Chinese Landscapes in Berkeley, CA

I spent Easter Week in Berkeley, CA recently and so as I always try to do when visiting a town I went to visit the local art gallery. It is amazing what treasures even a local gallery can have sometimes. Berkeley is the home of hippies and is where the Sixties began, so I was ready also for plenty of whacky stuff. However, it is also the gallery of one of the most famous and wealthiest universities in the US which was founded well before this so hoped for at least something good. The website even mentioned that there was a Rubens in the collection.

It didn't look to hopeful when we approached the gallery and the exterior looked like this...

There are some buildings that, like a pearl inside the oyster shell have beautiful interiors despite their exteriors. This wasn't one of them. It was bare concrete on the outside and bare concrete on the inside. It really could have done with a few good pictures to spruce it up a bit. However, what we were presented with, for the most part, managed against all odds to make it even worse. The whole gallery was given over to an exhibition called 'Silence' which was based upon John Cage's 1950s composition 4'33''. For those who don't know this is a 'composition' in which the musicians sit in front of a blank score for this period of time and follow the instructions to do nothing, ie sit in silence.

As we progressed, it didn't look too hopeful. For example there was I mime artist lying on the ground rolling around in slow motion. It wasn't even interesting enough to affront. Not wanting to cause offence I just quietly walked past as though I hadn't noticed he was there. Most of the rest of stuff is the sort of avant garde modernist stuff that I used to pretend to be interested in order to look arty. Isn't all of this past it's sell by date yet? The was some traditional art - this being the Bay Area lots of Buddhist art. I don't remember any explicitly Christian art of course - they are liberal, but not that liberal. 

I was just beginning to wonder if the curator might have been better advised to have followed John Cage's example and present us with  a series of empty rooms, when I turned the corner and saw a room of traditional Chinese landscapes on screens. 

The monochrome landscapes are worthy of study even by those who wish to work in the Western tradition. The skill in varying the focus, having some areas clearly defined and others hazy, yet maintaining a unified image is great.

What was interesting to me also was the fact that the reverse side of the big screen shown above had a geometric pattern on it, which could have come straight from a Romanesque tiles floor.

So while I can't say that the exhibition is worth travelling a long way to see, these examples made it worthwhile crossing the town.

New Mosaic, OId Technique

Here are some photo's of a new mosaic just installed in Wales, designed and made by Aidan Hart.  (H/t David Woolf) I have taken the them from his website, here. Aidan's photos give us a sense of how it was produced as well as the what the final product looks like. The church, St Martins is an Anglican church in Cardiff on a town street and the mosaic is on the exterior. I like this - we must not underestimate the power of beauty and the face of Christ especially to draw people in to God. I found a photo of the church before the mosaic was placed there on the internet, see below. I hope the congregation will not think it is undignified that it includes in the pawn shop nextdoor. I personally think that the juxtaposition of the mosaic and shop emphases how we must think about beauty reaching out and touching people in the everyday activities of life and competing with all the advertising and other imagery that is out there. The method that Aidan used, if I have understood him correctly, is the 'Ravenna' or 'double reverse' method that involves putting tracing the design onto a temporary wet 'putty 'base (a slow drying mortar or plaster) and then placing the tesserae into the putty so that the artist can see the design developing as it would be seen eventually. Then a piece of glued linen is stuck to what is now the open face. The mosaic is turned over (carefully) and the putty is removed. This leaves a reverse image stuck to the linen. So far, all of this work is done in the studio. Now the mosaic, is placed into the mortar in situ. This means that the linen is facing outwards and the tesserae are pushed into the wall. Once this has set, then the linen is removed and the side of the tesserae that is open to the air is cleaned and you have the final image.

I remember that when I was in Aidan's classes he always used to stress how valuable it was for painters to study mosaics if they wanted to discern what colours contributed to particular effects, for example, flesh colours. Sometimes when you study paintings it is difficult to discern exactly what combinations have produced the final colour because with paint one wash is placed over another and you only see the combination, but can't see what is below the surface and has contributed to that effect. With mosaic, however, tesserae of pure colour are used to created a pixelated image and the combined effect is created in the mind's eye. So for example, a green effect might be created by having no green tesserae at all, but rather by having alternately pure blue and pure yellow tesserae sitting next to each other. When I gain a general impression I will 'see' green, but when I examine particular areas closely enough to resolve individual tesserae, I will see only blue and yellow. As painter, I can look at this  and create that particular green in my icon by using a the same blue and yellow  but in alternate transparent washes.

Above: work in progress - putting the tesserae into the base putty

The reversed image stuck to the linen, with the base putty removed and before being placed into its final position on the church

 

Mozart's Laudate Dominum in Ahmeek, Upper Michigan (pop. 123)

In some ways it is surprising that I became an artist (apart from the lack of talent in painting that is...before someone comments!). I always find that music can transport me more readily and more powerfully than any painting can. At one point I was deciding whether or not I wanted to be an artist or a banjo player (I am being serious - Appalachian clawhammer style...but that's another story); but the point here is that in the end I chose art. The reason was that although I found listening to music more compelling than looking at art, I always find painting more absorbing than practising scales. And if I was to be a musician, practising is how I was going to have to spend most of my working day. So picked the activity I enjoyed most.

I have described before how the chant and the music of Palestrina that I heard at the London Oratory drew me into the Church (see Glory be to God for the Brompton Oratory). This is not the only time that I have been moved to tears by the beauty of music. Before I became a Catholic I would very occasionally have these experiences where its beauty struck to the soul and stopped me in my tracks, I could feel myself breaking out in goosepimples and the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end. Somehow I would feel vulnerable and embarrassed, as though it was opening up my soul for all to see and it was out of my control. My pulse raced and I felt flushed.

These pieces of music, I believe, were awakening my spirit to the glory of God although until the experience in the Oratory I would not have recognised it as such. I was being prepared, despite myself, for the reception of the Word. Most were not overtly religious pieces and if, like this one, it was intended for the liturgy, I did not hear it in a liturgical setting. It is because of these experiences that I have the conviction that beauty in the wider culture is so important in directing us to God. Although I did not interpret what I was feeling with a connection with the divine at the time, I feel certain now that these experiences contributed to my becoming a Catholic. These pieces of music grabbed my soul and whether I knew it or not, sent it spinning in a Godly direction, modifying my taste and preparing me for the next step until I was ready to receive Him. This is why we want a beautiful and noble pop culture that takes you from where you are and sends you in the right direction.

