September: Day 4: Teaching 4: The Burning Bush Icon of the Mother of God

 

September: Day 4: Teaching 4: 
The Burning Bush Icon of the Mother of God
 
(How Should We Honor the Mother of God?)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. Among the titles by which the Holy Church honors the Most Holy Theotokos is the title "the Burning Bush." It is found in ecclesiastical hymns (Akathist Canon, Ode 6, Troparion 4). There is also a special feast day for the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos of the Burning Bush. On this icon, she has been depicted since ancient times as surrounded by a fiery glow. The aforementioned feast day is celebrated (September 4) on the day of commemoration of the Holy Prophet and God-seer Moses. This is undoubtedly because Moses was granted a vision that had a typological relation to the title of the Mother of God as the Burning Bush. Near Mount Sinai, in the desert, Moses, while tending his father-in-law's flock, saw a bush, i.e. a thorn bush, in which the Lord Himself appeared to him in a fiery flame. The bush burned, yet was not consumed. This miracle prefigured the mystery of the incarnation of the Son of God. The Virgin Mary served this mystery. She received in her womb the fire of the Divinity, and like the bush engulfed in flames, she remained unharmed; thus, the Virgin Mary preserved not only her life but also her virginity, remaining untouched by the Divine essence that dwelled within her.

II. The designation of the Mother of God as the Burning Bush, significant in a doctrinal sense, teaches us how we ought to honor Her. We honor Her with numerous hymns, festivities, the dedication of temples to Her, and through laudatory titles. Each of these forms of veneration possesses its own characteristics. One such characteristic is indicated by the title of the Theotokos as the Burning Bush, which we will see if we closely examine Moses's narrative about the manifestation of God in the bush, serving as a prefiguration of the Mother of God.

a) When Moses, seeing the burning but unconsumed bush, approached it to ascertain the reality of what he beheld, he heard a voice from the midst of the bush saying: "Do not draw near here; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground" (Exodus 3:5). What feelings must have arisen in Moses' soul when he was forbidden to approach the bush? A feeling of reverence. The prohibition against coming close to the bush conveyed to Moses the notion that there exists an infinite distance between him and the Lord God. He, Moses, is a creature entirely dependent on God, while God is the Creator and Lord of all that exists. He is dust and ashes, while God is the self-existent life and the source of life. He is a sinner, while God is perfect holiness and the source of holiness. "Before His Majesty, the countless heavenly worlds, manifested upon the firmament and sustained by His might and wisdom, are insignificant. They shall perish, but You, O Lord, endure. And all shall wear out like a garment, and as a robe shall You change them, but You are the same, and Your years shall not fail" (Ps. 101:26, 28). Before the King of heaven and earth, the sinless angels stand with fear and trembling, humbly recognizing the immeasurable distance in nature and perfection between themselves and Him. All this was to be kept in mind by Moses when he was commanded not to approach the bush. The purpose of the command was to instill in him a sense of reverence towards the One who had appeared in the bush. And without a doubt, he was profoundly filled with reverence, for the place on which He stood at that time was holy ground, made sacred by the miraculous manifestation of God's glory nearby.

The example of reverence shown by Moses, who did not dare to approach the place of divine revelation, inspires us to a similar reverence not only before the Lord, who sanctified the womb of the Virgin with His presence, but also before Her, who served as the instrument of the incarnation of the Son of God, who contained within Her the fire of Divinity and thus was granted such great honor, which no one on earth has ever been worthy of nor will be worthy of. Do not approach here, to this unburned bush, with the boldness and thoughtlessness of the impious, who do not recognize the dignity of the Mother of God in the person of the Most Holy Virgin Mary. She deserves honor for the sake of Her Son and God. To deny Her reverent veneration would mean to insult Her Son and God. Indeed, She is close to us as our blood-related kin, having descended from the same forebears as we, as our gracious Mother, always ready to intercede for all who flee to Her for help in spiritual and bodily needs. This closeness of Hers to us should encourage us to approach Her with boldness. Yet at the same time, we must not forget that this Our Mother is also the Queen of heaven and earth, as the Mother of the Heavenly King and God, which makes Her worthy of greater honor than the Cherubim and incomparably more glorious than the Seraphim, who venerate Her as their Queen. Just as She has maternal boldness before Her Son and God, so too must we approach Her with a filial boldness; however, this boldness should be tempered and guided by reverence before Her, with the concern of not offending Her through any disregard for Her dignity in thought and word. Such concern or caution should also be observed in relation to earthly mothers. Can it be pleasing to an earthly mother if her children, taking advantage of the freedom of their relationship with her, allow themselves to speak before her words of idleness, frivolity, or complaint against her, and so forth? Can anything similar be pleasing to our Mother-Queen of Heaven? Be close to Her in heart and speech, but do not lose yourself before Her.

b) The idea of a reverent attitude towards Her is even more clearly expressed in another word of the Lord's command to Moses. When He said, "Do not come near here," He added, "Remove your sandals from your feet." Before the sanctity of the burning bush, one was to stand barefoot, so as not to leave traces of dust and dirt, which cling to sandals, on the holy ground. The external cleanliness and neatness prescribed to Moses while he stood before the bush was one form of external honor given to the Divinity. This external honor is necessary, for God must be served not only in spirit but also in body. "Glorify God in your bodies, which are God's" (1 Corinthians 6:20). However, external worship is pleasing to the Lord only when combined with the internal. The purity of the feet was to remind Moses of moral purity. He was to take care to cleanse his heart from sinful impurity. He should have known that he stands before the Holy Being, to whom an evil thought is abhorrent (Proverbs 15:26); before the Omniscient, from whom the hidden sins of pride, envy, enmity, and lust that nest in the depths of the heart cannot be concealed from people; before the all-just God, who cannot be offended with impunity through negligence in sin; before the God of goodness and love, to whom our prayers and acts of repentance can only be pleasing if accompanied by peace and love for our neighbors. Sinful impurity is the dirt and dust that Moses had to remove from his soul when he took off his sandals. The concern for moral purity is a duty, the fulfillment of which we all must combine with the reverence not only for the Lord God but also for the Mother of God. The veneration we show Her through participation in celebrations in Her honor, in prayer and hymns, by kissing Her icons and bowing before them, may only be pleasing to Her on the condition of a zeal for moral improvement. Can an earthly mother be satisfied with the expression of love and respect from her son, even if it comes from a sincere heart, if the son leads a sinful life and causes her sorrow through his wicked deeds? Similarly, the Mother of God cannot be pleased with outward signs of veneration if the soul of Her venerator has not shaken off the dust and filth that cling to it from sinful temptations of the flesh, the world, and the devil. Praise is not beautiful in the mouth of a sinner. As long as he does not demonstrate correction, his praises directed to the Mother of God will only grieve Her.

III. Therefore, if we do not wish to sadden Her, we shall combine the veneration of Her with praises and prayers, accompanied by a fervent commitment to the fulfillment of God's commandments and an imitation of Her perfections. Imitating Her purity, Her humility, and Her boundless devotion to the will of God is what pleases Her the most.

 

Source: A Complete Annual Cycle of Short Teachings, Composed for Each Day of the Year. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.