OLD TESTAMENT TIMELINES
Why God Gave the Law
Selections from St. Symeon the New Theologian, “The Blessed State”:
“However, inasmuch as it was in his power to eat of every tree in Paradise and from the very Tree of Life itself, there was given to him a commandment not to eat from one tree only, so that he might know that he was alterable and changeable, and might beware, and might always remain in that good and divine condition. God, by those words which He said to him in giving the commandment that if he should eat he would die, gave him to understand that he was alterable and changeable.
Thus, at that time, in Paradise, no law was necessary, either written or spiritual. But after man had eaten of that forbidden tree and had died a bitter death, that is, had fallen away from God and become subject to corruption—then, so that he might not fall completely away from every good (since evil had spread mightily among the human race and was tyrannizing over it by force, by reason of the disastrous enfeeblement to which it had become subject as a result of corruption) there was given him a law in order that it might indicate what was good and what bad. For man had become blind; he had gone out of his mind and become senseless; and therefore he also had need of instruction, as is written in the Psalms, Unveil mine eyes, and I shall perceive wondrous things out of Thy law (Ps. 118:73). Do you see to what a pitiful condition man had come, and how, therefore, he had need of the written law? For after had had fallen he could no longer know even this world, unless he be enlightened from above by God with knowledge of it.”
St. Symeon the New Theologian, Homily 2: “The Blessed State,” The First-Created Man, trans. by Fr. Seraphim Rose (Platina, CA: St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood, 2001), 52-53.
The Son of God in the Old Testament
THE SON APPEARS TO ABRAHAM BY THE OAK OF MAMRE
Selection from St. Irenaeus, On the Apostolic Preaching:
“And again Moses says that the Son of God drew near to speak with Abraham…. Now two of the three were angels, but one was the Son of God, with whom Abraham spoke…. So, Abraham was a prophet and saw things of the future, which were to come to pass, the Son of God in human form—that He was to speak with men and eat food with them, and then to bring down judgment from that Father who is Lord over all <…>.”
St. Irenaeus of Lyons, On the Apostolic Preaching, Part 2, trans. by John Behr (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1997), 69.
THE SON APPEARS TO JACOB
Selection from St. Irenaeus, On the Apostolic Preaching:
“And Jacob, going to Mesopotamia, sees Him in a dream, standing <upon> the ladder, that is, the tree which was set up from <earth> to <heaven>, for by it the believers in Him ascend to heaven, since His Passion is our ascension on high. And all such visions signify the Son of God speaking with mankind and being amongst them; for it is not the Father of all, who is not seen by the world…but the Word of God, who was always with mankind and who foretold things of the future, which were to come to pass, and taught men things of God.
St. Irenaeus of Lyons, On the Apostolic Preaching, Part 2, trans. by John Behr (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1997), 70.
THE SON APPEARS TO MOSES IN THE BURNING BUSH
Selection from St. Justin the Philosopher, “The First Apology”:
“But so much is written for the sake of proving that Jesus the Christ is the Son of God and His Apostle, being of old the Word, and appearing sometimes in the form of fire, and sometimes in the likeness of angels; but now, by the will of God, having become man for the human race, He endured all the sufferings which the devils instigated the senseless Jews to inflict upon Him; who, though they have it expressly affirmed in the writings of Moses, ‘And the angel of God spake to Moses in a flame of fire in a bush, and said, I am that I am, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,’ yet maintain that He who said this was the Father and Creator of the universe. Whence also the Spirit of prophecy rebukes them, and says, ‘Israel doth not know Me, my people have not understood Me.’ And again, Jesus, as we have already shown, while He was with them, said, ‘No one knoweth the Father, but the Son; nor the Son but the Father, and those to whom the Son will reveal Him.’ The Jews, accordingly, being throughout of opinion that it was the Father of the universe who spake to Moses, though He who spake to him was indeed the Son of God, who is called both Angel and Apostle, are justly charged, both by the Spirit of prophecy and by Christ Himself, with knowing neither the Father nor the Son. For they who affirm that the Son is the Father, are proved neither to have become acquainted with the Father, nor to know that the Father of the universe has a Son; who also, being the first-begotten Word of God, is even God. And of old He appeared in the shape of fire and in the likeness of an angel to Moses and to the other prophets; but now in the times of your reign, having, as we before said, become Man by a virgin, according to the counsel of the Father, for the salvation of those who believe on Him, He endured both to be set at nought and to suffer, that by dying and rising again He might conquer death. And that which was said out of the bush to Moses, “I am that I am, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, and the God of your fathers,” this signified that they, even though dead, are yet in existence, and are men belonging to Christ Himself. For they were the first of all men to busy themselves in the search after God; Abraham being the father of Isaac, and Isaac of Jacob, as Moses wrote.”
