Shrines of God

St John the Theologian in Silence

“It is better to keep silence and to be than to talk and not to be. It is good to teach, if the speaker act. Now there was One Teacher, Who spake and it came to pass (Ps. 32/33.9). And the deeds which He has done in silence are worthy of the Father. He who is truly master of the spoken word of Jesus is able also to listen to His silence, that he may be perfect, and so may act by his speech, and be understood by his silence. Nothing is hidden from the Lord, but even our secrets are brought nigh unto Him. Let us therefore do all things in the assurance that He dwells within us, that we may be His shrines and He Himself may dwell in us as God. For this is indeed true and will be made manifest before our eyes by the services of love which as our bounden duty we render unto Him.”

~ St Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to the Ephesians

Grandma Jean the Solitary

Late in the night, many years ago, I discovered a secret about my Grandma Jean. Everyone had already retired, and I was lying awake listening to the creek and the crickets and the toads and a lonely owl. When I thought I might fall asleep, a light from the living room illuminated the pulled-to door. I crawled out from the covers and quietly crossed the room. I avoided all the squeaky spots, sneaking over to look through the door to find out why Grandma Jean turned on a lamp so late in the night.

Warm light was piercing the dark blue shadows in my room. I peered through the crack of light and watched Grandma Jean slowly walk over and settle into her straight-back chair. She leaned over the side and began rummaging through the side table compartment. She finally drew out a large Bible. I watched attentively while she read in silence. Her lips occasionally moved to turn over the words. After some time had passed, she closed the Bible… but her lips were still moving. She folded her hands in her lap with her head bowed, sitting upright in that rigid chair.

I had never seen anyone pray like this before. I was raised in a Southern Baptist church, so I certainly had seen people pray before. But I never saw anyone pray like my Grandma Jean. As far as she knew, there was not a soul there to see her. There was no performance. There was nothing but pure devotion. My Grandma silently, secretly, in the presence of the Father.

The next morning, I was risen from sleep by the smell of bacon! Grandma Jean was doing what she always did for me and my sister when we stayed the night: cooking a huge breakfast with all the fixins! I can’t recall a single word my Grandma Jean may have ever said about God, but I’ve always known without a shred of doubt that she loved Him. I knew she loved God because of the way she loved me. I knew she loved God because she loved me, and everyone I knew, with her prayers when no one else could see her.

Grandma Jean’s secret was that she spent her “alone time” with God. She became a “master of the spoken word of Jesus” by listening to God’s silence. Her secret was holiness. She was, and now is forever, a shrine of God. For me, Grandma Jean is my personal experience of the meaning of an icon I painted in 2024: St John the Theologian in Silence.

We’ll explore the meaning of this icon by taking a look at what it means for St John to be called “the Theologian,” the significance of his depiction “in Silence,” and how these are expressed in a couple historical examples. We’ll then consider the distinctions of my own composition to develop an interpretation. My hope is that contemplating this icon will inspire us to also become Shrines of God.

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The Meaning of Theologian

Those familiar with the Orthodox Christian faith have probably heard the famous quote: “The one who prays is a theologian. The theologian is the one who truly prays” (Evagrius Ponticus). When the Orthodox Church speaks about St John as Theologian, she has in mind the quality of the relationship St John experiences with God. St John’s writings are not lofty speculations or even highly organized Scriptural concepts woven together. We have to think about St John as a person. He knows God. He wrote what he wrote for the love of God with a purpose. His purpose was not to articulate divinely revealed doctrinal data so people could create a belief system around it. Rather, St John’s purpose in writing was so that we would believe that Jesus Christ is the uniquely begotten Son of God, and that by believing we will have life in His Name.

