The example of the symbol of contemplation said, you know, one thing that you right away realize is that softness of lines, bended lines, the meekness, the friendship. Also the scene of the meal, this symbol of friendship, of intimate personal union, into which we are drawn, as it were, through the lines which draw us into the picture. You realize also right away that this picture is classical in that way that it leaves out anything nearly historical. We have other representations of the three angels, the visit of the angels to Abraham, where we have the action, you know, let's say the historical action of Abraham running with the lamb that is prepared.

[01:22]

Sarah standing there and laughing, you see, and tense and all that. Then all is completely dropped. The earthly action is dropped. There is no Abraham, there is no Sarah. It is supposed that the one who sees the icon feels like Abraham and Sarah. We are the ones. But here, we enter into that eternal divine conversation. And in that you also can see that this divine conversation is going as it were in a circle, is perhaps a circle. I think the point of departure is there. This here, at least seems to me, is a symbol of the first person, because the movement starts from there.

[02:24]

The other two have their heads inclined, listening. In a different way, this here, which is the second person of the Divine Trinity, with the face turning towards the first, however with the figure, the posture pointing to the third person by its hip. Here the only, let us say in a certain way, the only A little more erect figure, authoritative figure is this here. First, however, the authority is aware of the speaking one while the others are the listening. of the speaking one is, I would say, tempered, you know, taken into the mystery because it's the blessing hand which is there extended, the gesture of blessing.

[03:35]

So this is the principio, the one from whom the blessing starts. This here is the mediator between the two. listening, but at the same time also pointing towards the third one, the Holy Spirit. If you look at the color of these persons, you also can see what the tunic That always indicates the nature, the being of the person, which is blue here in these, but is purple there. The royal purple of the second person, of the Kyrios, who is the priest, became man.

[04:36]

The word made flesh. Clothes in the purple with the clavis. However, the up, the coat, you see this, what is over the shirt, would say, that indicates what the person gives to the outside. And that is here the spirit, and that is here the green, the life. while this here is the garment of glory, which is in itself, you see, the painter tries to show the effect of, I always forget the name of that material, which takes on different colors according to the way the light shines on it. And what is iridescent? Iridescent.

[05:38]

And therefore, all the colors together, but in a unity, but seen in different ways according to the way you see the light falls. The one who looks at it, sees. So it's also indicated here, you see, they are with their feet on a platform. That is always, in Byzantine iconography, always the indication of the Higher spiritual divine nature doesn't touch the earth, you know, but is on the platform, that means on another level, on the divine level, on the level of the spirit, also enthralled by the city. This here, as I say, looks like a circle. However, if you look a little closer, then you see it's really two triangles in which the whole thing is constructed.

[06:47]

One triangle which goes from the center down here and goes this way and meets the line here. The other triangle goes this way and points down here, this direction. So it's really, the whole thing is constructed in the two triangles, one pointing up, the other one pointing down. put over one another, forming what we call the Star of David, the symbol of the manifestation of God in the Old Testament. The, let us say, one couldn't say the center of attention still in the center here of this conversation is, which looks like a chalice, in that chalice you can see the what we call the holy face of the suffering christ in the center that takes the place of the lamb we see in other representations of the visit of the three angels to abraham very often the plate with the lamb on the table and also bread which

[08:12]

The bread here is left out. Instead of that, the whole thing is concentrated on this chalice, which seems to be, we could suppose, the topic of the conversation. That means the contemplation of the three divine persons centers around the what we call the Concilium Salutis, the divine design of redemption, the central mystery of the divine agape, represented in the, as I say, the chalice with the suffering face of the suffering Christ, the divine, the Lamb of God. So that is also one of the most beautiful features in this icon that we see the contemplatio divina eterna concentrated on the work of redemption, on that manifestation of the divine agony.

[09:30]

The sacrifice, the contemplation and sacrifice As we said before, the divine contemplation and the Hora, the Aura, or as we say, procession and mission, are really here again united. That mission idea also is so clearly demonstrated in its divine order in the three things which take up the background of the picture. And that's here the mountain, because Mamre is in the valley, surrounded by the mountain. This here is the tree, and this here is the tent, but again, you know, the painter changed the tent into a house. A house that has a golden ceiling.

[10:33]

In the ceiling of the house, the light which these wings kind of form around the circle of the Trinity is reflected. The wings here of the three angels form a kind of flaming protection in the center of which this divine conversation becomes visible. That divine light is reflected there in the ceiling of the house. So these, the mountain, the tree and the house, again have to be understood in relation to the three persons. Absolutely clear is the relation between the tree and the second person. the tree of life, the tree of the cross.

[11:37]

These here are, as we find that in Hellenistic painting, in Hellenistic Greek art, the order of the painting is very often, see that also in activity scenes, not, let us say, ordered strictly symmetrically, but is ordered in the form of the Kai, you see, the key. As Plato, you know, the Kai is, in Plato's philosophy too, the letter, the manifestation of the cosmic order. Here we have the mountain corresponding to this figure, to the first person, and we have a house corresponding to the third person, to the divine spirit. The other indication, by the way, for the characterization of the three persons in that way, which I try to do with, was the hands.

[12:49]

This here, as I say, the blessing. This here, the hand with the two fingers, indicating the divine nature. This here, the whole hand of the Holy Spirit. So therefore, and I say the mission, you see, of the divine persons is also indicated. The mountain as the origin and as the end of the entire procession, so to speak, from above and going back from the last, all we are, until the mention up to the mountain. Then up on the mountain, of course, is the house in the vision of Isaiah. The house is that what the Holy Spirit builds, the temple of God that the Holy Spirit fills. It is the unity of the faith world which the Holy Spirit builds up.

[13:56]

And then the tree, the cross, the tree of the cross, the tree of death, and the tree of life. of the mediator who, through his death, brings us life. And that way you see, together with the tremendous feeling of absolute peace and unity, it's also so beautiful here that although there is evidently an order, and the order is, of course, the order of the Greek, Theology, which conceives the Holy Trinity always in this way as an order of possession from the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, as the Greeks say, as the telos, as the inn, as the point where the whole movement turns back to the Father.

[14:59]

By the way, also visible in the, if you look at the faces, which are of different age. This here is the oldest face, the most determined one, the most stern one in some way. This here, younger and softer, and this here, youngest and softest, so to speak. So the... There is an order, as I say, in these two, bending, as it were, to the first person. However, that is an order of equality. It's not an order of, you may say, servitude. This here is three friends on one level of life and authority and dignity. So a great freedom in that divine conversation, peace and eternity.

[16:04]

But right in it, here the sacrifice of divine agape and here the symbols of the radiation of that inner divine life, how it reaches us and how it draws man into its orbit. So in all these ways, the picture seems to be a really beautiful classical expression of the divine contemplative life with its radiations drawing us, the one who looks at it, right into it. That is an importance. I think in the whole consideration of any icon, classical icon really, it's never alone. It always draws the one who looks at it into him and takes him as an active participant.

[17:09]

Western pictures always put the one who looks at it in a complete passivity because it wants to say everything. This here is a dialogue which speaks, which demands an answer, and in that way is what we call, and I can like this, a mysterium. That means a manifestation of the divine life to the effect to make us partakers of that same divine life. Tutorino di Nostro Mino.

[17:49]

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