St. Justin the Philosopher, “The First Apology.” NPNF. This text is available for free at this website: http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf01.txt
Selections from St. Gregory the Nyssa, “The Life of Moses”:
“It is upon us who continue in this quiet and peaceful course of life that the truth will shine, illuminating the eyes of our soul with its own rays. This truth, which was then manifested by the ineffable and mysterious illumination which came to Moses, is God.
And if the flame by which the soul of the prophet was illuminated was kindled from a thorny bush, even this fact will not be useless for our inquiry. For if truth is God and truth is light—the Gospel testifies by these sublime and divine names to the God who made himself visible to us in the flesh—such guidance of virtue leads us to know that light which has reached down even to human nature. Lest one think that the radiance did not come from a material substance, this light did not shine from some luminary among the stars, but came from an earthly bush and surpassed the heavenly luminaries in brilliance.
From this we learn also the mystery of the Virgin: the light of divinity which through birth shone from her into human life did not consume the burning bush, even as the flower of her virginity was not withered by giving birth.
That light teaches us what we must do to stand within the rays of the true light: the sandaled feet cannot ascend that height where the light of truth is seen, but the dead and earthly covering of skins, which was placed around our nature at the beginning when we were found naked because of disobedience to the divine will, must be removed from the feet of the soul” (37).
“In the same way that Moses on that occasion attained to this knowledge, so now does everyone who, like him, divests himself of the earthly covering and looks to the light shining from the bramble bush, that is, to the Radiance which shines upon us through this thorny flesh and which (as the Gospel says) the true light and the truth itself. A person like this becomes able to help others to salvation, to destroy the tyranny which holds power wickedly, and to deliver to freedom everyone held in evil servitude” (39).
St. Gregory of Nyssa, “The Life of Moses,” trans. by Abraham J. Malherbe & Everett Ferguson (San Francisco, CA: HarperSanFrancisco, 2006), 37, 39.
Selection from St. Nektarios of Aegina, “Christology”:
“The God revealed in the Old Testament with the name Jehovah [Yahweh], ‘the One Who is,’ is the second person of the Holy Trinity: the Son and Word of God the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, Who for us and for our salvation became man.”
Harry Boosalis, Knowledge of God: Ancient Spirituality of the Christian East (South Cannan, PA: St. Tikhon’s Seminary Press, 2009), 72, quoting St. Nectarios of Aegina, Christology, trans. St. Nectarios Greek Orthodox Monastery, Roscoe, p. 81.
THE SON APPEARS WITH THE THREE HOLY CHILDREN
Selection from the Akathist Canon, 8th Ode:
“The three holy children in the furnace the Child of the Theotokos saved; then was the type, now is its fulfillment, and the whole world gathers to sing: All ye works praise the Lord and magnify Him unto all ages.”
BIRTH IN BETHLEHEM OF THE KING WITHOUT BEGINNING FORETOLD
Selection from the Prophet Micah:
“And thou, Bethleem, house of Ephratha, art few in number to be reckoned among the thousands of Juda; yet out of thee shall one come forth to me, to be a ruler of Israel; and his goings forth were from the beginning, even from eternity.”
Micah 5.2, LXX, Brenton translation
THE VIRGIN MARY, THE MOTHER OF GOD, PREFIGURED IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
Selections from St. John of Damascus, “Concerning our Lord’s Genealogy and Concerning the Holy Mother of God,” An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith:
“For she being pre-ordained by the eternal prescient counsel of God and imaged forth and proclaimed in diverse images and discourses of the prophets through the Holy Spirit, sprang at the pre-determined time from the root of David, according to the promises that were made to him. For the Lord hath sworn, He saith in truth to David, He will not turn from it: of the fruit of Thy body will I set upon Thy throne. And again, Once have I sworn by My holiness, that I will not lie unto David. His seed shall endure for ever, and His throne as the sun before Me. It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven. And Isaiah says: And there shall come out a rod out of the stem of Jesse and a branch shall grow out of his roots.”