So here is one of those pieces (there are about 8 of them altogether). I first heard Mozarts's Laudate Dominum (from Vesperae solemnes de confessore, KV339) when I was a student at Michigan Tech, about 25 years ago. Michigan Technological University, is a small engineering college in a remote part of Michigan, the 'UP' (Upper Peninsula) which is on the southern shore of Lake Superior. I was doing a Masters in Engineering there, and had volunteered to sing in a choir, something I had never done before. There was no audition. After a conversation with the director I was told that I was probably a baritone, so that's where I went. Musically I was at the level of having to learn my parts by listening to my neighbour and memorising it. Most of the singers were better than I was and we had some strong sopranos and altos and this piece required one of these to be good enough to do a solo. I can remember at the first practice of this piece and doing the choral part, and then hearing the solo, accompanied at this point by piano. Even this stopped me in my tracks, but for me it is the occasion that we actually performed is as memorable as the music.

One of the choir members was a religious (I'm guessing now a Franciscan) who was priest at Our Lady of Peace, which was in a tiny little hamlet of about 100 people called Ahmeek. The Upper Peninsula of Michigan is a remote area with a very small population and lots of trees. Just to give you an idea: a hundred years ago it had a thriving copper mining industry. The biggest town was Calument, MI which had a population of 100,000 and almost became the capital of the state. Now Calumet has, according to Wikipedia, a population of 723. Yes, 723 people. This has declined from the time that I was living there when the population was about 850. The only big employer in the area is the university, founded originally to give engineers to the mines, but which was maintained by the State as it provided also excellent engineers for the car industry (about 10 hours' drive south, in Detroit).

The Copper Country Chorale, our choir, went to give a concert of Bach and this piece by Mozart in the little white clapboard church. The town was silent on the Sunday afternoon that we went there. Once we got into the church we realised why. All 123 of the population were in the church waiting for us. I have never sung before such an enthusiastic and appreciative audience, who perhaps had not heard something like this before. After the concert in which the Mozart was sung by our soprano beautifully, and the applause died down, an announcement was made that the town would like us to go down to the basement of the church. So we wound our way down the stairs, one after the other. In the basement there was a huge homemade banner which read 'The Town of Ahmeek Welcomes the Copper Country Chorale', and trestle tables covered with tablecloths and laden with plates of homemade sandwiches and cakes. There was something so human and genuine about it all. I was a cynical 24 year old, but the natural generosity of the community touched me and I felt myself pushing back tears for the second time that day (please don't tell anyone else about this - I'd be ashamed for people to know it. I'm an unemotional Englishman.)

Anyway, here's the music: I have linked through to an old recording, so I hope you'll forgive a little scratchiness to the sound. Lucia Popp, who sings this has the version that I have heard that I like the most. She is a Slovak soprano who died in 1993.

The photos, by the way of the the church in Ahmeek and scenes from the Keweenaw Peninsula, a little spur of land that contains Ahmeek and juts into Lake Superior. The final one shows the university.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBMpS78rsBM

Thomas Aquinas on the Psalms and the Liturgy as the Source of Wisdom

Educators take note! Here is the greatest source of wisdom. When writing about Jean Leclercq's Love of Learning and the Desire for God, I referred to his description of the tension that exists between the  different educational approaches of the scholastic and the monastics schools . The former characterised (in part) by relying of very dry, technical language of logic; the latter relying on more accessible language that draws on sources such as scripture more directly, which while more poetic and beautiful might be criticised for lacking precision). As Leclercq points out, when the spiritual life of the person is centred on the liturgy, then either form of education can open the door to full knowledge, in love and through God's grace. The liturgy is the place where all of this can be synthesized and one is immersed in God’s wisdom and this, deep in the heart of the person, is where we form the culture. St Thomas is the first name who comes to mind when one thinks of scholastics so his attitude to the liturgy would be of interest in this regard. In his little book Thomas Aquinas and the Liturgy, David Berger directs us to Thomas's special regard for the psalms and in the Divine Office as source of grace and wisdom, which reinforces the point that Leclerqc made. This regard for the psalms arises because Thomas considered that within the single book of the psalms they contain the entire content of theology.  Berger refers us to his commentary on the psalms where Thomas says the following: 'The material is universal for while the particular books of the Canon of Scripture contain special materials, this book has the general material of Theology as a whole.' Then in referring to their special place in the liturgy where they are to be sung he says: 'This is what Dionysius [the Areopagite] says in Book 3 of the Celestial Hierarchy, the sacred scripture of the Divine Songs (Psalms) is intended to sing of all sacred and divine workings.'  St Thomas goes on to tell us that these are presented in the most dignified form - liturgical praise, thanksgiving and prayer. And according to St Thomas, says Berger, 'wherever theology reverts to the psalms it shows it's character of wisdom in a special way'

Then referring to Aquinas's early education as a Benedictine at Monte Cassino, Berger says: 'The love of singing the psalms in the context of the divine office, founded in Monte Cassino, seems to have stayed alive in Thomas all his life. The best known of Thomas's early biographers, William of Tocco, who had the privilege of knowing Thomas personally, reports that he would arise at night before the actual hour of Mattins.' (p14)

If wisdom is the goal of education, this reinforces the idea that the liturgy, including the liturgy of the hours, should be at the heart of the life of an educational institution, and that students should be encouraged to understand the value of this in helping them to achieve their goal. It is not simply that it is the whole psalter is sung in liturgy, but that the liturgy itself prepares us to receive and accept the wisdom contained within them in a special way.

One hopes that it is having the same effect on me as it has on St Thomas, even if only partially!

Plus don't forget to tell your friends about the course on art and beauty this summer.....

The Suffering and Death of Christ in 15th Century Relief Carving

Following on from last week's relief carvings of the Entry in Jerusalem, here are some images relating to the Passion: two Western 15th century relief carvings appropriate for Easter - the crucifixion and a deposition; and late gothic painting of a deposition.

The carvings are English in a gothic style (where there was no Renaissance). They are carved in alabaster which was quarried in Nottinghamshire. What is interesting is that when painting in the same century, the Flemish artist Rogier Van Der Weyden painted his figures as though they were occupying a foot-wide space projecting out to plane of the painting. Employing, very clearly, a far greater degree of naturalism than the English sculptors did, he nevertheless painted a backdrop so as to eliminate the chance of the illusion of too great a depth.

