Question about Russian Orthodox liturgical text

[Sean Griffin]

Dear colleagues,

Prof. Rancour-Laferriere has noticed a prominent (and still unclear)
connection between the feminized hypostasis of Sophia and the Orthodox
liturgical tradition centering on Mary or 'Theotokos'.  Continuing on
R. M. Cleminson's insights above, I think it might be helpful if I
briefly elaborate on the three Old Testament vesperal readings that
are used for nearly all of the major feasts of the Theotokos.

The first is Genesis 28:10-17, where Jacob beholds a ladder stretching
from earth to heaven and is told by God that “in you and in your seed
all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”  Images: House of
God, Gate of Heaven.

The second is from Ezekiel 43:27—44:4, where once again the main image
is of a gateway that God alone can open and shut.

In the these two readings, the Old Testament images are understood in
New Testament typology as a prefiguring of the Incarnation of Christ
in Mary’s womb, which therefore becomes the “house of God” and the
“gate of heaven”.  Mary is the medium – metaphorically, the Ladder and
the Gate - through which God united himself to the materials of the
created universe.  She is Ladder because God descended from heaven;
Gate because through her biological organism, God entered into his own
creation.

The third reading (as rightly noted above in the thread) is Psalms
9:1-11, which seems to link the Theotokos to the feminine
personification of Wisdom from Old Testament Wisdom Literature.   This
is certainly a topic that deserves its own study, but the theological
implications (as Prof. R-L realizes) are immense and demand careful
consideration of centuries of Eastern and Western mariology.  As far
as Orthodox liturgical sources are concerned, the following service
books are essential: the Horologion, the Menaion, the Octoechos, the
Pentecostarion, the Lenten Triodion.  In English, I would especially
recommend the translations of the Festal Menaion and the Lenton
Triodion by Kallistos Ware and Mother Mary (St Tikhon's Press, if my
memory proves correct).
In different "movable texts" (i.e. those texts that change depending
on the feast day) there are a number of references and allusions to
Mary that make her existential condition before birth, in life, and
post-death more than a bit, well, unclear.  Orthodox dogma clearly
states that Christ is the Wisdom of God and that Mary is not divine.
At places in the Orthodox liturgical cycle, however, the texts do
hazily connect Mary to Wisdom and do describe her in a way that no
fully human being could be described.  Frankly, this is tricky
territory - I'll be glad to read whatever Prof. R-L settles on.

Hope this helps!

Best,
Sean Griffin
UCLA Slavic Dept.

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