“One ought to remember that it was not the custom of the Hebrews nor of the divine Scripture to give genealogies of women; and the law was to prevent one tribe seeking wives from another. And so since Joseph was descended from the tribe of David and was a just man (for this the divine Gospel testifies), he would not have espoused the holy Virgin contrary to the law; he would not have taken her unless she had been of the same tribe. It was sufficient, therefore, to demonstrate the descent of Joseph.”
“For He who was of the Father, yet without mother, was born of woman without a father’s co-operation. And so far as He was born of woman, His birth was in accordance with the laws of parturition, while so far as He had no father, His birth was above the nature of generation: and in that it was at the usual time (for He was born on the completion of the ninth month when the tenth was just beginning), His birth was in accordance with the laws of parturition, while in that it was painless it was above the laws of generation. For, as pleasure did not precede it, pain did not follow it, according to the prophet who says, Before she travailed, she brought forth, and again, before her pain came she was delivered of a man-child. The Son of God incarnate, therefore, was born of her, not a divinely-inspired man but God incarnate; not a prophet anointed with energy but by the presence of the anointing One in His completeness, so that the Anointer became man and the Anointed God, not by a change of nature but by union in subsistence. For the Anointer and the Anointed were one and the same, anointing in the capacity of God Himself as man. Must there not therefore be a Mother of God who bore God incarnate? Assuredly she who played the part of the Creator’s servant and mother is in all strictness and truth in reality God’s Mother and Lady and Queen over all created things. But just as He who was conceived kept her who conceived still virgin, in like manner also He who was born preserved her virginity intact, only passing through her and keeping her closed. The conception, indeed, was through the sense of hearing, but the birth through the usual path by which children come, although some tell tales of His birth through the side of the Mother of God. For it was not impossible for Him to have come by this gate, without injuring her seal in anyway.
The ever-virgin One thus remains even after the birth still virgin, having never at any time up till death consorted with a man. For although it is written, And knew her not till she had brought forth her first-born Son, yet note that he who is first-begotten is first-born even if he is only-begotten. For the word “first-born” means that he was born first but does not at all suggest the birth of others. And the word “till” signifies the limit of the appointed time but does not exclude the time thereafter. For the Lord says, And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world, not meaning thereby that He will be separated from us after the completion of the age. The divine apostle, indeed, says, And so shall we ever be with the Lord, meaning after the general resurrection.”
St. John of Damascus, “Concerning our Lord’s Genealogy and Concerning the Holy Mother of God,” An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, Bk. 4, Ch. XIV, NPNF, Second Series, Vol. 9.
THE VIRGIN MARY AS THEOTOKOS
Selection from the Prophet Isaiah:
“Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; behold, a virgin shall conceive in the womb, and shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Emmanuel.”
Isaiah 7.17, LXX, Brenton translation
PARADISE, THRONE, TEMPLE, MORE SPACIOUS THAN THE HEAVENS
Selection from the Megalynarion of the Divine Liturgy of St. Basil:
“In thee rejoiceth all creation, O thou who art full of grace: the hierarchy of the angels, and all mankind, O consecrated temple and paradise endowed with speech; glory of virginity, of whom God, Who is our God before the ages, was incarnate and became a little child. For He made thy body a throne, and thy womb did He make more spacious than the heavens. In thee doth all creation rejoice, O thou who art full of grace, and it glorifieth thee.”
Megalynarion, Divine Liturgy of St. Basil the Great
THE NEW EVE THROUGH WHOM CREATION IS HEALED
Selection from the Book of Genesis:
“Thus the Lord God said to the serpent, ‘Because you have don this, you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than all the wild animals of the earth. On your breast and belly you shall go and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise your head, and you shall be on guard for His heal.”
Genesis 3.41-15, LXX, SAAS translation (Orthodox Study Bible)
Selection from the Akathist Hymn to the Theotokos:
“An angel chieftan was sent from heaven to say, “Hail” unto the Theotokos. And beholding thee, O Lord, taking bodily form, he stood rapt in wonder, and with bodiless voice cried aloud to her in this wise:
Hail, thou, through whom joy shall shine forth; Hail , thou, through whom the curse
shall be destroyed.