All of this helps to ensure that there is a balance between adherence to natural appearances, which communicates visual realities; and stylization through some departure from strict naturalism, which lends a symbolic quality to the image and communicates invisible realities. Keeping the image to a space that doesn't deviate far from the plane of the painting and restricting the illusion of depth communicates the presence of the heavenly dimension, which is outside space (and time).

 

Two Relief Carvings of the Entry into Jerusalem

Here are some images selected, at least initially, with Palm Sunday in mind. They have three things in common: they are of the same subject - the Entry into Jerusalem; they are both relief carvings; and they are both by Lorenzo Ghiberti. Ghiberti, who worked in the first half of the 15th century, is famous for creating the bronze doors of the Baptistry in Florence. The first is wood polychrome, that is painted wood, and the second is from the north doors of the Baptistry, cast into bronze.

Relief carving commonly seen in the sacred art of the Eastern church (I have written about this here). Its limited three-dimensionality ensures a flatness that suits the intention of the iconographic style to portray the heavenly realm, which is outside time and space. I would love to see artists from the Roman Church following the example of their Eastern brethren and producing relief carvings in Western forms. The most obvious place to start would be to develop the Western iconographic forms, such as the Romanesque as there are close parallels with what the East has done. However there is relief carving in more naturalistic forms too. Ghiberti worked in the period when the Renaissance and the gothic overlapped and to my eye, the polychrome reminds me of a gothic carving, while the bronze relief seems to have aspects of a classical naturalism that points forward the masters of a hundred years later.

The reason that relief carving might be effective today is that the strange world that it occupies, which sits somewhere between two and three dimensions always seems to lend to the image a symbolic quality. This would help to counter the great disease of modern naturalistic styles, which is sentimentality. All Christian art, no matter what style, involves a balance between naturalistic appearances and idealism (or stylisation) which communicates invisible truths (Pius XII talked of a balance of 'realism' and 'symbolism', in Mediator Dei). The tendency of artists today is to swing to the extremes. Those who wish to paint or sculpt naturalistically tend to forget the symbolic content; and I am suggested that relief carving would push them into including it.

Diploma on the Theology of Sacred Art - Pontifically Validated, distance learning, with Residential Weekend in Kansas

Open to all. No qualification needed. Distance learning with residential weekends in the US or the UK The course is intended both for working artists and those interested in art (with the thought that you might become the future knowledgeable patrons of the art). The Maryvale Institute  which offers this course has a mission is to deliver degree-level education to working, mature students. As such it is designed so that no previous qualification is required in order to attend this course. The teaching method works from first principles and so anyone with the innate ability, almost regardless of previous levels of education, will flourish. This has been so successful that their methods have attracted attention in Rome and and a result the Maryvale Institute has been made the only Higher Institute of Religious Sciences - graduate and post-graduate level educational institution - with pontifical status in the English speaking world.

It is good news that its courses are now offered in the US via the Diocese of Kansas City, Kansas. This is not your standard online course - the Maryvale Institute has developed its own method of teaching at a distance through use of expertly designed coursebooks and attendance periodically at residential weekends. Termed 'collaborative learning' that is so effective that they view it as superior to the education received at conventional full time courses. The recent awarding of pontifical status is recognition of not only of its faithfulness to the Magisterium of the Church, but also the standard of excellence in the teaching offered.

The dates of the first residential weekend are July 12-15 (Friday-Monday). The link for courses are here. Contact Kimberly Rode from the archdiocese for information about both.

The year course costs only $1095 including course materials, tuition, accomodation and meals for the residential weekends and assessment. You will be required to buy a few books in addition to this.

Video of Sculptor Andrew Wilson Smith at Clear Creek, Oklahoma

Here is small video of sculptor Andrew Wilson Smith who is currently working at Clear Creek monastery. I enjoyed seeing him work and the hints we got of the process by which he actually works. I also enjoyed the views of the monastery. I would have loved to have seen a little of more of him working and little less of the human interest aspects (such as scenes of him wet shaving), but that's just me I guess. I wrote a piece, here, last year about his methods and his work at the monastery. He had described this to me over the phone, but I found it interesting to seem him doing it on film.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBe5ALQTYUI&feature=youtu.be

Update on Vespers at the Veterans' Hospital in Manchester, NH

Readers may remember my writing about a small group of us making the commitment to sing Vespers and Compline at the Veterans hospital in Manchester, NH. We have been singing there fortnightly now since September last year. One of the things that I stress to those students from Thomas More College who go with me is that all are benefiting from this even if no one is able to come. Sometimes it has been down to Fr Boucher, myself and Dr Tom Larson and just a couple of others with no one else from the hospital in attendance. Most patients are so ill and incapacitated that they cannot make it without help and sometimes for very good reasons that help just isn't there at that time in the evening. Undaunted we had kept the commitment going; and we always take care to sing well. The prayers on these occasions are often directed towards the souls of those who had died that day and for their families. Slowly things have begun to develop. Gene, who heads the team of chaplains (and who is not Catholic) has been very supportive and has moved the times around slightly so that a regular prayer group that visits, does so when we sing Vespers. Because this is, for the most part, just singing the psalms and canticles from scripture, this is a genuinely ecumenical form of prayer. This dedicated group of visitors are then able to bring a small number, in wheelchairs, into the chapel and this has happened the last couple of times. Also, a nurse who had heard about what is happening has taken it upon herself to bring some patients to the Vespers.  She came for the first time a month ago.  Each time we hand out printed copy so that people could sing along with us.

We heard from Fr Boucher that she was so moved by the 4-part arrangements of the Our Father and the St Michael Prayer (by Paul Jernberg) that she brought these patients back. This time he asked if he could keep a copy of the music, and especially the St Michael Prayer (his name was Michael).

When we had finished the Office, we were asked if we could go down to the floor below and into the room of a man who was with his wife and close to dying, so about eight of us walked into his room and sang the Our Father and the St Michael Prayer. If we needed convincing that what we were doing had value, then this experience alone has provided it.

