When the Saints Go Marching In

North wall, Church of Holy Wisdom, New Skete Monas- tery, NY. Photo by Inga Leonova.

CLOUD OF WITNESSES When the Saints Go Marching In

Stavros Winner

The landmark recording of the Ameri- ing from the span of human history. can gospel hymn “When the Saints Go The assembly of saints being vast, di- Marching In” was produced in 1938 vine scrutiny is meted out not accord- by Louis Armstrong and his orches- ing to a creed or profession of correct tra. Undoubtedly, Americans over the dogma, but on the basis of our behav- age of thirty can immediately hear the ior toward one another: did we feed tune in their heads: “Oh, when the the poor? give drink to the thirsty? ex- saints go marching in…Lord, I want tent hospitality to the stranger? clothe to be in that number, when the saints the naked? visit the imprisoned? go marching in.” But what most people do not know is that the lyrics were The vision portrayed in “When the inspired by the biblical book of Reve- Saints Go Marching In,” drawing on lation and other parts of Scripture. the New Testament, includes details depicted in the icons of some very The vision of the Son of Man in Reve- ancient Christian churches. I have lation 4, which draws on Ezekiel, Isa- experienced the visual impact of this iah, and Daniel for its imagery of the imagery as a worshipper in such di- one enthroned, was often interpreted verse churches as Santa Maria As- in Byzantium as the Pantocrator and sunta on the isle of Torcello, northeast linked with the parable of the Last of Venice; Sant’ Apollinare Nuovo in Judgment (Matt. 25), which describes Ravenna; the katholikon of Vatopedi the Son of Man as he takes his seat on Monastery on Mount Athos; San Min- a throne of glory. According to Reve- eato al Monte in Florence; and the Ab- lation, “all nations will be assembled” bey Church of Saint Foy in Conques, (25:32), referring to every human be- France. It is also the inspiration for the

The Wheel 7 | Fall 2016 23 scheme employed in the design and bolism, not the form, since the Ra- decoration of the katholikon at New venna iconography is in mosaic, and Skete, Cambridge, New York—my the style is very classical and rather own community. stiff, with men on the south side and women on the north. New Skete’s un- New Skete’s katholikon (main church), hurried procession focuses on Christ dedicated to Holy Wisdom, has two over the synthronon, the raised seats windows at the east end and three behind the Holy Table that lined the at the west end. They admit the spe- apses of ancient churches. On its wall cial light of sunrise and sunset that behind the Holy Table are depicted dramatizes a cosmic subtext with the bishops, chosen to represent the Church across history and geography, 1 daily reappearance of the sun—the Nicholas Deny- including SS Clement and Ignatius, senko, “Retrieving archetypical sign of Christ who is our a Theology of light and our life. In the rectangular disciples of the apostles, and St. In- Belonging: Eucharist liturgical space, set along an east-west nocent of Alaska, with a fur-trimmed and Church in Post- axis as in earlier basilica-patterned miter. modernity, Part 2,” churches, the very rising of the sun Worship 89 (2015): 36. symbolically orients us to the Lord’s The head of the line of saints at the coming and reinforces our custom of east, at clerestory level, features the facing east to pray. As in the golden apostles and equals-to-the-apostles, era of early Byzantine architecture, the faithful female disciples. At the the altar or holy place is not walled off west end of the line are four proph- by a solid iconostasis, but is demar- ets: Moses, David, Isaiah, and Elijah. cated by an angular U-shaped tem- We made a reasoned choice to make plon screen, which allows clergy and the rest of the depicted assembly as people to see and hear one another diverse as possible, allowing for more and to remain one worshiping body. women and for individuals of both Eastern and Western Churches. In this In both churches at New Skete (the way, we emphasized a point made smaller one erected in 1970 and ded- by Nicholas Denysenko, to which we icated to the Transfiguration and the shall return later—that “the Church larger one completed in 1983 in honor [has] elastic borders designed to in- of Holy Wisdom), the east end is clude all.”1 In the center of the pro- marked by a large image of the Pan- cession, on both sides of the temple, tocrator at the center of the deisis. This we inserted contemporary figures, not icon scheme focuses the prophetic ex- indicated as “saints” by title or the pectation of the Son of Man in Jesus, conventional halo, who are nonethe- conceived and given birth by Mary less holy and worthy of joining in this and baptized by John. Above the heavenly pilgrimage. Mother Maria oak wainscoting on the long north of Paris, whose sanctity was officially and south walls in the Holy Wisdom recognized by the Church of Constan- temple are two lines which extend the tinople sometime after we erected her deisis, and nod to the verse from Mat- image, stands in the south tier, along thew 25, “all nations will be assem- with Dorothy Day of our own country, bled.” whose cause for canonization is open at the Vatican, and Mother (now Saint) Our iconographic scheme is directly Teresa of Calcutta, who was recently modeled on that of Sant’ Apollinare canonized by Pope Francis—these are Nuovo in Ravenna, which dates from all women who lived gospel-centered the sixth century—imitating the sym- lives.

