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Question 1.
Αγαπητέ πάτερ Χριστοφόρε,
Πολλοί ισχυρίζονται ότι κατά τον Ευαγγελισμό η Θεοτόκος συνέλαβε τον
Χριστό αφού μύρισε έναν κρίνο ο οποίος της προσφέρθηκε από τον αρχάγγελο.
Αυτό το γεγονός δεν περιγράφεται σε κανένα ευαγγέλιο αλλά απεικονίζεται σε
εικόνες. Ο κρίνος μάλιστα επικράτησε να θεωρείται σύμβολο της παρθενίας.
Είναι αληθές το γεγονός αυτό ή πρόκειται για καινοτομία;
Translation of Question
Dear Father
Christopher,
Many allege that
during the Annunciation, the Mother of God conceived Christ after smelling
a lily which was offered to her by the Archangel. This fact is not found
in any of the Gospels, but is depicted in Icons. Moreover, the lily is
strongly regarded as a symbol of virginity. Is this fact true or is this
an innovation?
Answer to Question 1.
Dear Constantine,
Greetings in Christ. For your first question concerning the “lily” much of
my answer can already be found on my web site but to save you time
searching I have copied the relevant articles below. You are absolutely
correct in saying that the “folklore” story of the lily cannot be found in
any Gospel. We can go further and say that it is neither found in the
Apocryphal Gospels. The Gospels do not teach us everything for when the
Lord was to leave this world He promised us another teacher: “And I will
pray to the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may
abide with you forever. Even the Spirit of Truth” (John 14: 16) and “the
Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name,
He shall teach you all things” (John 14: 26). Evidently then, there is a
Christian teaching, which supplements the Gospels, and this teaching is
found in Holy Tradition. But here we need to explain what Holy Tradition
is.
The oldest Gospel of the New Testament, that according to St. Matthew, was
written between 42-65 A.D. In other words, some years after our Lord Jesus
Christ’s Resurrection and the descent of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. The
Last Gospel that according to St. John, was written between 85-95 A.D. Of
the other books of the New Testament, the Book of Revelation, being the
last, was written about the year 96 A.D. Until all these books [27 in all]
had been written and the Canon [collection of books] of the New Testament
compiled, the Lord’s teaching, and that of the Apostles’, were orally
transmitted. Moreover, not all that the Lord taught, said or did is
written in the Gospels and other books of the New Testament; as St. John
writes, “And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which,
if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself
could not contain the books that should be written” (John 21: 25).
By mouth alone then, were such teachings transmitted by the Apostles to
their successors, who in turn transmitted them to their successors and
thus they have come down to us. St. Paul clearly writes this to the
Christians of his time when he says: “stand fast and hold the traditions
which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle” [that is
whether oral or written] (2 Thessalonians 2: 15). It was the Church,
guided by the Holy Spirit that separated after careful examination, which
books should be accepted as genuine and thus compiled the Canon of the New
Testament. These unwritten and orally transmitted Apostolic teachings,
along with the divinely inspired books written by the Lord’s disciples and
Apostles, make up Sacred or Holy Tradition, which is the basis and the
foundation of the doctrine of the Orthodox Faith.
The majority of the stories associated with the Mother of God have come
down to us by oral Tradition.
They can also be found in the Apocryphal Gospels. Apocrypha literally
means them that are kept hidden. Apart from the canonical Gospels
mentioned above, there are other gospels, which are hidden or kept apart
from other Holy Scripture. This is because they contain stories that are
not considered as authentic. It is believed that parts of these gospels
were adulterated in places as a way of discrimination against the new
Christian religion that was rapidly growing and taking over the Jewish
faith. Some are said to have been completely written by over-zealous Jews,
opposed to the Christian faith, to discredit and give it a false image.
The Church, guided by the Holy Spirit, has accepted parts of these
writings as being authentic and which agree with the stories handed down
by an oral tradition, from one generation to the next. These teachings are
often found in the liturgical hymns and Icons, but are never read out in
the services from the actual writings.
But we have already mentioned that the “lily” story cannot be found in any
written source so let us look at the Icon. Iconography is a liturgical
art, having the same spiritual depth and character as the hymns. Many
traditions of the Church have been passed down orally from one generation
to the next. These oral traditions have found their way into the
liturgical hymns and through the hymns to the Icon.
As an Iconographer myself, I have a very large collection of Icons and in
all the Icons of the Annunciation I cannot find one with Gabriel holding
the lily. Of course, my Icons are all from the Byzantine School so that
would verify that the lily is not part of Tradition. But I have seen it in
modern Icons and have heard the story many times, so where did it come
from?
A white lily can I suppose be interpreted as a symbol of purity [not in
Icons for there are other symbols that represent the Mother of God’s
purity and virginity]. It sounds like an analogy a poet would use so our
answer could well be in the Church hymns. The are so many hymns in praise
of the Mother of God that it would take far too much time to check them
all, but if we just take the most well known of them: hymns like the
Akathist Hymn [Ακάθιστος η Χαιρετισμοί] we find at least two references of
flowers, [Χαίρε, το άνθος της αφθαρσίας, άνθος το αμάραντον]. Χαίρε, το
άνθος της αφθαρσίας [ Hail, flower of incorruptibility] definitely refers
to Her virginity. The Blessed Virgin is called by many other titles. These
are not mere poetic sentiments, but each makes a theological statement. A
great many have their origins in the Old Testament prophetic visions of
the incarnation and are seen by the Church as types that pre-figure the
Mother of God, e.g. The ‘Burning Bush’ that appeared to Moses and was not
consumed; The flowering ‘Rod of Aaron’ chosen by God; Jacob’s vision of
the ‘Spiritual Ladder’ reaching up to heaven; etc...
In poetry, it is quite acceptable to use such imaginative and sentimental
phrases, but Icon painters should never use their own imaginations when
painting an Icon. They should follow the accepted forms that have been
consecrated by the Church and handed down through tradition. To stay
within this tradition, they use older Icons or manuals as guides. Sadly,
we see that from the 18th century to the middle of the 20th century
Iconographers began to introduce sentimental elements into the Icon. With
the Ottoman occupation of the Greek lands, the Church on the whole went
through a period of decadence and this is evidently noticeable in the
Icon. Another element of that period was that the majority of priests were
uneducated as were most of the people. How could the priests explain the
Mystery of the Incarnation? How did the Virgin become pregnant? Of course
it cannot be explain: it is beyond our human intellect and that is why it
is called a Mystery, but it was probably much easier to say “μυρίσθηκε το
κρίνο” (She smelt the lily). Nowadays the majority of priests are well
educated, but you might still find a couple from the “old school” who will
tell you “μυρίσθηκε το κρίνο” (She smelt the lily). I think it is safe to
say that it is fairly new as far as traditions are concerned. It is just
folklore, an easy way to explain something that is unexplainable. Of
course, folklore traditions are very difficult to wipe out and like the
lily story, there are many others that the people love to believe in. I
have been trying for years to change certain traditions, which people
believe are part of the Orthodox faith, but are in fact just the opposite.
I haven’t been very successful: people prefer to believe in something
their grandmother taught them instead of accepting the truth.
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