There are a number of things that make this a good thing to do at different levels. I am convinced that what is contributing to the fact that it does seem to be connecting this is a harmony of substance and presentation. The substance is scripture; and in our presentation I think it is that we are singing the psalms in the vernacular and in such a way that just about anyone can join in with the singing of the unison parts at least. The four part harmonies  arranged by Paul for the gospel canticles, the St Michael Prayer and the Our Father (which he also composed) are easy to perform. This means that we don't need expert choristers in order to offer something that is accessible and beautiful which allows for moments of quiet meditation from the congregation.  (You can access the music through the page heading 'Psalm Tones' above.)  And here are recordings of two of the four-part harmonisations, first the Our Father, and then the St Michael Prayer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UC8kqYYbJEc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwIoAzbo9wA&feature=related

A Question for Way of Beauty Readers

Recently a reader contacted me with a question about Fra Angelico's fresco of the Last Supper. Is there a particular reason why some of the figures are kneeling and others not? And who is the female figure present? In answer to the first, I assumed that he was emphasising that the Last Supper is the Mass I don't know if there is any tradition that governs who knelt and who sat. (I find it interesting that Judas, with the black halo is kneeling in line.) I guessed that the lady present is Our Lady (or perhaps Mary Magdalene) but didn't really know. Ordinarily the names would be present (in accordance with the theology of Theodore the Studite from the 9th century). So this is an additional question: does anybody know who she is and also, do you know if Fra Angelico put the names of those portrayed somewhere as part of this painting? If not I would be interested to know why not as names are necessary to make an image worthy of veneration. I posed these questions on the New Liturgical Movement blog also, so I am curious to see how the answers of the two readerships varies!

I found two other Last Supper images by Fra Angelico. One has keeling figures. The Latin inscription gives the connection with the wording of the Mass (I'm at my limits on Latin here, so please correct/translate anyone who is inclined!). Neither has a female figure.

How Free Economics and Catholic Social Teaching Created an Economic Miracle

Wilhelm Ropke: Swiss Localist, Global Economist by John Zmirak

I have been carrying out a little journey of investigation into the free economy and its compatibility with Catholic social teaching. I have concluded that the two are wholly compatible and despite the strongly held objections from some readers (this seems to be a subject that provokes strong reaction). The next question one might ask is how well does it work? In seeking and answer to this I looked to John Zmirak's excellent book about the Swiss economist Wilhelm Ropke 'perhaps one of the most unjustly neglected economists of the 20th century'.

Wilhelm Ropke was advisor to Ludwig Erhard the West Germany finance minister who engineered the 'economic miracle' after the Second World War. What Erhard introduced through a series of reforms enacted in 1948 was a free market system infused with the social values of Catholic social teaching. Most of the allies and economic experts assumed that free markets and capitalism had had their day and were advocating government controlled economic systems that owed much, still, to Marx. Politically there was no natural free market constituency so in a stroke of political genius, Erhard developed the phrase 'social market economy' to sell what he was doing to the German people.

Nevertheless, the conventional wisdom was convinced that this wouldn't succeed. As Zmirak reports: 'The eminent John Kenneth Galbraith wrote in 1948 (just after Erhard made his reforms) "There has never been the slightest possibility of getting German recovery by this wholesale repeal and it is quite possible that its reiteration has delayed German recovery. The question is not whether there must be planning, but whether that planning has been forthright and effective." '  Galbraith couldn't have been more wrong (and if ever we have evidence that in economics is a field in which reputations have nothing to do with the accuracy of predictions, this is it). The result of Erhard's reforms was as dramatic and economic resurgence as one could imagine is possible. While the population of one of the victors in the war elected a socialist government and was still living under wartime rationing of basic foodstuffs, Germany rose from the ashes. Within two years everything had changed dramatically.

As Zmirak tells us: 'Later Erhard praised Ropke for providing "to those trapped in socialist-collectivist thought...words of transformation, offering them once more firm ground under their feet and an inner faith in the value and blessings of freedom, justice and morality." By the end of his life in 1966, Ropke had become  a celebrity in his adopted Swiss homeland and a major figure within the American conservative intellectual revival.'

Some may be aware of Zmirak's other books - the 'Bad Catholic' series, light hearted and very funny examinations of Catholic culture. This book is very different. He describes everything in clear, precise and very readible prose that reinforces just how good a writer he is.

Buy the book here.

His website www.badcatholics.com is like not other I have ever seen. It includes several short video features that arise from the Zmirak imagination. Here is one entitled The Vatican Space Program...watch it yourself, I can't describe it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUfhaSnuURQ

Certificate of Sacred Art Offered by Canadian University

St. Mary's University College, which is an independent Catholic liberal arts university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada is launching a Certificate in Sacred Arts. This is open to anyone. there are practical classes and lectures, but the emphasis appears to be learning through doing. Three of the teachers are known to me and cause me to recommend it. First Martinho Correia whom I met when I was studying in Florence is doing much of the organisation and is teaching the Western naturalistic tradition; second my own teacher Aidan Hart is teaching iconography and third Jed Gibbons who teaches illumination. Students have the choice of either taking a single workshop or registering for a series of workshops to qualify for the newly-created Certificate in the Sacred Arts – Foundations. The first courses being offered in 2013 include:

Methods of the Masters of the Western Sacred Art Tradition taught by Martinho Isidro Correia

The Foundations of Calligraphy taught by Renate Worthington

Iconography taught by Aidan Hart

The Art of Manuscript Illumination taught by Jed Gibbons

Stained Glass for Beginners taught by Jody Martin

Gregorian Chant Workshop taught by Malcolm Edwards

For a more detailed description of the courses see: www.stmu.ca/sacredarts

Why Man Venerates Images of Angels, Even Though He is Higher than the Angels

From John of Damascus's On the Divine Images It is uncanny how often this sort of thing happens: if you read the Fathers, Scripture or the Liturgy, I find that just when I'm thinking about something I discover a passage that has something to say about it. The psalms particularly are like this. The seem to speak to the human person wherever he is emotionally and offer thoughts on just about any aspect of life. I will read something I have read many times, but this time it is commenting on something in a way I had never noticed before.

This has just happened to me again. Some of you may remember a piece posted very recently in which I expressed surprise that Leo the Great should say that man is higher than the angels. Then just a few days ago I read a passage by St John of Damascus. I was reading the third of his three treatises On the Divine Images, which he wrote against iconoclasm in the 8th century. The general theme of these is to stress the importance of holy images in safeguarding the doctrine of the Incarnation. In this passage he is discussing the veneration of images of those who not God, the saints and angels.

