Easter: Of Butterflies and Moths

 We know butterflies as a symbol of resurrection. Caterpillars enter the hardened chrysalis, and turn into "caterpillar soup" before emerging as butterflies. Life. Death. Resurrection. 

Odilon Redon created multiple paintings of multiple butterflies. The creatures are against semi-natural backgrounds. Cloud-like smears of color are located toward the top of the MOMA image (top left). Paint suggesting rocks and landscapes are toward the bottom of the image. Cool colors dominate the image. The other painting is dominated by warm colors. 

In both images winged creatures seek to soar upward, some cartwheeling through the sky. 

Are they all butterflies? Are some of them moths? Does it make a difference for our celebration of resurrection on Easter?

Butterflies aren't mentioned in the Bible. We bring the meaning of resurrection to them, but that is not an image from scripture.

Moths are mentioned in scripture, though not in the most positive light. Isaiah 50:9, Hosea 5:12, and Job 4:19 all mention moths as things that eat or consume. Think about what can happen to a sweater when moths get hold of it. Actually it's the larval stage of the moth that causes all the destruction. The insects lay eggs on (preferably) wool cloth. When the eggs hatch, the larval moths feed on the wool. It isn't really the adult moths that are harmful for our stored winter garments. 

And yet, the moth passes through the same three stages that a butterfly does: larval, cocoon, moth. Life, death, resurrection. Why don't we think of the moth in the same way that we do the butterfly? 

Are they parallel symbols? Can we embrace the moth this Easter as well? Or should we let butterflies be butterflies and moths be moths. What counts for resurrection symbols? 

(Top left) Odilon Redon. Butterflies. c. 1910. NY: Museum of Modern Art. (Bottom left) Odilon Redon. Evocation of Butterflies. c. 1910-1012. Detroit Institute of Art. 

How do you distinguish moths from butterflies? Click here.

Acts 5.27-32: As Bird is My Witness

The disciples stand before the high council (Acts 5:27-32). Council members remind the disciples that they were instructed not to each in Jesus' name. "But we have to!" they claim. They then rehearse Jesus' life story: his death, his resurrection, his position at the right hand of God. We have to, they say, because we were witnesses to all those things. We were witnesses...and so was the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:32).

The Holy Spirit was a witness to the Crucifixion and the resurrection? That's a detail that may not be universally - at least universally artistically - acknowledged. A small, unscientific survey reveals that there are times and ways when a dove - arguably the most common symbol for the Holy Spirit - is shown in images of Christ on the cross. But the occurrence is far from the majority of times.

(Left) Master of the Prayerbooks of c. 1500. Royal 16F II, Fol. 89. London: British Library.  (Right) Masaccio. The Holy Trinity. 1425. Fresco. Santa Maria Novella, Florence, Italy. 

In the manuscript illumination (above left) the dove is flying in carrying an ampoule. An ampoule is a glass vial that can contain a substance - perhaps a liquid, maybe some kind of solid. The Holy Ampoule is a glass vial that held the anointing oil used at the coronation of French kings. In some medieval French images the Holy Spirit appears in scenes of baptism, bringing in an ampoule filled with oil to anoint the one being baptized. In this illumination, the dove is at the top center of the composition, hovering over the walled city of Paris (do you see Notre Dame?) and a scene of Christ on a cross. Though identified as the Crucifixion, this also has the feel of travelers stopping at a roadside shrine that includes a crucifix. Shrine or crucifixion, this is one example where a symbol of the Holy Spirit is present.

The Masaccio work (above right) is a theological diagram rather than a narrative illustration, so it does include all three persons of the Trinity, including a dove representing the Holy Spirit. The fresco, though, may not be an illustration of the apostles' claim before the High Council. And the other episodes - including the resurrection - seem to have even fewer evidences of the Holy Spirit.

Were Peter and the apostles still so taken up with Pentecost and the arrival of the Holy Spirit
(only three chapters before this text) that they needed to make sure the Holy Spirit was highlighted? Why haven't artists picked up on that detail and included pictorial evidence of the Holy Spirit in their images of the crucifixion and the resurrection? Why might this be an important point to remember about the crucifixion and the resurrection?

See how doves and disciples come together in a different work on this week's Art&Faith Matters on Facebook. 
We are as likely (possibly more likely) to see a pelican in crucifixion paintings than to see doves. For an example, see this 2018 post on Art&Faith Matters' Facebook page.

For thoughts on John 20:19-31 - Thomas' post-Easter story, click here, here, or here.

Easter: What Jesus Did

It's Easter and the search for something new to say...or some new way to tell the story...is at hand. Previously, we have considered the women, the disciples, Mary Magdalene, and how Easter fits into the calendar. The story of that morning is so familiar (John 20:1-18). We know the characters, how they act, what they say, what they find at the tomb. We see Jesus brightly shining, often carrying a victory banner, climbing out of a box tomb or walking out of a cave-tomb. He speaks Mary's name and exchanges a few words with her. And then he is gone (in John's gospel, disappearing from sight until he appears again in a locked room with the disciples).

We can talk about what Jesus did: conquering sin and death, redeeming humanity, doing for us what we could not do for ourselves. Mexican muralist Jesse Clemente Orozco gives a different image of what Christ did through his death and resurrection (though not necessarily on Easter morning) in the work shown here.

José Clemente Orozco. Christo Destruye su Cruz. 1943. INBA/MACG

What Jesus does here isn't just come down from the cross or overcome the cross. He destroys his cross. He takes an axe and hacks at the base of the cross (though often the cross is described as marble like the architectural forms behind Jesus. Though our point of view is from an oblique angle, we can see that the cross is completely separated from its base. The cross is set to fall. What does that mean in light of the Easter story?