The Church also speaks in this manner about two other saints with the appellation of theologian: St Gregory Nazianzus and St Symeon the New Theologian. There are several common themes among the writings of St John, St Gregory, and St Symeon:

• The Holy Trinity

• United Divinity & Humanity of Christ

• Divinity of the Holy Spirit

• Salvation & Divine Love

• The Vision of God & the Uncreated Light

• Personal Experience of God / Prayer

• Asceticism

• Union with God in Christ

• The Sacraments (especially Baptism & the Eucharist)

• Ecclesiology

• Eschatology

These categories are explored in various and interconnected ways throughout the writings of the theologians. Each of them emphasizes with their own words what was most relevant to their own contexts but nevertheless are united in their experience of God. St Symeon the New wrote a catechism, for example, which covers a lot about prayer, asceticism, and the sacraments. While St John’s writings may not be as thorough in describing the ascetic life, we can be quite certain he believed it has a place in the life of Christians.

It’s important for us to understand that those common themes, which can be found across all Patristic sources and the Holy Scriptures, are all vital to an Orthodox understanding of salvation. Eschatology, for St John, is not about speculating the time when Jesus will appear to us again. Rather, it’s about the Christian way of life and worship of God within the eschaton and in preparation of the final judgment. This means everything St John (and the other Theologians) said about prayer and asceticism and participation in the sacraments and Trinitarian dogma and ecclesial unity, and so on, is all describing the authentically Christian way of life which is within the last days.

“If you weep for the sake of God, you will know what a comfort He is. If you are merciful, you will know the mercy of God. If you build peace, you will know how it becomes you to be called a son of God. If you forgive men, you will know that God forgives you. No one can ever know that the teaching of Christ is the teaching from God, except he who does the will of God (Jn 7.17). Doing the will of God and fulfilling His commandments is the only key for unlocking Paradise, in which God is seen. That is the key for understanding Holy Scripture and all the mysteries of revelation.”

~ St Nikolai of Ohrid & Zicha: The Prologue of Ohrid (January 21)

Having life in the Name of Jesus Christ, as expressed by St John the Theologian, cannot be separated from the Christian way of life. Anyone who wishes to be a theologian must live in the same manner as St John and the other Theologians describe. One of the primary features of this way of life is silence.

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The Meaning of Silence

According to an article published by the Iconography Department of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy, as well as this article, the gesture of raising one or two fingers to the mouth was a sign of contemplation that began to appear as early as the 8th century (and continued appearing through the 9-10th centuries). A prized example from this period is a mural fragment of St Anna, the Mother of the Virgin Mary:

As with many images in the Orthodox Tradition, we don’t have any writings from the iconographers explaining what they had in mind when painting these images. What we do have are certain archaeological facts, the broader Tradition of the Orthodox Church (hymnography, hagiography, homilies, commentaries, epistles, and etc.), and surrounding historical events that might have played a role in the development of these images.

The icon of St Anna with the gesture of silence is from the Faras Cathedral. More specifically, from the northern aisle of the cathedral. It was important during this period for the congregation to be ordered according to sex, which would have placed the women in this northern aisle. Women were held in high regard in this manner. The iconography of the northern aisle not only included the image of St Anna, but also of numerous other female saints including queens, foundresses, martyrs, mothers, and healers. The northern aisle was also used to access other places in the cathedral which were for women only in order to meet various ministerial and practical needs.

Although there is much more to say about the significance of St Anna, the most important takeaway is that the gesture indicating the virtue of silence has been around since the 8th century.

The virtue of silence in these contexts is about being attentive and receptive to the voice of another. Those who are silent in this manner are humble. This is reflected in similar images of male monastics in some murals from a Coptic monastery in Bawit. It’s not a gesture, in other words, that only belongs to women. When we consider this gesture being applied to St Anna, we should consider how she is depicted in hagiography. The two primary accounts of St Anna are the Gospel of James and the Gospel of the Nativity of Mary. Both accounts are similar in the depiction of St Anna: She is a woman of old age who is righteous, but barren, and retreats to a place of silence to pray for God to open her womb. An angel later appears to her announcing that God heard her prayers. These stories portray St Anna as a woman who is so close to God that she experiences communion with the angels. Monastics are said to be living the angelic life. St John the Theologian also communed with the angels. Silence indicates humility and communion with God. The one who has a silent heart, a heart that is stilled by virtuous deeds, is able to hear God.

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