He wants to make the point that all worship is due to God, but there are degrees of worship that are appropriate in different situations. So we adore God directly, but through veneration of images of his saints and angels, we bring worship and honour to God. To illustrate begins by pointing out that scripture relates that when Daniel and Joshua each encountered angels, they fell down and worshipped before them. First, he says, they were not seeing the angels, because an angel is an invisible spirit. Rather, they were seeing an image of an angel; and when they worshipped, they were not worshipping the angel but giving honour to God by showing honour to his ministering spirits.  Similarly, he says, when we venerate images of the saints and angels, we are giving honour to God by honouring his friends. Furthermore, he says this fact that they are God's servants is the only reason that we would worship even an image of an angel, because we are higher than angels and such respect is not due an angel for itself.  Here is the passage quoted directly. It is his third treatise, section 26:

'Joshua, the son of Nun did not see the angel as he is by nature, but and image for an angel by nature is not visible to bodily eyes, yet he fell down and worshipped and Daniel did likewise. Yet an angel is a creature, a servant, a minister of God, but not God. And they fell down and worshipped before the angels, not as God, but as God's ministering spirits. Shall I not make images of friends? Shall I not honour them, not as Gods, but as the images of God's friends? Neither Joshua nor Daniel worshipped the angels they saw as gods. Neither do I worship an image as God, but through the images of Christ and the Holy Theotokos and of the saints, I bring worship and honour to God, because of the reverence with which I honour his friends. God did not unite himself with angelic nature, but with human nature. God did not become and angel; he became a man by nature and in truth. For surely it is not with angels that he is concerned, but with the seed of Abraham. The person of the Son of God did not assume an angelic nature, but a human nature. The angels do not share in this; they do not become partakers of the divine nature. But by the operation of grace, men do share in and become partakers of the divine nature; as many of them as do receive the Holy Body of Christ and drink his Blood since his person is united with the Godhead, and the two nature of Christ's Body which we eat are inseparably joined in his person. We partake of both natures, of His Body physically, and of His divinity spiritually, or rather of each in both. We did not become the same person as he is for we also first exist as individual persons; only then can we be united by the comingling of His Body and Blood. Therefore, we are greater than the angels, provided that we guard this perfect union by faithfully observing the commandments. for our humble nature is far inferior to the angels, because of death, and the heaviness of the body, but because by God's good will it has been united to Him, human nature has become superior to the angels. The angels stand in fear and trembling before our own nature, for He has raised us up with Him and made us sit with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus and they will stand b in fear at the judgement. Nowhere does Scripture say that they will sit together with us, or become partakers of the divine nature. '

Readers Give Information about Statues, Icons and the Eastern Tradition

Readers may remember that I have posted a couple of pieces recently featuring sacred images from the Russia that are statues (not relief carving, full 3-D images). As I mentioned, I had been under the impression that although they were not forbidden, that by tradition they were not produced and was surprised that the examples shown existed. I suggested that the reason they were discouraged was because it is difficult to produce a three-dimensional image that is consistent with the theology of sacred images as applied to the icon (for example, the deliberated elimination of space to suggest the heavenly realm). But I couldn't give much more information about their existence and place in the tradition of the Eastern Church.

I was happy to receive responses from two Orthodox Christians in regard to the attitude to statues in the East which are helpful, I think, and I reproduce them here.

 The first is from Bishop Jerome, Bishop of Manhattan of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia and this seems to summarise the situation nicely. He says: "The reason that statues are avoided in the Orthodox Church (and in some of the Eastern Catholic Churches) is not that they were seen as "heretical", but as part of the struggle to overcome the iconoclasts. Prior to the iconoclastic controversy, there were bas-relief representations of holy figures in the East, and in Russia the iconoclasts seem not to have been as virulent as they were in Constantinople. Three-dimensional figures were used to some extent again in Russia in certain places, such as the cathedral of the Ss. Peter & Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg, here the Royal Gates were topped by a small statue, or in the dome of St.Isaac's cathedral where there are statues of Angels."

The second made reference to an article published in a magazine published by an Orthodox church in Texas, Ember Tidings about statues in the Eastern Church, here (h/t Fr Anthony). This gives some history of the creation of statues, reinforcing the summary of the situation given above by Fr Jerome. It closes with the following point: 'The 1920’s discovered the Orthodox painted icon, the 1970’s the Orthodox statues. It appears the sometimes heated "two dimensional vs. three dimensional image" argument could be another example of culture intruding upon the faith.'

This second article brings up a couple of interesting thoughts. First, some of the examples that are shown in the pictures are of statues East and West. This shows clearly that the tradition of statues was well established early on and not always a minor part of the sacred imagery as it became later in the Eastern Church. It also reinforces one of the points made above. It does seem to me that a strict application of the theology of the icon as I have been taught it, would mitigate against the production of three-dimensional images. But the existence of a strong tradition of statues raises this question in my mind: if the statue which by its nature occupies three-dimensional space is permitted, does this mean that there ought to be greater freedom in 2-D images that create the illusion of space? Has anyone thought about this at all I wonder? Perhaps one could, for example, make the distinction between real 3-D space and illusional space critical in permitting statues? 

Pictures from top: the Good Shepherd, 3rd century from the catacombs; 10th century Contantinople; Our Lady of Monserrat, Spain, 12th century.

Why Diversity Leads to Conflict and Death

A culture that promotes diversity celebrates differences, and ultimately leads to conflict and death; the antidote is Catholic culture which is universal. It celebrates the uniqueness of every person and what is common to each of us, so binding us in love.

Every society's culture is a reflection of its core beliefs and values. At the heart of this therefore is man's attitude to God and the most powerful factor in influencing this is worship.

This principle was articulated by the Church Fathers with the phrase lex orandi, lex credendi - rule of prayer, rule of faith. What this phrase of the Fathers is saying, as I understand it, is that man is made to worship God and how he does it affects everything else he believes and, in turn, what he does. If we wish to achieve cultural reform, therefore it seems, we should look first at our participation in the liturgy and strive for the ideal that the Church asks of us.

To the degree that man does not worship in the manner proscribed by the Church, then he will worship in another, lesser way; or else very likely he will worship something else. At this point his worship has deviated from some objective norm and now reflects, as much as forms, the beliefs of the person. Even those who think of themselves of having no religion will submit to principles and ideals that at the deepest level are just assumed, accepted on faith so to speak; and this instinct for worship will manifests itself somehow with customs and practices developing in accordance with them. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI discusses this in his book, so often referred to in this blog, the Spirit of the Liturgy. To the degree that this instinct for worship is repressed or misdirected, then man is trying to negate something fundamental to him and the result is despair and a culture of disharmony and ugliness; and ultimately a culture of death.