This is one of three versions of Christ destroying his cross. Another version is at Dartmouth College. Painted a little more than a decade before the MACG version, the colors are more vivid and primary. The overall mood is more glaring, perhaps even more violent, than the later version. 

                                    José Clemente Orozco. Christ Destroying His Cross. 1932. Dartmouth College. 

Do either of these images speak to your understanding of what Jesus did on Easter? Though the composition does not use the traditional imagery of Easter morning, both show a more demonstrative, more active Jesus as his life, death and resurrection changes the world.

For thoughts on the followers who came to the tomb, click here.

For thoughts on Easter and the calendar, click here.

For thoughts on Jesus' words to Mary, click here.

Art&Faith Matters Facebook page this week is a different approach to a visual element of Easter worship. Take a look.

Marking Time Until Easter

Finding a painting that captures the resurrection of Jesus in a convincing way is a daunting task. Jesus climbing out of a tomb or standing before a weeping Mary abound. But while they may accurately describe a scene, they don't (for me) capture the momentousness of the event. So for this week, we will consider art and faith beyond an illustrative image. See the Art&Faith Matters Facebook this week for some narrative images covering the events of Holy Week.

Diagonally across the floor of the nave of S. Maria degli Angeli in Rome is a brass line. The metal is inlaid and marked at intervals by words and images. Similar lines are found in the Basilica of San Petronio in Bologna, St. Sulpice in Paris and Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence. The reason they are there has to do with Easter. Specifically, calculating when Easter would be.

Unlike Christmas, Easter is not on a fixed day. Instead it is celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring equinox. The equinox is the day when the hours of the day are divided equally: 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of night. We consider March 21 as the equinox, but the true equinox is not always on March 21. Figuring exactly when the equinox would occur required a meridian line. Such lines were installed in many cathedrals, turning them into solar observatories.

The meridian line is half of the apparatus required to track the path of the sun (and the dependent celebration of Easter). The other required element is an oculus - a hole in the ceiling that serves as an aperture. The sun's rays shone through the oculus onto the meridian line, crossing the line at solar noon and over the course of the year, indicating both winter and summer solstices (the extreme ends of the sun's journey at the extreme ends of the meridian line) as well as the equinox at the midpoint of the meridian line.

The meridian lines really served more to confirm the accuracy of Gregorian calendar reform than to predict an unknown Easter date. Pope Gregory XIII instituted calendar reform in 1582 in an effort to stop the drift of events like the solstices and equinoxes. In that year, ten days were removed from the calendar so that Eastern and Western Christians would celebrate Easter on the same day. This intersection of sun and Easter was also an intersection of science and faith. The meridian lines were supported by the church authorities who were happy to be able to tell at a glance when Easter would be.

The meridian lines have not remained completely accurate. This is due not to any astronomical discrepancies but rather to the fact that some of these cathedrals are sinking. The measurements are no longer as accurate, meaning the sun shining through the oculus illuminates the floor near but perhaps not on the line. In some cases, the lines are now used as instruments to measure how the structure of the cathedral has shifted. The lines are still there, though, visible reminders of the movement of the universe that God created and then redeemed through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

All images are of S. Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri in Rome, Italy. (Top) The meridian line crossing the nave of the church. (Middle) Close-up of the meridian line with Easter - Paschae - identified. (Bottom) Exterior of S. Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri.

For thoughts on the followers who came to the tomb, click here.
For thoughts on Jesus' words to Mary, click here.

For thoughts on how we picture what Jesus did in his life, death and resurrection, click here.

John 20.1-18: One Word

Just one word. Her name. That's all it took. While the unfathomable drama of resurrection is elsewhere in the gospel reading for Easter (John 20:1-18), there is deep personal drama in the one moment when Mary is known by and knows Jesus.

Mary.

She recognizes the voice. She looks up. And she knows. Jesus is alive. The Christ is risen.
Indeed.

The sculptural group shown here, Jesus and Mary Magdalene, is by Bruce Wolfe. In the collection of Old Mission Santa Barbara. For the mission, see: http://www.santabarbaramission.org/ For Bruce Wolfe, see:  http://brucewolfe.com/religious-statuary/ 

See Art &Faith Matters on Facebook for another artist's version of this scene.  link below for Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday posts.

For thoughts on the followers who came to the tomb, click here.
For thoughts on Easter and the calendar, click here.
For thoughts on how we picture what Jesus did in his life, death, and resurrection, click here.

John 20.1-18: To the Tomb

How, in a still image, does an artist show the moment when death becomes life?

Rather than trying to imagine what Jesus looked like at that moment, consider what expressions and emotions might have been on the faces of those who went to the tomb on the morning called Easter.

Two groups of people - first a group of women and then a pair of men - made their way to the tomb. The first group, women who went at first light, had expectations. They were prepared to continue their mourning. They were expecting to feel fresh grief from the loss of Jesus.

And then they arrived at the tomb and found the stone rolled away. What do their faces say?

Henry Ossawa Tanner. The Three Marys. 1910. Fisk University Art Galleries. http://www.fisk.edu/services-resources/fisk-university-galleries

The women returned to the disciples, telling what they found, and the disciples had to go see for themselves whether the story told by the women could possibly be true. 

So they, too, hurry to the tomb. Peter and John. What do their faces say?

Eugene Burnand. The Disciples Peter and John Hurry to the Tomb on the Morning of the Resurrection. 1898. Musee d'Orsay, Paris. http://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/collections/index-of-works/notice.html?no_cache=1&zsz=5&lnum=&nnumid=9239

And what will your face say on Easter morning or on any morning that you wake up realizing that Christ has risen?

For thoughts on how we picture what Jesus did in his life, death, and resurrection, click here.
For thoughts on Easter and the calendar, click here.
For thoughts on Jesus' words to Mary, click here.