Recently I’ve had an interesting, yet somewhat disheartening, discussion wherein a reader of this website questioned my motives, goals, reasoning, and aspirations. If you’d like to browse it, you may begin here.
Let it be known far and wide that my desire is that I might, in the smallest measure, be an instrument in the hands of the Lord to bring about His purposes in righteousness. Ultimately, that is all. Appendages to this might be found here.
The following is a photo of a linen and wool screen curtain (velum) that comes from a monastery at Antinoë (Antinopolis), Egypt, and dates from the 5th-6th century. It is likely an artifact of the early Coptic Christians. It depicts a praying couple beneath an apse in a church or temple, with a Coptic inscription written in Greek script underneath. The apse of a church building is near the east end, where the altar is located. There are columns on the left and right, perhaps symbolizing Boaz and Jachin, pillars that flanked the entrance in the porch of Solomon’s Temple, and have come to symbolize the temple ever since. The figures are dressed in liturgical clothing, including what appears to be a mitre, a veil, and robes, and in the traditional early Christian attitude of prayer with uplifted hands. Size: 1.05 x 0.86 m. It is located at the Benaki Museum, Athens. (Thanks Chad!)
Praying Couple Curtain, 5th-6th century Antinoë, Egypt
A Greek folk-dance group performs the horo in front of the Olympic Velodrome at the Olympic Complex in Athens, Greece, during the Games of 2005. (Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP/Getty Images)
Hugh Nibley once made this audacious claim: “All the arts and sciences began at the temple. Dance, music, architecture, sculpture, drama, and so forth – they all go back to the temple” ((Nibley, Hugh, and Gary P. Gillum. Of all Things!: Classic Quotations from Hugh Nibley. 2nd, rev. and expand ed. Salt Lake City, Utah; Provo, Utah: Deseret Book Co.; FARMS, 1993, 45)). The more I learn, the more I am convinced of that statement.
My mind returns again to posts I’ve written in the past about subjects that do not cease to fascinate me. Today I was reminded of a post in 2009, The Traditional Greek Folk Dances and their Ancient Roots. The Greek dances are some of the most ancient dances in the world, and have been passed down by tradition to the present day where they maintain many of their archaic forms. [Read more…]
The Anointing of David
David Larsen at Heavenly Ascents continues to provide excellent notes from his attendance at the Temple Studies Group Symposium in London last weekend. Recently he posted his notes on Archimandrite Ephrem‘s presentation about the Holy Oil in the Orthodox Church. Father Ephrem gave out a handout which included detailed notes on the anointing rite in the Orthodox Church, which includes this portion:
The one to be baptized is brought forward. The Priest takes some of the oil and makes the sign of the Cross on the forehead, breast and back of the candidate, saying: The servant of God, N., is anointed with the oil of gladness, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. As he signs their breast and back he says: For healing of soul and body. On the ears: For the hearing of faith. On the feet: For your feet to walk. On the hands: Your hands made me and fashioned me. And when the whole body has been anointed the Priest baptizes the person, holding them upright and facing East, as he says: The servant of God N. is baptized, in the name of the Father. Amen. And of the Son. Amen. And of the Holy Spirit. Amen. At each invocation the Priest immerses them and raises them again [three-fold immersion]. ((Handout from Archimandrite Ephrem in notes on Heavenly Ascents blog. Notes in brackets are mine.))
Check out David Larsen’s Heavenly Ascents blog for more details from Father Ephrem’s presentation.
San Joaquin Delta College Hellenic Dancers doing the Greek Syrtos dance at the school's new campus dedication in 1977. They wear the traditional Greek folk dance costume. A musician is playing a Thracian gaida in the center of the circle, leading the dance. Used with permission.
When I originally wrote my paper on “The Genesis of the Round Dance,” I included a short section on the ancient Greek dance forms:
The ancient choruses, dances, and songs of the dithyramb of Greece displayed the familiar pattern of a dignified, circular dance around the altar of Dionysus in the theater’s orchestra. In fact, the term orchestra originally meant the circular dancing place of the theater. In addition, the terms carole and chorus, also originally Greek, meant a sacred ring dance, men and women holding each others hands [other related English words are chorale, choir, and choreography]. LDS scholar, Dr. Hugh Nibley, reminds us that the creation was often acted out in these Greek dance dramas:
The Greek play has a chorus. Well what does chorus mean? It’s a ring dance; it’s a circle. Same as our word curve; Latin: curvus; going around. The chorus sings, and the chorus of the muses sings the poiema, the creation song . . . When they sing together, it’s the poiema, the song of the creation. It’s a glorious thing. It’s a round dance like the Egyptian maypole.
Nibley takes it one step further to explain that all the arts originated from the ancient temple dramas. “So poetry, music, and dance,” he tells us, “go out to the world from the temple-called by the Greeks the Mouseion, the shrine of the Muses.” Again he states that, “All the arts and sciences began at the temple. Dance, music, architecture, sculpture, drama, and so forth-they all go back to the temple.” Kraus supports this claim of a ritualistic connection between the arts when he informs us that Native American ceremonies and sacred dances are “part of an elaborate drama which embraces all the arts.” ((http://www.templestudy.com/2008/02/01/the-genesis-of-the-round-dance-part-3/))
The more one learns about the arts, the more one is convinced of Nibley’s stunning summation.
I want to expand a bit more on the traditional Greek dance forms, and share some more interesting details I’ve learned about these ancient practices that still are continued today. [Read more…]