Rublev's "The Trinity"
Andrei Rublev was born circa 1360. Little is known of his early life however, his name is associated with the history of the Moscow artistic school. Many of his works, just as those of his disciples and followers, originated in Moscow or in towns and monasteries around it. His works can be viewed in both the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow and the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg. He died on January 29, 1430 and is buried at the Andronikov Monastery in Moscow.
If you look at the front of this week's pew sheet you will see that we have printed a picture of God. It is one of the most famous of all icons and was painted by, a Russian, Andrei Rublev who was born in about 1360. It is called The Trinity.
It is not like a photograph but a picture to interpret. God cannot be portrayed in any literal sense just as we cannot describe him in words. All the language that we use is metaphorical and that would include visual language like this.
An icon is not a painting in the sense we normally regard pieces of art. An icon is a window out of the obvious realities of everyday life into the realm of God. Every paint-stroke has a meaning hallowed by centuries of prayer. Icons are religious images that hover between two worlds, putting into colours and shapes what cannot be grasped by the intellect. They render the invisible visible. Icons are religious pictures that convey inner spiritual meaning of their subject matter.
This icon takes as its subject the mysterious story where Abraham receives three visitors as he camps by the oak of Mamre. He serves them a meal. As the conversation progresses he seems to be talking straight to God, the 'angels' were in some way a metaphor for God himself. In Rublev's representation of the scene, the three gold-winged figures become a metaphor for the Holy trinity..they are seated around a white table on which a golden, chalice-like bowl contains a roasted lamb. In the background of the picture, a house can be seen at the top left and a tree in the centre. Less distinctly, a rocky hill lies in the upper right corner. The composition is a great circle around the table, (see inside page) It is all focussing our attention on the chalice-bowl at the centre, which reminds the viewer inescapably of an altar at Communion.
On one level this picture shows three angels seated under Abraham's tree, but on another it is a visual expression of what the Trinity means, what is the nature of God, and how we approach him. So let us attempt to read the picture. From left to right, we see the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
The figure on the left is the Father, whom we see robed in gold and majesty. He seems to wear all the colours in a kind of fabric that changes with the light, that seems transparent, that cannot be described or confined in words. And this is how it should be. No one has seen the Father. He is pure mystery.
He gestures with a blessing towards the Son at the top, who is clothed in deepest colours; red/brown for his passion..a thick heavy garment of the reddish-brown of earth and a cloak of the blue of heaven. In his person he unites heaven and earth, the two natures are present in him, and over his right shoulder (the Government shall be upon his shoulder says Isaiah) there is a band of gold shot through the earthly garment, as his divinity suffuses his earthly being.
By indicating towards the chalice and the lamb on the table, which you can just about see , he makes reference to his role as the sacrificial lamb, whose blood will be shed for the salvation of the world. The Spirit, sits to the right, wearing a garment of the clear blue of the sky, wrapped over with a robe of a fragile green. So the Spirit of creation moves in sky and water, breathes in heaven and earth. All living things owe their freshness to his touch.
The one-ness of the figures is indicated by the way their heads incline one to the other, making the outline of circle. This shows how they are bound together into one by the common will and mutual love that unites them.
One side of the table is unoccupied, the side facing out of the picture. The Spirit points towards it, and looking out of the picture, invites us to join them, and complete the circle. Here is an important truth about God, a truth that is also contained in the creed. If you look at the creed we say every week, you will see that it has four sections, a section about the Father, a section about the Son, a section about the Holy Spirit and a section about us, 'the Holy catholic and apostolic church'. It is no accident that these four sections correspond to the four sides of the table. Neither the creed, what we believe, nor the picture, the circle of God's life is complete without us. And so the pictures reminds us that God is not turned in on himself, endlessly contemplating his own perfection, but is turned outwards in love towards the world, and towards us That the picture says, is how God is.
We are people made in the image of God. So any picture of God is going to show us something about the way we are or about the way we should be. And the image of God revealed to the church is of three persons united in one nature by mutual love.
To confess belief in the Trinity, is to confess that Christians are people committed to living in relationships made up of equal, loving and loved individuals. Christian communities will be places where everyone ministers, equal in dignity and mutual service. society would be one in which power and resources are shared , where strangers are not reviled and difference not persecuted.
On Trinity Sunday, then, we have two things to do. We celebrate God's love for us and the world and we examine our relationships to see if they fit the pattern of our threefold God. The light that shines around their heads is white, pure light. Gold is not enough to express the glory of God. Only light will do, and that same white becomes the holy table, the place of offering.
In the picture, the Father looks forward, raising his hand in blessing to the Son. This is my Son, listen to him... The hand of the Son points on, around the circle, to the Spirit. The Father sends the Son, the Son sends the Spirit. The life flows clockwise around the circle. And we complete the circle. And we are sent too
The Spirit touches us, even though we do not know who it is that is touching us. He leads us by ways we may not be aware of, up the hill of prayer. It may be steep and rocky, but the journeying God goes before us along the path. It leads to Jesus, the Son of God, and it leads to a tree. A great tree in the heat of the day spreads its shade. It is a place of security, a place of peace, a place where we begin to find out the possibilities of who we can be. It is no ordinary tree. It stands above the Son in the picture, and stands above the altar-table where the lamb lies within the chalice The tree of death has been transformed into a tree of life for us.
The tree is on the way to the house. Over the head of the Father is the house of the Father. It is the goal of our journey. It is the beginning and end of our lives. Its roof is golden. Its door is always open for the traveller. Its window is always open so that the Father can incessantly scan the roads for a glimpse of a returning prodigal.
Each person holds a traveller's staff, which is so long it, cuts the picture into three. It tells us God is with us on the human road. The traveller God sits down at our ordinary tables and spreads the heavenly food.
The table or altar lies at the centre of the picture. It is at once the place of Abraham's hospitality to the angels, and God's place of hospitality to us. That ambiguity lies at the heart of communion, at the heart of worship. As soon as we open a sacred place for God to enter, for God to be welcomed and adored, it becomes his place. It is we who are welcomed, it is we who must 'take off our shoes' because of the holiness of the ground.
Contained in the centre of the circle is a sign of death. The lamb, killed. The holy meal brought to the table. All points to this space, this mystery: within it, everything about God is summed up and expressed, his power, his glory, and above all his love. And it is expressed in such a way that we can reach it. For the space at this table is on our side. We are invited to join the group at the table and become one with them. Below the altar a rectangle marks the holy place where the relics of the martyrs were kept in a church. Joining God's table may cost us much...but the reward and gift is great. God invites us to come into the mystery of himself.
The icon says Come follow the Spirit up the hill of prayer. Come, live in the shadow of the Son of God, rest yourself beneath his tree of life. Come, journey to the home, prepared for you in the house of your God
All this is ours
The table is spread, the door is open...so come on in.
Trinity Sunday 2010 St Michael's Church Eucharist Rev Canon Ann Philp