RichardWorthington
17-02-2008, 05:49 PM
While reading the service book for the thread on sacraments and the Divine Light, I was rather taken by some of the references in the service of Marriage that I had not really noticed before (even though I had read it before getting married myself!).
In the service not only are the words from Ephesians read, "This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church" (Ephesians 5:32), but also the prayer stating that it is Christ who is the "Priest of mystical and pure marriage" (Hapgood p 295). This started me thinking. In the Book of Revelation we read of an angel saying to St John about the Church, "Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb's wife", and he saw "the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God". Now significantly the shape of the new Jerusalem is given as follows, "Its length, breadth, and height are equal". (Revelation 21:9, 10-11,16; in Hebrews 12:22-23 the Church is referred to as the heavenly Jerusalem.)
This implies that the new Jerusalem is a cube, which is exactly the shape of the Holy of Holies in King Solomon’s Temple: "The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high" (1 Kings 6:20). (This idea comes from Margaret Barker (http://www.margaretbarker.com/)’s book on Revelation.) Now the only person allowed into the Holy of Holies was the high priest, once a year, on the Day of Atonement (hence the phrase "the Day of the Lord", also used of the Last Day as well.)
However, when the high priest was truly holy, he came out of the Holy of Holies shining with Divine Glory (see Sirach 50:5-15). (Of course, the true high priest is Christ, and the true Holy of Holies is the Body of Christ, the Church.) Is this glory the ‘child’ of the union between the priest and the Holy of Holies? If so, then the union of husband and wife is to produce children who, shining with the Divine Light, "go forth and multiply" over the face of the earth, spreading God’s Glory everywhere. People wash in water, but Baptism is higher; people eat bread and wine, but the Eucharist is higher: is this something similar for marriage?
Marriage has often been seen as a lesser calling than monasticism. However, when true purity of heart is combined with marriage, is a higher symbol produced?
Richard
PS There are quite a few other interesting phrases in the marriage service, but this post is long enough!
In the service not only are the words from Ephesians read, "This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church" (Ephesians 5:32), but also the prayer stating that it is Christ who is the "Priest of mystical and pure marriage" (Hapgood p 295). This started me thinking. In the Book of Revelation we read of an angel saying to St John about the Church, "Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb's wife", and he saw "the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God". Now significantly the shape of the new Jerusalem is given as follows, "Its length, breadth, and height are equal". (Revelation 21:9, 10-11,16; in Hebrews 12:22-23 the Church is referred to as the heavenly Jerusalem.)
This implies that the new Jerusalem is a cube, which is exactly the shape of the Holy of Holies in King Solomon’s Temple: "The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high" (1 Kings 6:20). (This idea comes from Margaret Barker (http://www.margaretbarker.com/)’s book on Revelation.) Now the only person allowed into the Holy of Holies was the high priest, once a year, on the Day of Atonement (hence the phrase "the Day of the Lord", also used of the Last Day as well.)
However, when the high priest was truly holy, he came out of the Holy of Holies shining with Divine Glory (see Sirach 50:5-15). (Of course, the true high priest is Christ, and the true Holy of Holies is the Body of Christ, the Church.) Is this glory the ‘child’ of the union between the priest and the Holy of Holies? If so, then the union of husband and wife is to produce children who, shining with the Divine Light, "go forth and multiply" over the face of the earth, spreading God’s Glory everywhere. People wash in water, but Baptism is higher; people eat bread and wine, but the Eucharist is higher: is this something similar for marriage?
Marriage has often been seen as a lesser calling than monasticism. However, when true purity of heart is combined with marriage, is a higher symbol produced?
Richard
PS There are quite a few other interesting phrases in the marriage service, but this post is long enough!