24 Altar, Church of Holy Wisdom, New Skete Monastery, NY. Photo by Inga Leonova.

Our times are so afflicted by multifar- in depictions of the Last Judgement ious divisions, many stoked by politi- such as at Torcello, monks, nuns, bish- cians and religious theocrats sowing ops, princes, and rich merchants con- fear and hatred and thereby engen- signed to the flames at the left. But just dering suffering and death. These di- as sacred Scripture should challenge visions have resulted in the colossal us and provoke metanoia (repentance, displacement of Middle East popu- change of mind), so should sacred art. lations; in persecutions; and in the deaths of countless men, women, and We might also have included on our children emerging from the schisms nave walls Matushka Olga Michael of within Islam, in a land where, in the Kwethluk, Alaska, healer and coun- conciliar era, the Christian Church selor, or the educator Sophie Koulum- experienced similarly serious theolog- zin; and Father John Meyendorff, theo- ical rifts. Ecumenism is a movement logian and historian, deserves a place that seeks to heal divisions with love at the side of Father Alexander Schme- and understanding and to build on mann. Given our means and ability at the enormous patrimony we have in the time, however, there was only lim- common, and so we chose to include ited space. three fathers of the ecumenical movement that achieved its apogee in the The inclusion of images of Christians 1960s and 70s: Ecumenical Patriarch who were not formally members of Athenagoras I, Pope Paul VI, and the Orthodox Church might be prob- Archbishop Michael Ramsey. The lematic for some. Perhaps it relates to inclusion of these champions of ecu- how one would treat living Roman menism disturbed a few people who Catholics or Anglicans. The approach had not seen them in context, much varies greatly throughout Orthodoxy. less taken account of the overall the- The late Bishop Basil Rodzianko of ology this article espouses. Their un- San Francisco (1980–84), on a visit to ease mirrored the concern expressed New Skete, was delighted to find an by some people in past times to see, icon of St. Francis of Assisi, which was

The Wheel 7 | Fall 2016 25 subsequently presented to the Ho- then returned to Orthodoxy and sanna Community in Moscow. When was invited to Russia to help in the bishop was told that our commu- liturgical reform, for which he nity had encountered a few Orthodox was ultimately imprisoned. Or who were not so pleased by its pres- what of St. Nektarios, who died ence, he retorted, “When they get to in 1920 and was the last Ortho- heaven, perhaps there will be parti- dox hierarch to have the courage tions, lest they notice that Orthodox to ordain a woman deacon? Does are not the only ones there!” Brother anyone doubt that these saintly Luke, our former prior, also offered a individuals stand side by side in rationale for our iconographic choices heaven, where God sees no divi- in a Palm Sunday homily several years 2 sion between his children? They Michael Plekon, ago: Hidden Holiness remind us that holiness is not to (Notre Dame: be found exclusively in the com- University of Notre We also find sanctity in modern fortable safety of the familiar, but Dame Press, 2009) martyrs of prejudice, such as in those who challenged the sta- and Living Icons two individuals of Jewish back- tus quo of the status seekers, who (Notre Dame: ground who committed them- University of Notre spoke the uncomfortable truth in Dame Press, 2004). selves to Christ and still died be- the face of criticism and death, cause of their faith and their race: who lived the gospel message St. Benedicta (Edith Stein) killed and, for many, paid the ultimate by the Nazis, and Father Alex- price, as did Christ. As we enter ander Men, axed to death on his into the week of Christ’s Saving way to church in 1990. Then there Passion, when he offered for- is Maximos the Greek, a refugee giveness to his executioners, en- from Constantinople who fled to try into paradise to the thief, and Florence, became a Dominican, the unspeakable joy of resurrec-

Ancient Greek philosophers, katholikon narthex, Monastery of Great Meteoron, Meteora, Greece. Photo credit www.diakonima.gr.

26 tion to all humanity, may these models of sanctity help focus our minds and hearts ever more firmly on the message of Christ: love your neighbor.

Praying in a church where you can rub shoulders with saints works on your psyche. They become as familiar as family. They dispel the sense that I am alone on this journey to my true home- land. As we learn from hearing the ge- nealogy from the first chapter of Mat- thew on the Sunday before Christmas, the family tree of the Incarnate Word is full of characters. Some may be more or less savory than others, but together we make up the People of God, a Holy Nation, a Royal Priesthood.