Hail, thou restoration of fallen Adam; Hail, thou, redemption of the tears of Eve.
Hail, thou that art a kingly throne; Hail, thou that holdest the Upholder of all.
Hail, thou star that showed the Sun; Hail, Womb of the divine incarnation.
Hail, thou through whom Creation is renewed; Hail, thou through whom the Creator becomes a babe.”
Akathist Hymn, First Stasis, Oikos 1.
Selection from St. Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies, Bk. V:
“That the Lord then was manifestly coming to His own things, and was sustaining them by means of that creation which is supported by Himself, and was making a recapitulation of that disobedience which had occurred in connection with a tree, through the obedience which was [exhibited by Himself when He hung] upon a tree, [the effects] also of that deception being done away with, by which that virgin Eve, who was already espoused to a man, was unhappily misled,—was happily announced, through means of the truth [spoken] by the angel to the Virgin Mary, who was [also espoused] to a man. For just as the former was led astray by the word of an angel, so that she fled from God when she had transgressed His word; so did the latter, by an angelic communication, receive the glad tidings that she should sustain (portaret) God, being obedient to His word. And if the former did disobey God, yet the latter was persuaded to be obedient to God, in order that the Virgin Mary might become the patroness (advocata) of the virgin Eve. And thus, as the human race fell into bondage to death by means of a virgin, so is it rescued by a virgin; virginal disobedience having been balanced in the opposite scale by virginal obedience. For in the same way the sin of the first created man (protoplasti) receives amendment by the correction of the First-begotten, and the coming of the serpent is conquered by the harmlessness of the dove, those bonds being unloosed by which we had been fast bound to death.”
St. Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies, Bk. V, Ch. XIX, ANF, Vol. 1.
Selection from St. Justin the Philosopher, Dialogue with Trypho:
“For Eve, who was a virgin and undefiled, having conceived the word of the serpent, brought forth disobedience and death. But the Virgin Mary received faith and joy, when the angel Gabriel announced the good tidings to her that the Spirit of the Lord would come upon her, and the power of the Highest would overshadow her: wherefore also the Holy Thing begotten of her is the Son of God; and she replied, ‘Be it unto me according to thy word.’ And by her has He been born, to whom we have proved so many Scriptures refer, and by whom God destroys both the serpent and those angels and men who are like him; but works deliverance from death to those who repent of their wickedness and believe upon Him.”
St. Justin the Philosopher, Dialogue with Trypho, Chapter C, ANF, Vol. 1.
THE HEAVENLY LADDER SEEN BY PATRIARCH JACOB
(See Genesis 28.10-17)
Selection from the Akathist Hymn to the Theotokos:
“Hail, heavenly ladder, by which God came down; Hail Bridge that leadest us from earth to heaven.”
Akathist Hymn, First Stasis, Oikos 3.
THE BURNING BUSH
(See Exodus 3)
Selection from the hymnography dedicated to the Unburnt Bush Icon:
“The miracle that Moses witnessed on Sinai in the burning bush foretold your virgin childbearing, O pure Mother. We the faithful cry to you: Rejoice, O truly living bush!Rejoice, O holy mountain! Rejoice, O sanctified expanse and most holy Theotokos!”
Troparion , “Icon of the Mother of God ‘the Unburnt Bush’,” Orthodox Church in America.
“You showed Moses, O Christ God, an image of your most pure Mother in the bush that burned yet was not consumed, for she herself was not consumed, when she received in her womb the fire of divinity! She remained incorrupt after her pure childbearing! By her prayers, O greatly merciful One, deliver us from the flame of passions, and preserve your people from all harm!”
Kontakion, “Icon of the Mother of God ‘the Unburnt Bush’,” Orthodox Church in America.
THE TABERNACLE, TEMPLE, HOLY OF HOLIES, AND ARK OF THE COVENANT
(See Exodus 25-27, 40; 2 Chronicles 5-7)
Selection from the Akathist Hymn to the Theotokos:
“Yet while we sing to Him whom thou didst bear, we all hymn thee, O Theotokos, as a living temple; for the Lord, who holds all things in His hand, by dwelling within thee, hallowed and glorified thee, and taught all to cry out unto thee:
Hail, Tabernacle of God, and of the Word; Hail, Holiest of all the Holy ones.
