As I write about the lopped or rough-hewn cross, I will try
to not repeat what has been said already in the Tree of Jesse blogs, especially
those from August 2015, but some repetition is probably inevitable. So, the writer asks for the readers’
indulgence.
The medieval mind was preoccupied with the interplay of
words and images (typological thinking) Examples shown in
three biblical texts are: 1) Isaiah speaks of a stem from the tree stump of
Jesse, 2) Jeremiah prophecies a righteous Branch from David, 3) Daniel
interprets King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of a tree that grew from the center of
the earth to a great height, but was then cut down as predicting the life that
the King was to lead. The tree was hewed
down so it can regrow as a Messianic kingdom.
The medieval mind saw these symbols of growth and destruction of trees
as the destruction of Israel and subsequent redemption through Jesus
Christ. The reference is not just to the
events of the gospels but also the hoped for second coming as expressed in
Revelation 5.5.
et unus de senioribus dicit mihi ne fleveris
ecce vicit leo de tribu
Iuda radix David aperire librum et septem signacula eius.
(Vulgate: Apocalypsis 5:5)
Iuda radix David aperire librum et septem signacula eius.
(Vulgate: Apocalypsis 5:5)
And one of
the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe
of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose
the seven seals thereof. (Revelation 5.5 KJV)
of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose
the seven seals thereof. (Revelation 5.5 KJV)
Multiple layers of means were sought and found. Pictorial representations showing topological
reasoning reinforced the need to hear or read the words and consider the many
possible layers of meaning.
Typological window of the Redemption from Cathedral of St. Stephen,
Chalons-en-Champagne, France. Glass dates 1138-1147. Center-the body of Christ
is on a green cross, flanked by St. Mary and St. John. The round figures on the
left and right above the cross are the sun and the moon. The half-round windows
clockwise from the top are: Church Triumphant, Moses raising the brazen
serpent, Synagogue, and the sacrifice of Isaac. http://www.therosewindow.com/pilot/Chalons-cath/images/ws-C12-IMG_0289a.jpg The Crucifixion of Jesus was often linked with the near sacrifice of
Isaac and the substitution of a ram for Isaac, the sacrifice of Jesus by his
death, and the lifting up of the bronze snake of Moses to save the Israelites
were all closely linked in medieval thinking.
The Church (Ecclesia) triumphing over Synagogue appeared from about
850-early 1300s when the images almost disappear.
The link between the stump of Jesse, the rod of Moses, the
wood of the (true) Cross, and the Tree of Life was made well before the 11th or
12th century. For example, Bishop
Quodvultdeus of Carthage (active c. 437-c.453), a younger contemporary of and
correspondent with Augustine of Hippo, wrote a sermon that identified the wood
of the cross with the shoot from the stock of Jesse, and the rod of Moses.[i]
O agne occise, o Christe sancte pro nobis
crucifixe, qui ut lapsa reparares in cruce pependisti: ipsa est illa virga
regni tui, crux ipsa, in quam, qua virtus in infirmitate perficitur; ipsa illa
virga crux, ipsa illa virga quae floruit ex radice Jesse; ipsa illa virga quam
portabat Moyses, quae conversa in serpentem glutiit magorum serpentes: doctrina
Christi diffusa per omnes gentes, haereticos superans dementes.[ii]
Oh lamb had been slain, who was
crucified for us, O holy Christ, who hung upon the cross that [our] Fall may be
repaired: scepter of thy kingdom is that the very cross, into which…any virtue
is made perfect in weakness: none other than that the rod of the cross, this
very same rod which flowered from the root Jesse, that she was carrying a rod
as Moses, which was turned into a snake swallow[ing] magicians’ snakes: the
doctrine of Christ spread throughout the nation, surpassing the demented
heretics.
Quodvultdeus’ sermon was attributed to St. Augustine of
Hippo. And under that name the sermon
was known in England by the early 12th century.
Quite a number, perhaps nine, of his sermons were known in England. Two manuscript copies of the sermons are
preserved in cathedral libraries. One
early 12th century manuscript is in the Salisbury Cathedral library.[iii] The second 12th century copy is among a
collection of sermons in a manuscript at Worcester Cathedral library.[iv]
References to the wood of the Cross in the Legenda Aurea (The Golden Legend), Vita Adae et Evae (Life of Adam and Eve),
the Holy Rood legend, and the Pantheon
of Godfrey of Viterbo have been mentioned in previous blogs.