If one had to name one idea that characterizes the formation of modern culture I think one of the first that would come to mind would be ‘diversity’. It is a word that, as it is often used, seems to encapsulate the relativism of the modern day. It is consistent with the personal philosophy of ‘I’ll let you do whatever you want to do...as long as it doesn’t interfere with me doing whatever I want to do’. In my experience, diversity is accepted as a good almost without question by many people.  And true to this instinct of worship, those who swear by it talk of ‘celebrating' it.

What is celebrated (for example at art fairs in which showcase artists from many of the world’s traditional cultures), we are told, is the variety of different cultures across the globe. I used to enjoy attending these events until at some point it struck me that they are as much an exercise in appeasing the consciences of those who attend as they are about promoting craftsmanship or art. Judging from conversations, attendees were mostly secular Westerners and it struck me that their interest in these other cultures was only superficial. By this outward sign of tolerance and broadmindedness towards others, they got a warm fuzzy feeling inside and hoped to justify to themselves their refusal to submit to authority in their personal lives. Certainly this is what motivated me when I was a secular Westerner before my conversion to Catholicism. The more I exercised tolerance and ‘non-judgmentalism’ in regard to others, the more I felt justified in rejecting any external authority in regard to my own conduct. I had earned the right of tolerance and non-judgmentalism from others and so could now do just what I wanted. What I didn’t realize until later was that in the end it wasn’t the opinions of others that I needed to worry about, it was my own conscience and that was something I couldn’t escape. Deep down part of me knew that I was doing wrong. As I once heard someone say, low self-esteem is a modern psychological phrase for what used to be call ed a guilty conscience. It was this acknowledgement of the truth deep inside me, which took hold gradually, that moved me first to guilt, despair and then to God.

It may be that I am being overly cynical here and judging people people by my own standards - i am sure that it part some people genuinely want to see the end of conflict by promoting tolerance between different societies and see this as a way of doing it. However, it is interesting that for all the talk of tolerance and diversity, this does not seem to extend, in my experience, to an unhesitating inclusion of Chritianity and especially the Church. The standard accusation levelled at the Church are the great secular sins of intolerance and ‘ judgmentalism’ (especially against women and homosexuals).

In fact, given their position, their desire to attack the Church is rational. It does stand up firmly against what they espouse, but not for the usual reasons the give. It does claim authority in moral matters and so will shine an unwanted spotlight on the consciences of those who act against them. The truth of what the Church stands for is evidenced by the fact that it's teaching makes people so uncomfortable. People are seeking to blame the Church for what their own consciences tell them. And the Church does believe in justice and judgment. However, the judge is just  judge, God; and this exrcise of justice is tempered of course, as its critics often neglect to point out, with love and mercy.

And in regard to culture, which is what we are considering here, it stands out squarely against the principle of diversity by asserting a principle of universality.

To my mind, the flaw in the idea of diversity is that it focuses on differences. Rather than bringing us together (which is the stated intention), this separates us from each other and leads to conflict. We see this in Britain where there are immigrant communities which so strongly preserve the culture of their original country that there are ghettos in which the assimilation into British culture has barely taken place. Successive generations do not appear to be integrating with British culture. Rather they are more separate from it and less inclined to assimilate than the generation of their parents who came here. In extreme cases and very sadly, some feel so alienated from the culture of Britain and so hostile to it that they have tried to bomb their host country out of existence.

The antidote to this is love, which recognizes the uniqueness of every person, and without compromising personal freedom binds us together in harmony. Accordingly, in the context of cultures what is important is not what differentiates us but what binds us together. These are the elements that are common to all of us. Or put another way, what is 'universal'.

As we know, the word 'catholic' means 'universal'. Just as Church teaching is appropriate for every person; so is Catholic culture. This will not suppress individuality, but encourage it to flourish properly in harmony with all others. A Catholic culture is the only culture that is truly universal. Others are in some way a reflection of a lesser account of the truth. Catholic culture, because it is universal, cuts out no one and appeals to everyone at a personal level. It accomodates the uniqueness of each person, but binds us together with what is common.

The problems of modern socitey are cultural. The antidote, to the culture of death (whether we think of abortion, contraception or exploding bombs) therefore is not political, but cultural. How do we change it. The long term answer to the the culture of death is a culture of life.  I have discussed this more in an article 'Universality, Noble Accessibility and  Pop Culture that Will Save the World'.

Universality is not the same as uniformity. A culture of uniformity obliterates the personal and demands a sterile conformity. In the universality of the Catholic culture, the general is always expressed through the particular but when it is an expression of what is universal in us, we can always recognize it and are attracted to it, even when it is not our own culture. This is its evangelising power. It is expressed perfectly in the traditions of Gregorian chant and the artistic traditions of the Church, for example  iconographic sacred art (as the oldest and best established form of liturgical art of the Church). Although there is great diversity within each tradition, much of it particular to times and places, the universal principles that define it are never compromised. If the culture of faith is rooted in these living liturgical forms of art and music then it will feed the wider culture in the same way and affect the way we live our ordinary lives. Then we will have something that speaks to others.

The way to avoid ghettos of the sort we see in the cities of Europe is to offer a Catholic culture, in the widest sense of the word, that attracts all. Without a culture of the Faith to offer to people, the alternative to diversity is uniformity, which is even less attractive. For uniformity stifles the spirit even more powerfully. When these immigrants looked at British culture, they were given the choice and they chose not to assimilate. They were not rejecting a Catholic culture, but a secular culture which was uniform, and ugly. In many respects it was less than what they already had. This is why every modern city, despite giving architects virtually a free range in choosing what they want to design, looks the same as every other. It is their very attempts to be different for what they manifest in following this impulse is disorder- there is no order outside God’s order, only disorder.

So what's the answer? I believe that in the long term it is cultural and not political. How do we achieve this. It starts at home. We must look to ourselves. The domestic church is the seat of culture. We focus on a piety that has the liturgy at its centre, and at home this means the liturgy of the hours. But at a personal level, which is the one over which I have most control, I can strive for a personal transformation by which in some small way I can participate in the transfigured light of Christ.  Because each person is in relation with those around them, even the most cloistered monk, they will effect change not through PR campaigns, but through the transforming influence of our personal relationships. We should not underestimate the power of this - we are told we are told that no one is more than six handshakes away from any other member of society. I have written at great length about the principles at work here. (In the article linked, I had in mind economic and cultural change, but the principle is exactly the same)

Lex orandi, lex credendi...I'm off to pray the Divine Office!

