people and that their salvation will be the lot of the pagans is the central thought of the theme of Elder Simeon. He prophesies about the dramatic continuation of Salvation: “for the fall and the rising of many.” Both of our stichera do not touch on this topic.
The plot of the Presentation became a most grateful topic for icon painters, painters, and poets. Rembrandt addressed this topic 17 times! His last painting, “The Song of Simeon” (1666 - 1669) is one of mankind’s deepest thoughts about this event. From the eyes of his Child, the “Ancient of Days” clearly looks at the decrepit Simeon. How Rembrandt’s understanding (or the poetic understanding of T. S. Eliot in his “Song of Simeon”, I. Brodsky in his “Candlemas”) relates to the liturgical, I leave it to the reader to ponder.