Looking over my notes, I may have left out one more version
of the wood of the Cross. The Gospel of Nicodemus or The Acts of Pilate was written perhaps
as early as the 4th century.[v] An apparently later addition to the text was
a description of Jesus’ descent into and Harrowing of Hell. There is scholarly debate as to the original
language of composition and the date of the Descensus
part of the tale. It was probably not
added until after the 6th century since Gregory of Tours (540-594) references
the Gospel of Nicodemus without
mentioning the Descent in Hell part
of the story.[vi] In any case, Anglo-Saxon England knew the
Latin story. The text includes another
version of Adam’s son, Seth, begging before the gates of Paradise for the oil
of mercy for his father Adam. Seth
recalled that as he begged for the oil of mercy, the angel Michael came to him
and said that he could not have the oil of mercy but that a Savior, the Son of
God, would come in 5,500 years and raise up the body of Adam and the bodies of
the dead. Jesus will “lead our father
Adam into paradise to the tree of mercy.”
In the second Latin
version of the text, the writer has the prophet Jeremias(h) say, “When I was
upon earth, I prophesied of the Son of God, that He was seen upon earth, and
dwelt with men.”[vii]
The legends of the finding of the True Cross were written
down first and Greek. Depictions of the
Crucifixion in late Latin art appear just before or about the same time as the
Church History of Rufinus of Aquileia.
Rufinus wrote his books in Italy around 400. They were copied frequently
given the number of extant versions.
Rufinus wrote a Latin transliteration of earlier Greek Church Histories
to which he added his version of the finding of the True Cross.
A couple of the earlier crucifixion scenes are found in the
British Museum.
4th century Late Roman carnelian intaglio Crucifixion. British Museum 1895,1113.1 http://www.britishmuseum.org/collectionimages/AN00186/AN00186312_001_l.jpg?width=304
One of four Maskell ivories that formed the sides of a casket. British
Museum 1856,0623.5 c.420-430 Made in Rome. http://www.britishmuseum.org/collectionimages/AN01249/AN01249815_001_l.jpg?width=304
Parenthetically, it is Rufinus’ version of Church History
that reached Anglo-Saxon England. For
details, see Gneuss and Lapidge. Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical
Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up
to 1100. Manuscripts are located at
Wormsley Library (7th cen. Northumbria or Ireland, then England), Pembroke
College Cambridge from Bury St. Edmunds from mid-9th century, Worchester
Cathedral MS Q 28 (10th cen.) and Corpus Christi College Cambridge dated to
mid-10th and 11th centuries.
Though there are lots of legends as to the wood of the
cross, whether the cross was made of one species of wood or three (cedar, pine,
cypress), there is no mention of the color of the cross except for the color
that one would associate with one species or another. The legends of the
finding of the True Cross by Helen, the mother of Emperor Constantine, record
what she did with the cross. The wood
was divided between Jerusalem and Constantinople.
Helena supposedly encased the fragments of the True Cross in
a silver reliquary that was left in the care of Bishop of Jerusalem, presumably
for the Church of the Holy Sepulchre finished about AD 335, at least that is
the version of Theodoret (d. 457)[viii]
There is even earlier evidence for the display of the Cross
in silver gilt case from Egeria, a pilgrim to Jerusalem in the 380s. She is thought to be a nun or a wealthy widow
because her Letter or Itinerary to her circle of female friends that describes
in some detail the veneration of the Holy Cross on Good Friday (Chapter 37)
Then a chair is placed for the
bishop in Golgotha [part of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem] behind
the Cross, which is now standing; the bishop duly takes his seat in the chair,
and a table covered with a linen cloth is placed before him; the deacons stand
round the table, and a silver-gilt casket is brought in which is the holy wood
of the Cross. The casket is opened and (the wood) is taken out, and both the
wood of the Cross and the title are placed upon the table.