Hail, Ark made golden by the Spirit; Hail, inexhastible Treasury of life.”
Akathist Hymn, First Stasis, Oikos 1.
THE THEOT
Selection from the Kontakion of the Entry of the Theotokos into the Temple:
“The most pure Temple of the Savior; the precious Chamber and Virgin; the sacred Treasure of the glory of God, is presented today to the house of the Lord. She brings with her the grace of the Spirit, therefore, the angels of God praise her: ‘Truly this woman is the abode of heaven.’
Kontakion, Entry of the Theotokos into the Temple, Orthodox Church in America.
Selection of a Theotokion of the Resurrection:
“O most reverend Virgin, O thou by means of whom my Savior Christ the Lord did appear to those lying in darkness, he being the Sun of justice, wishing to light those whom he had made with his own hands after his likeness, thou art the temple, the gate, the palace and the throne of the King. Wherefore, O all-praised one, thou hast attained with him maternal privilege; intercede ceaselessly for the salvation of our souls.”
Theotokion of the Resurrection, Tone 5.
THE MOTHER WHOSE CHILD SAVED THE THREE CHILDREN FROM THE FURNACE
See Daniel 3.8-94
Selection from the Canon of the Theotokos:
“The three holy children in the furnace the Child of the Theotokos saved; then was the type, now is its fulfillment, and the whole world gathers to sing: “All ye works, praise the Lord, and magnify Him unto all ages.”
Canon of the Akathist, Katavasia, 8th Ode.
THE EVER-VIRGINITY OF THE THEOTOKOS
Selection from the Prophet Ezekiel:
“Then he brought me back by the way of the outer gate of the sanctuary that looks eastward; and it was shut. And the Lord said to me, This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no one shall pass through it; for the Lord God of Israel shall enter by it, and it shall be shut.
Ezekiel 44.1-2, LXX, Brenton translation
THE QUEEN AND MOTHER OF CHILDREN
Selection from Psalm 44 (LXX)/45:
Hear, O daughter, and see, and incline thine ear; forget also thy people, and thy father’s house.
Because the king has desired thy beauty; for he is thy Lord.
And the daughter of Tyre shall adore him with gifts; the rich of the people of the land shall supplicate thy favour.
All her glory is that of the daughter of the king of Esebon, robed as she is in golden fringed garments,
in embroidered clothing: virgins shall be brought to the king after her: her fellows shall be brought to thee.
They shall be brought with gladness and exultation: they shall be led into the king’s temple.
Instead of thy fathers children are born to thee: thou shalt make them princes over all the earth.
They shall make mention of thy name from generation to generation: therefore shall the nations give thanks to thee for ever, even for ever and ever.
Psalm 45:10-17, LXX, Brenton translation
The Appointed Time for the Cure of Death
Selection from St. Gregory of Nyssa, The Great Catechism:
“In diseases, for instance, of the body, when some corrupt humour spreads unseen beneath the pores, before all the unhealthy secretion has been detected on the skin, they who treat diseases by the rules of art do not use such medicines as would harden the flesh, but they wait till all that lurks within comes out upon the surface, and then, with the disease unmasked, apply their remedies. When once, then, the disease of evil had fixed itself in the nature of mankind, He, the universal Healer, waited for the time when no form of wickedness was left still hidden in that nature. For this reason it was that He did not produce his healing for man’s disease immediately on Cain’s hatred and murder of his brother; for the wickedness of those who were destroyed in the days of Noah had not yet burst into a flame, nor had that terrible disease of Sodomite lawlessness been displayed, nor the Egyptians’ war against God, nor the pride of Assyria, nor the Jews’ bloody persecution of God’s saints, nor Herod’s cruel murder of the children, nor whatever else is recorded, or if unrecorded was done in the generations that followed, the root of evil budding forth in divers manners in the willful purposes of man. When, then, wickedness had reached its utmost height, and there was no form of wickedness which men had not dared to do, to the end that the healing remedy might pervade the whole of the diseased system, He, accordingly, ministers to the disease; not at its beginning, but when it had been completely developed.”
St. Gregory of Nyssa, The Great Catechism, NPNF, Second Series, Vol. 5. This text is available for free at this address: http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf205.txt
See also:
The Old Testament Prophets and Divine Healing by Fr. Symeon Kees