By Presbyter Georgios Zaravelas,
Theologian, MA in Historical Theology–Liturgics at the
Theologian, MA in Historical Theology–Liturgics at the
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
The Prophet Jonah, who is commemorated today, is the central figure of the Old Testament book bearing his name. He is one of the Twelve Minor Prophets and one of the most important figures of the Old Testament. The significance of Jonah's person is also demonstrated by the place he occupies in the hymnography of the Orthodox Church, with the sixth ode of the canons being the principal point of reference. By studying some of these troparia, we observe how the Church understands the prophet and his activity, how it connects him with the teaching of the New Testament and with God's plan for the salvation of man.
The heirmos of the sixth ode of the canon of the Exaltation of the Honorable Cross, whose Apodosis coincides with his commemoration, presents the prophet as a prefiguration of the Crucifixion and Resurrection of the Lord. Jonah, according to Saint Nikodemos the Hagiorite, “when he stretched out his hands in the form of a Cross within the belly of the sea monster […] clearly prefigured the Passion of Christ, which became salvation for all people.” The biblical text does not testify to his standing in the form of a cross within the belly of the sea monster; it is reasonable, however, that during his prayer he assumed the posture of the Cross, stretching out his hands and asking for the mercy of God. Here, therefore, even if only as a prefiguration, we see the saving power and energy of the Cross. The hymnographer clearly points out the symbolism of Jonah's posture as a prefiguration of the Lord's Passion on the Cross: just as Christ suffered while fastened to the Cross, so Jonah suffers within the carcass of the sea monster with his hands extended in the form of a cross.
This particular troparion presents a second symbolism as well. Behind Jonah's being vomited out after three days, the hymnographer sees the three-day Resurrection of Jesus, who remained in the belly of Hades for three days. Jonah, therefore, remained in the depths of the abyss for the same length of time as Christ remained in Hades until His triumphant Rising from the dead.
In the corresponding heirmos of the prose canon of Christmas, a different symbolism is found in the swallowing and remaining of the prophet in the belly of the sea monster. Jonah's dwelling in the belly of the beast symbolizes the conception and gestation of the embryo of Christ within the womb of the Theotokos. The hymnographer states that, just as Jonah was preserved unharmed within the sea monster, so Christ, the Only-Begotten Word of God, “having entered wondrously into the womb of the Virgin, and having taken flesh from her all-pure blood, was born while preserving unharmed and incorrupt the womb that received and gave birth to Him.” That is, the Theotokos, through the birth of Christ, remained unharmed and undefiled, just as Jonah was preserved within the belly of the sea monster, without the integrity of his body being corrupted.
This symbolism is inversely corresponding, since in the case of the prophet, the sea monster preserved Jonah unharmed from the dangers of the sea, whereas, with regard to the Conception and Birth of Christ from the Virgin, the one who in reality preserved was not the womb of the Theotokos, but the Word of God Himself. After the Word entered the womb of the Theotokos and assumed human nature, He simultaneously protected the purity and virginity of His Mother, making her untouched by the pains and ordinary consequences of childbirth.
The iambic canon of the same feast approaches the person of the prophet differently. The composer of the hymn beseeches God to come and save him from the afflictions that torment him. He feels wounded by the arrows of sin, which the devil continually hurls, and he is unable to approach God on his own. Jonah likewise asks God wholeheartedly to deliver him from the temptation that torments him, expressing this characteristically in his prayer: “Let my life rise up from corruption to You, O Lord my God” (Jonah 2:7).
The same supplication of the prophet is repeated in the canon of the Annunciation of the Theotokos. Behind the line of the troparion, “Deliver me from corruption, Jesus, King of the Powers,” lies the aforementioned phrase of Jonah, in which he beseeches God to permit his salvation, confident that He will save him and help him escape from the impasse in which he has found himself. The same troparion once again mentions the prefiguration of the Lord's three-day Resurrection through Jonah's being vomited onto dry land after three days.
The same theme is also found in the canon of Great and Holy Saturday. Here the hymnographer addresses the Creator, saying that, just as He was taken captive by Hades but after three days crushed it through His Resurrection, so Jonah “was confined, but was not held captive in the belly of the sea monster.” Jonah's being swallowed signified his captivity, but not his destruction, since he was soon freed from the sea monster. Christ, correspondingly, is freed from the prison of Hades, but together with Him He also frees the entire human race from the tyranny of evil.
The episode of Jonah's being vomited out is compared with Christ's Rising from the tomb in the canon of the Feast of the Resurrection as well. Christ, “having descended into the lowest parts of the earth and having shattered the everlasting bars,” rose again within three days, just as Jonah emerged from the belly of the beast. Indeed, before His Passion, the Lord had said that “just as Jonah the prophet was in the belly of the sea monster three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights” (Matthew 12:40).
Saint Kosmas the Hymnographer gives a particular symbolism to the Prophet Jonah in the canon of the Dormition of the Theotokos. In this hymn, Jonah's being vomited out after three days symbolizes the translation of the body of the Theotokos into the heavens after her Dormition, without experiencing the corruption of death, in accordance also with Saint Nikodemos the Hagiorite. The Virgin is that woman who brought the Redeemer into the world. After her Dormition, her body did not experience the natural corruption of the flesh; rather, God and her Son granted her incorruption. Her relic remained in the tomb for three days, but was not overcome by the corruption of death, just as, correspondingly, this did not happen to the prophet.
The Prophet Jonah inspired the ecclesiastical hymnographers to such an extent that, taking his person as their point of departure, they expressed significant themes of Orthodox dogmatic teaching. The hymnographers discern behind Jonah's being vomited out after three days the three-day Resurrection of the Lord, as well as the translation of the Theotokos after three days; the blameless Conception and supernatural Birth of Christ, the God-man; while Jonah's prayers from within the belly of the sea monster resound throughout the hymns, with particular emphasis on the symbolic parallel between the prophet praying within the sea monster and the Cross of Christ.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