Now, when it has been put upon the
table, the bishop, as he sits, holds the extremities of the sacred wood firmly
in his hands, while the deacons who stand around guard it…
And as all the people pass by one
by one, all bowing themselves, they touch the Cross and the title, first with
their foreheads and then with their eyes; then they kiss the Cross and pass
through, but none lays his hand upon it to touch it...[ix]
Another version of the finding of the Cross by Helen with
its accompanying nails was recounted by Bishop Ambrose of Milan in his funeral orations
for Emperor Theodosius in February 395.[x] Again there is no special mention of the
wood. Ambrose seemed especially concerned
about the use of the nails in a crown made by Helena for her son Emperor Constantine.
The fact that pieces of the True Cross taken to
Constantinople was being distributed to places outside of Jerusalem and
Constantinople is described by the Bishop of Jerusalem, Cyril, in his Catechetical
Lecture X, Section 19:
The holy wood of the Cross bears
witness, seen among us to this day, and from this place now almost filling the
whole world, by means of those who in faith take portions from it.[xi]
The encasement of the True Cross and fragments thereof in
precious metal adorned with gems is exemplified in the beautiful crux gemmata found in apse mosaics and
processional crosses that have survived the centuries. The encasement of sacred
fragments in gold adorned with enamels were even made in Anglo-Saxon England.
Anglo-Saxon Reliquary
Cross, made perhaps at Winchester, 10th century. Victoria &
Albert Museum, 7943-1862. The core of this cross is oak. http://media.vam.ac.uk/media/thira/collection_images/2006BC/2006BC6621_jpg_ds.jpg
[i] Quodvultdeus, Sermo
De cataclysmo ad catechumenos quoted in Nicole Fallon. The Cross as Tree: The Wood-of-the–Cross
Legends in Middle English and Latin Texts in Medieval England. Ph.D. Thesis. U. of Toronto.
<https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/bitstream/1807/19188/1/Fallon_Nicole_A_200911_PhD_thesis.pdf:>
See also,
Quodvultdeus:
<http://www.bede.net/saslc/samples/q/quodvultdeus.pdf>
[ii] De Cataclysmo:
Sermo ad Catechumenos, Caput V-6. Migne, J. P. Patrologia Latina Vol. 40,
p.696. Text online at:
<http://www.documentacatholicaomnia.eu/02m/0354-0430,_Augustinus,_Sermones_Dubii._De_Cataclysmo_Sermo_Ad_Catechumenos,_MLT.pdf>
[iii] Salisbury Cathedral Library Manuscript No. 35
f.82r-.97v.
[iv] Part of sermons 1-3 appears in Worcester Cathedral
Library F. 92 Sermones ab Adventu ad
Pascha. f.89v-90v.
[v]Izydorczyk, Zbigniew, ed. The
Medieval Gospel of Nicodemus. (1997) Tempe, AZ: Medieval and Renaissance
Texts and Studies.
<http://openlibrary.org/books/OL1001489M/The_Medieval_Gospel_of_Nicodemus>
See also: <http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/lbob/lbob10.htm> <http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/lbob/lbob10.htm>
[vi] Izydorczyk, Zbigniew, ed.
The Medieval Gospel of Nicodemus. (1997) Tempe, AZ: Medieval and
Renaissance Texts and Studies. <http://openlibrary.org/books/OL1001489M/The_Medieval_Gospel_of_Nicodemus>
See also: <http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/lbob/lbob10.htm> <
http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/lbob/lbob10.htm>
[vii] Roberts, Alexander, and James Donaldson. The
Gospel of Nicodemus. The Acts of Pilate.
Edinburgh, T. T. Clark, 1867. <http://mb-soft.com/believe/txua/nicodemu.htm>
Christ's Descent into Hell. Latin. Second Version. Chapter 6. <
http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/lbob/lbob10.htm>
[viii] Theodoret,
Ecclesiastical History, Book I Chapter 17. <http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/27021.htm>
[ix] Egeria and The Fourth
Century Liturgy of Jerusalem, Veneration of the Cross. <http://users.ox.ac.uk/~mikef/durham/egetra.html>
[x] https://archive.org/stream/fathersofthechur012812mbp/fathersofthechur012812mbp_djvu.txt
[xi] http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/310110.htm
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