Thomas More College Choir Sings for the Extraordinary Form, First Sunday of Lent

Here are some recordings of what we sang. Last Sunday, the First Sunday in Lent, the Thomas More College choir sang at St Patrick's in Nashua, NH. We sang at the invitation of Fr Kerper, the pastor at St Patricks. The college has enjoyed a long connection with the parish, its longest standing chaplain, Fr Healey, is resident at the church. The Mass was composed by a German, Blasius Amon, in the 16th century - Missa Super 'Pour ung Plaisir'. Our director, Dr Thomas Larson, did his usual and put his cell down amongst us in the choir stall and came up with these recordings. I had never heard of Blasius Amon before Tom introduced this to the choir, but it is a great Mass for a choir to learn polphony on. Relatively simple, but still very good to listen to. I hope these recordings give a sense of it. As usual, remember this is an amateur choir recorded on a very simple piece of equipment. Below are the Sanctus, Benedictus and Agnus Dei from the Mass.

Sanctus

Benedictus

Agnus Dei

I would draw your attention also to the Communion antiphon and psalm mediation. The antiphon is in the traditional plainchant, in mode III, as proscribed. The psalm is sung to the harmonised mode III tone composed by myself and harmonised by our Composer-in-Residence, Paul Jernberg.

Communion

For the offertory mediation we sang the Stabat Mater Dolorosa. I don't have a recording of this, but we based what we did on a You Tube video I found of some Norwegian monks singing it and so I reproduce that for you. They have altered the rhythm slighly, as those who know it will hear immediately. Also, they have a gentle organum (drone) going on underneath. Tom and I listened to this and Tom recognised that at various points they had not just one, but two organum drones going on (very subtly applied). So this is how we sang it. We sang the first verse in unison, in the second with the tenors and some altos singing an organum note corresponding to the very first note of the melody. The third we introduced in additional bass organum drone on a note a fourth lower. Then we started the cycle again. This has a powerfully contemplative effect.

We very much hope that we might be asked back in the future!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muJccdJJrwk

Illuminated Manuscript of King David, Painted by Me

I have just completed this painting of King David. It is based on the image that is in the Westminster Psalter, which dates from about 1200AD. The original is an illuminated manuscript, this is painted in egg tempera on high quality paper. You can see the original beneath. It is 11" x 7" (image without the border is 10" x 6' and so, like the original, in the ratio 5:3 which is one of the fundamental ratios used in gothic proportion corresponding the structure of the ideal man, according to St Augustine). It is also defines the harmonic interval of a sixth, which as I understand it, was not considered harmonic in medieval times, when the original was painted, but was during the common practice period of music (from the 17th century onwards). To was as much due to an improvement in tuning practices as to changing tastes, I am told. if this is so, it does reinforce the value of the ratio in my mind.

Is the Free Economy Really Free?

Harry Veryser's It Didn't Have to Be This Way: Why Boom and Bust is Unnecessary and How the Austrian School of Economics Breaks the Cycle (Culture of Enterprise) I recently posted  an article about Fr Robert Sirico's book in which he presented a moral case for the free economy, here. This provoked as strong a reaction as any I have posted. Many of the criticisms, it seemed to me, were aimed at views that we were assumed to hold (presumably because they imagine that everyone who was in favour of the free economy would think these things) even though it was not the case. For example, some suggested that Fr Sirico's book and my article were undermined by the fact that John Paul II and others have argued for a just wage. Nowhere did I, and to the best of my recollection nowhere in his book, neither did Fr Sirico say anything to undermine the principle of justice in general or  just wages in particular. In fact the opposite is true, right through the book it is apparent that the basic needs of the human person especially the poor are right at the forefront of Fr Sirico's concerns. Speaking for myself, I do not want to see unjust wages at all. Some seemed to suggest that there is an inherent contradiction between a just wage and the free economy and whether we knew it or not, acceptance of the free economy was a rejection of a just wage. I do not see any such contradiction. Neither, it appears, does John Paul II otherwise he would not state that both are necessary and in harmony with each other, in the same section of Centesimus Annus. 

I am happy to believe that I am wrong in this regard, and therefore misreading JPII. However, if I am to be convinced it would need someone to explain in more detail

Another criticism made was that the free economy 'is not free'. This assertion was based upon the fact that some advocates of the free markets, such as Milton Freedman, had a post-Enlightenment and therefore a flawed understanding of what freedom is. The question that arises is this:  is this flawed understanding of freedom intrinsic to the free economy? Or, put another way, does one have to have the post-Enlightenment understanding of freedom in order to be able to explain the free economy?

This would be a fair criticism if the economy was something created by those describing it. I see the economy as something not governed by a set of rules that are created by man, but an order that emerges spontaneously when there is a network of personal interactions. It is something that contains truths to be discovered rather than being a system that can be established made to behave in a particular way with rules set by economists or governments.

In advocating it, there is an assumption made: that a spontaneous order appears as a result of many personal interactions and that it does not need any human organisation (such as government) to direct it, except to protect personal freedom, private property, stable currency and efficient public services. This is the role of the state in regard to economics  - to guarantee this security (not that this is the only prerequisite - the development of a free market depends upon the culture too for example). I do not see that true freedom, according to the traditional understanding, is ever in opposition to the principles of justice. Therefore the protection of freedom will also help to ensure justice (including a just wage).

The free economy is one in which there is a place for the family, community, charitable action and institutions; it is in accord with the principles of subsidiarity and the common good. This is because when people act in freedom all of these things flourish naturally within society.

In observing how the economy works, the understanding of freedom the observer holds is irrelevant and provided we believe that the source is accurate in other respects we can learn much from an such accounts of the economy even from people whose worldview is diametrically opposed to our own (by all accounts Carl Marx was one of the best economists of his time). When it comes to consideration of what will happen in the future, we should be more careful, for no present situation is precisely the same as any in the past and there will always be an element of judgment - and this will be affected by how we believe people. One should use judgment but on the whole general descriptions of what will happen in the future (such as might appear in a basic economics text book), based upon good observation on the past will helpful whatever the source, I suggest.

Consideration of what one ought to do in terms of economic policy is going a step further still: I would look here to someone who both understands deeply how the economy works, and shares the commitment to Catholic social teaching. Even then, even if the economist does not share this view but, other things being equal, the outcome he desires is in accord with CST, I would still listen to his proposal about how to achieve it.

