Understanding Our Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church — 20151220

Tree of JesseThis is the Weekend of the Holy Fathers or Ancestors of Christ. On this weekend the Church honors all those who were well-pleasing to God from all ages, from Adam to Joseph the Betrothed of Mary and those who are mentioned in the   genealogy contained in Luke 3:23-38. Last weekend we remembered the Holy Forefathers, the righteous of the Old Testament who awaited the coming of Christ. This weekend we remember those who were related to Christ by blood and those who spoke of his birth as a man. To remember the family roots of Christ is to affirm His humanity. To remember the roots of Christ is an act of love.

The icon often used on this weekend represents the Holy Ancestors and is known in Greek as the Root of Jesse (Ρίζα Ιεσσαί) and in Old Slavonic as the Tree of Jesse (Древо Иессеево). It’s therefore unsurprising that most images of this type depict a large tree springing forth from Jesse, who is often shown reclining.

Jesse was the father of King David and, though we know little else about him, this fact alone is significant. We know that in Jewish history the Messiah was prophesied to be descended from David. In our church David himself is considered as a foreshadowing of the person of Jesus Christ and so Jesse is shown as the root of this line of descent which culminates in Christ, who is depicted centrally within the tree as a child, sitting on the lap of His mother.

The branches surrounding Jesus and His mother depict smaller images of Christ’s ancestors along with those who prophesied of His coming. These can be as simple or as complicated as individual iconographers wish, but traditionally must contain King David and his son Solomon along with a few of the prophets.

Each of these depicted predecessors of Christ is typically shown with a scroll containing the relevant prophecy. Our true belief is that God became incarnate as a man of a people who had the tradition that God had promised to send them one who was anointed to lead them.

The prophets brought together the various views concerning the Messiah. Isaiah’s proclamation, for one, was that the Messiah would be born of a virgin and be the wise, all-knowing ruling son of David and the fruitful branch who would bring redemption, restoration and blessings to Israel. It was he who         proclaimed that the Messiah was to be the light to the Gentiles and also the suffering, exalted One, the Messiah, the healer and bringer of joy.

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