By Canon Chris Vipers
I am thrilled that my own little parish of Holy Apostles in Pimlico is honoured with a visit of the Jubilee Icon during it’s pilgrimage across our Diocese. The Icon, commissioned by CAFOD and the Bishops’ Conference, created by the Ethiopian iconographer Mulugeta Araya, and blessed by Cardinal Vincent, is a vivid and powerful illustration of Jesus, our Hope.
And it is to places where hope abounds that the Icon is journeying: to Westminster Deaf Service, to local parishes and their Primary and Secondary Schools, to St Alban’s Cathedral for an ecumenical celebration and to St Joseph’s Pastoral Centre for those with learning disabilities, their families and friends, to a care home for the elderly and to the French Church and refugee service in the West End, to St Elizabeth’s Centre in Much Hadham and to the Ethiopian Chaplaincy at Queensway, to Pimlico for a Service of Reconciliation, Hope and Healing, and ultimately to Westminster Cathedral for their great celebrations of Christmas.
This is all on top of journeying throughout the dioceses of England and Wales on one long Pilgrimage of Hope. The Icon will already have been seen by thousands of people, touched in reverence by many hands, witnessed many prayers. It has brought hope to the margins, to the all-too-often forgotten or left-behind, to those whom Jesus came and comes to save.
So, let’s journey a little with the Icon itself as it illustrates and interprets the scene from Luke 6:16-21:
And he (Jesus) came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”
And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
In iconography it is often said that every brush stroke is a prayer. Icons are said to be written, not painted. Their creation is a form of prayer, the iconographer’s hand being guided by God. An icon is not an object to be worshipped in and of itself, but one that can lead us in prayer and take us deeper into the divine mystery. In our Jubilee Icon the symbolism is rich. What it depicts so beautifully is an earthiness, a rootedness to the land. Jesus is here without sandals, like all the others, as if standing on holy ground. The rainbow too catches the eye. It is not the traditional rainbow colours but Red, Yellow and Green, the colours of the Ethiopian flag, each colour symbolising something. Red, the blood spilled in defence of Ethiopia. Yellow, peace and harmony between the different religious and ethnic groups in Ethiopia. Green, a sign of hope, of nature, of new life and growth, and a colour that surrounds Jesus and the crowd.
Another thing that catches the eye is that the scriptures Jesus is holding are not written in Hebrew, Latin or Greek. They are in Ge’ez, an ancient Semitic language originating in Ethiopia and Eritrea. With the inclusion of this ancient language the artist helps us better understand the nature of the Incarnation – God becoming one of us. When Jesus takes on human form he enters every culture, nation and language, always and everywhere. The final striking thing in the Icon are the faces. We hear in scripture that “the eyes of all … were fixed on him”. There is even one man in the back pointing at his eyes and pointing to Jesus. But Jesus doesn’t turn to meet their gaze. Instead he looks out at us.
Maybe this Advent and Christmas, as we gaze on Christ in the Crib, as we turn our eyes on Jesus, allow him to look at us, at you. And marvel at the hope that gives you, knowing that you are loved. His is a gaze that will keep us Journeying with Hope, from here to eternity.