In regard to freedom: those who understand what freedom really is, therefore, will be best set to understand and explain this order and are those whom I am most likely to trust in taking advice about what to do (although to my mind this does not mean that all others are completely useless as I have suggested). I take freedom to be that as defined in Catechism: the power, rooted in reason and will, to act or not to act, to do this or that, and so to perform deliberate actions on one's own responsibility. By free will one shapes one's own life. Human freedom is a force for growth and maturity in truth and goodness; it attains its perfection when directed toward God, our beatitude: this could be summarised as: 'the capacity to choose the practical best'.

I have just read Harry Veryser's book It Didn't Have to be This Way - Why Boom and Bust is Unnecesary. Here is an account of the free economy in which the author is a committed Catholic who understands Catholic social teaching and explains how the two are compatible. One does not have to agree with Austrian economics if one is a Catholic, of course -  I am not suggesting that Austrian economics is the only account of economics that is in accord with Catholic social teaching. Rather, just as with Fr Sirico's book, a fresh set of criticisms that scrutinize the economics rather than adherence to Catholic teaching will have to be produced in order to undermine what he says. Certainly, one cannot criticise it on the basis of what Milton Friedman says, for Veryser differs from him and the Chicago school in a number of respects.

Verysers explanations are clear and readable and well worth reading for someone like me who is just starting to get to grips with all of this stuff.

In addressing the issue of the common good and the idea that a narrowly defined concept of self-interest governs the economy he writes the following:

'Critics of free-market economics might scoff at associating free markets with the common good. Since the time of the Enlightenment, a powerful (but controversial) strain of economic thought has held that rational self-interest governs all economic activity. Adam Smith put forward this idea in the Wealth of Nations, where he wrote: "It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect  our dinner, but from their regard to their self-interest. we address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities but of their advantages."  Adherents of the classical school carried forth this idea in the nineteenth century, and more recently Ayn Rand, Milton Friedman and many secular libertarians have popularized the concept of rational self-interest. The Austrian School is different, however. From the start, Austrian economists have challenged the idea that rational self-interest drives all economics...The Austrian school also recognises that the concept of rational self-interest became a barrier to thoughtful discussion of economics. Almost from the beginning critics used the notion of self-interest to pillory the field of economics. Clergymen, social critics and many others derided economics as the science of greed. Even with the profession, more and more people came to see economics as a science dealing strictly with material wealth, which in turn lead to an overemphasis on mathematical measurement.' [p188]

'The concept of self-interest comes up short in explaining how economic decisions are made because as 'Austrians (and many others) have pointed out, the perspective is overly narrow. It fails to account for charitable instincts, decisions made to benefit one's family or community, and other factors that inform human action. The focus on self-interest also obscures the true role and ambition of economics. It helped lead to a strictly mathematical approach to economics. Such an approach attempts to apply methods from theoretical sciences, which study things over which we have no control (such as the motion of the planets and the structure of the atom) to the study of human action - those things that we can control. Pablo Triana in his book Lecturing Birds on Flying, identifies a key cause of the recent financial crisis: "our blind devotion to theoretical concoctions (especially if sponsored by rigorous-looking individuals with PhDs from prestigious universities.)" Triana notes simply: "The math had its chance, and couldn't have gone any wronger." ' [p199]

Some English Coptic Icons

Here are some neo-Coptic icons  at the Coptic Cathedral of St George at Stevenage in England.

I discovered this by trying to get hold of pictures of art by an English-Egyptian icon painter called Fadi Mikhail. He trained at the Slade art school in London and then did an apprenticeship with an icon painter in California, called Isaac Fanous. His website is here. I would have included more pictures of his work, but his website doesn't allow me to copy and save the images. Here's a tip for artists out there. You may worry about people making use of images by barring the copying, but you also stop people who are very happy to promote your work from doing so effectively! i think that in the end the artist loses more than he gains by doing this. So in the end I took some examples from the cathedral website. But Fadi, if you're reading, I like your work and would have happily featured more if I could have done!

I love the loose but well directed brush work in this one above

Are We Higher than the Angels and Archangels?

It may seem an impertinence to say so, but Pope Leo the Great seems to think so Catholics are used to the idea that Our Lady is higher than the angels, but is it true for the rest of us? Here is what Pope Leo the Great has to say on the matter. It was surprising to me.

‘The blessed apostles together with all the others had been intimidated by the catastrophe of the cross, and their faith in the resurrection had been uncertain; but now they were so strengthened by the evident truth that when their Lord ascended into heaven, far from feeling any sadness, they were filled with great joy. Indeed that blessed company had a great and inexpressible cause for joy when it saw man’s nature rising above the dignity of the whole heavenly creation, above the ranks of angels, above the exalted status of archangels. Nor would there be any limit to its upward course until humanity was admitted to a seat at the right hand of the eternal Father, to be enthroned at last in the glory of him to whose nature it was wedded in the person of the Son.’ [Excerpt from a sermon by Pope Saint Leo the Great (Sermo 1 de Ascensione, 2-4: PL 54, 305-396) taken from the Office of Readings for Wednesday of the Sixth week of Easter]

If I am understanding this correctly then he is say we can be by grace  at our final end in heaven be raised up as high as it possible to be, seated next to the Son, participating in mystery of the Trinity. The Ascension of the Lord was a sign that man's nature is to divine, although he cannot realise this by his own efforts, hence the need for God's grace. This is an extraordinary privilege.

St. Maximos the Confessor described this as a  “total participation in Jesus Christ.” and said "A sure warrant for looking forward with hope to deification of human nature is provided by the incarnation of God, which makes man god to the same degree as God himself became man.... Let us become the image of the one whole God, bearing nothing earthly in ourselves, so that we may consort with God and become gods, receiving from God our existence as gods. For it is clear that He who became man without sin (cf. Heb. 4:15) will divinize human nature without changing it into the divine nature, and will raise it up for his own sake to the same degree as He lowered himself for man's sake.' (page 178 in the Philokalia, Vol II).

He also said that we will be “All that God is, except for an identity in being, one becomes when one is deified by grace.”

The one question that remains, then for us to think that we can be greater than the angels is this - is the same privilege offered to the angels too? If not, then it seems that we are by nature, greater than the angels (although in are fallen state in this life we are less than them!).

 Comments from expert theologians please!

Is there room on that seat there for 6 billion more? The answer may well be yes! Christ is is seated in majesty, centre, 'at the right hand' of the Father.