It is crucial, in this new era of spir- itual deracination, for ordinary people to appreciate that “saint” is not a temple—the Church into the church— Absidian mosaic, forbidding designation for someone as indicated by the entry prayer in the San Miniato Al whose life was so exotic or reclusive oldest codex of the Byzantine eucholo- Monte, Florence, Italy. Photo by Luca that she could never model a life for gion (Barberini Gr. 336): “Receive your Volpi. our own day. Michael Plekon has Church which approaches you.” We expressed this in his writings on the make such an entry into our Holy Wis- feasibility of a life of genuine holi- dom temple for the beginning of the ness in the twenty-first century—its Synaxis of the Word, or Enarxis. It is resonance, roots, and ramifications.2 no accident that the blessing assigned Yet we have a linguistic difficulty in for this occasion, and still said by every English, insofar as the words holy bishop or priest who presides over the and saint sound different. The latter assembly, is “Blessed be the entrance now has a narrower connotation, im- of your saints”—that is, us. plying official recognition. We have long lost the sense of saint as an ordi- The space, texture, and iconography nary, striving member of the family of our katholikon reminds us of the of God. In the Acts of the Apostles purpose of the church and of our gath- and the letters of the New Testament, ering within it. The Sunday Eucharist it is simply the ordinary work for a is its primary raison d’être, and the Christian. text of the Eucharistic Liturgy teaches us why this is so. For this reason, the This meaning is reinforced by the text clergy should always proclaim these of the Liturgy itself. We know that, be- texts, so all can hear, and reception of fore the fall of Constantinople in 1204 the Eucharist should be the norm, as and the eclipse of the form of the offices is our practice at New Skete. Does not of Hagia Sophia, what is now known Christ say to his friends at table when as the Little Entrance was, in fact, the he passes them the cup, “Drink of entrance of the entire assembly into the this, all of you” (Matt. 26:27)—words

The Wheel 7 | Fall 2016 27 tacit acknowledgment that everyone invoked can belong to the divine fellowship; the breadth of people invoked in this prayer is infinite, and the prayer does not provide checkpoints that exclude sinners; the Church’s recitation of this prayer is potentially forma- tive. Participating in the prayer by hearing it and affirming it with the “Amen” has the capacity to form the consciousness of the partici- pants so that they would view the Church as having elastic borders designed to include all.3

The many signposts in this essay each point in the same direction. Sacred art and architecture, liturgical renewal, and the lineage of saints all call us to an awareness of oneness as a divine imperative that warrants inclusivity, if we believe the Body of Christ is a mystic reality. These symbols speak to us over and over, through the centuries, across geography and cultures, from New Orleans to Con- ques, from Valamo to Skete. This is not the only age beset by vicious wars Santa Maria Assunta, repeated at every Divine Liturgy in and colossal suffering, nor the only 639 A.D. West wall. every Christian tradition? In the gos- time in which the fabric of society has Veneto-Byzantine pels, Jesus does not exclude Judas, seemed so threadbare and our future basilica on the island so opaque. Nonetheless, we have the of Torcello predates even though moments earlier his be- San Marco in Venice. trayal was confirmed. Denysenko, means to make sense of it all, perhaps Photo by Remi commenting on the anamnesis which best understood through an analogy Mathis. follows the epiclesis in the Anaphora from music, provided here by Peter of Saint Basil the Great, writes: Bouteneff in his recent book on the Orthodox composer Arvo Pärt: 3 Denysenko, “The- Who, then, are these people that the ology of Belonging,” 34–36. Church commits to God’s divine The arts and the sacred traditions memory? Basil’s prayer presents an alike, where they are true to life as almost inexhaustible list of different we know it, will often reflect this in- others that reveal the Church as an terweaving of sorrow and consola- elastic cosmic tent, with room to tion, brokenness and wholeness. . . . expand. The genius of the interces- [Pärt’s] music says that there is no sions lies in the apparent attempt to joy that is not tinged with grief, and include everyone. . . . no suffering beyond redemption. His compositions are never simplis- The Church asks God to remem- tic, however simply they may be ber each category of person, a structured. They are faithful both to

28 South wall, Church of Holy Wisdom, New Skete Monas- tery, NY. Photo by Inga Leonova.

4 Peter C. Bouteneff, Arvo Pärt: Out of Silence (Yonkers: SVS Press, 2015).

the brokenness of the world and to have travelled, and our support for new our hopes for its transfiguration.4 music. It is all of a piece.

This past feast of Transfiguration, Au- The striving is the same, whoever and gust 6, marked half a century of our wherever we are as beings in relation- monastic witness at New Skete. The ship with God and each other. For a Divine Liturgy, which crowned the cel- genuine relationship, inclusivity is ebration, gathered pilgrims from neigh- imperative, if not indispensable, and boring states and from distant places, it extends to all creation. New Skete’s like Alaska and British Columbia. What setting in the mountain wilderness is enabled us to reach this milestone was a daily reminder that we are all part our inner spirit and unified vision, our of the goodness of creation and that daily struggle, and our nagging askesis this planet is our only home. Disre- not to lose heart, not to fear change, and spect for it through greed and waste, not to have the status quo in a death pollution and poaching, dishonors grip. This vision governs the architec- our communion with God and contra- ture of our Holy Wisdom temple and dicts the very idea of transfiguration, © 2016 The Wheel. its iconography. It also engendered the where Christ shows us the true beauty May be distributed for long road of liturgical renewal, of tex- and goodness of all that is by its very noncommercial use. tual balance and inclusivity, which we “is-ness.” www.wheeljournal.com

Brother Stavros, one of the founding brothers of New Skete, over- sees the liturgy and general order of the community’s churches. His education at Georgetown and the Catholic University of America concentrated on the origins and evolution of Eastern Orthodox liturgical traditions and helped facilitate the community’s renewal of their own liturgies. He has written and lectured internationally on this subject, and recently contributed to Fossil or Leaven: The Church We Hand Down, a collection of essays commemorating the monastery’s fiftieth anniversary, to be released in Fall 2016.

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