Cross: Life not Sacrifice

For most of us, the cross is seen at best as a decorative symbol, or at worst as an instrument of torture. But now – at the midpoint of Lent – the cross is presented as an image of refreshment and assurance. This isn’t Kool-Aid on a hot summer’s day, but a reminder that through the cross our curse is reversed and we are able to walk up to the Tree of Life in Paradise and eat. (Reflections on the Third Sunday of Lent)

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The Cross is our Refreshment

We’ve arrived at the mid-point of Lent, and we’re given over to the contemplation of the holy cross. By doing this the Church is reminding us where we’re headed: the triumph of Christ over death. But it’s not just any death, it’s the agonizing death of the Incarnate God on the cross.

Perhaps, we’ve already become fatigued through fasting and repentance. Perhaps, we’re ready to give up our ascetical efforts and go back to our “normal” way of life until Holy Week. The Church understands our struggles and it’s for this very reason we have the cross at the center of our Lenten journey.

Listen to the words of encouragement given to us in today’s Synaxarion reading:

On this Sunday, the third Sunday of Lent, we celebrate the veneration of the honorable and Life-Giving Cross, and for this reason: inasmuch as in the forty days of fasting we in a way crucify ourselves… and become bitter and despondent and failing, the Life-Giving Cross is presented to us for refreshment and assurance, for remembrance of our Lord’s Passion, and for comfort. …We are like those following a long and cruel path, who become tired, see a beautiful tree with many leaves, sit in its shadow and rest for a while and then, as if rejuvenated, continue their journey; likewise today, in the time of fasting and difficult journey and effort, the Life-Giving Cross was planted in our midst by the holy fathers to give us rest and refreshment, to make us light and courageous for the remaining task. (Fr. Alexander Schmemann, Great Lent, pg. 77)

But refreshment isn’t the only encouragement the Synaxarion gives us.

Or, to give another example: when a king is coming, at first his banner and symbols appear, then he himself comes glad and rejoicing about his victory and filling with joy those under him; likewise, our Lord Jesus Christ, who is about to show us His victory over death, and appear to us in the glory of Resurrection Day, is sending to us in advance His scepter, the royal symbol – the Life-Giving Cross – and it fills us with joy and makes us ready to meet inasmuch as it is possible for us, the King himself, and to render glory to His victory. …Christ comforts us who are as it were in a desert until He shall lead us up to the spiritual Jerusalem by His Resurrection. (Ibid.)

The cross, as it were, is an announcement that a victorious king is coming, and we, as his people, share in his victory.

It’s a victory over death, a victory that frees us from bondage. It’s a victory that reverses Adam and Eve’s sin and brings us back to paradise. But not only that! It’s a victory that allows us to do what Adam and Eve were forbidden to do: eat of the tree of life.

…for the Cross is called the Tree of Life, it is the tree that was planted in Paradise, and for this reason our fathers have planted it in the midst of Holy Lent, remembering both Adam’s bliss and how he was deprived of it, remembering also that partaking of this Tree we no longer die but are kept alive. (Ibid.)

A Traditional View of the Cross

To think of the cross as the Tree of Life may sound strange to us. After all the cross, in Roman times, was an instrument of death. So, it’s much more common to think of the cross in terms of sacrifice: Christ giving himself for us so that our sins can be wiped clean. Or, as Orthodox Christians, it’s common to think of the cross as the means by which God filled Hades with himself, thus putting death to death.

Both these themes are common, and they both can be found in the prayers of the Sixth Hour, the precise time scripture tells us that Christ was crucified:

O God… [who] didst send down Thine Only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, for the salvation of our race, and by His precious Cross didst rend the handwriting of our sins and thereby didst triumph over the principalities and powers of darkness… (Prayer of St. Basil at the Sixth Hour, HTM)

On one hand, we’re forgiven, and on the other hand, the power of Death is destroyed. But we can’t forget that third theme: the cross as the Tree of Life. I think it’s here that we find the most encouragement because the cross becomes something more than a part of Jesus’s story – more than a prop in a passion play. The cross is there for us to reach up, grab its fruit, and eat. It’s our entrance into life.

An Ancient View of Paradise

But, for us to fully understand all of this, we first have to back up and enter into the world of the ancient Christians: a poetic world full of mystical symbolism. It’s a world that plunges us into the deep end of theology. And we have no better guide than St. Ephrem the Syrian.

Before turning to the cross, St. Ephrem, his Hymns of Paradise, gives us a vision of paradise, but it’s not the garden that we typically think of. For St. Ephrem, paradise is a mountain.

Halfway up the mountain – in the “middle” of the garden as Genesis says – is the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. This is the tree that was off-limits to Adam and Eve. God tells them that if they eat of this tree they will die.

What’s the purpose of this command?

Well, the idea is that humanity was created in an intermediate state, we were created to grow to maturity. This Tree of Knowledge was a test to help us grow. If Adam and Eve were able to obey by keeping their passions under check – showing maturity – then God would permit them to progress by eating of this tree and then eat of the tree at the top of the mountain, the Tree of Life.

At the top of the mountain was the Tree of Life. It represented the skopos, or aim, of human life. If we are able to “ascend” the mountain, the Tree of Life is waiting for us. It’s to be our reward for having reached maturity. By eating of this tree were would share in the life of God, what we Orthodox Christians call theosis, or deification.

Genesis doesn’t record any command against the eating of the Tree of Life because the Tree of Knowledge was a boundary marker. It was like the veil in the temple which hid the Holy of Holies. Adam and Eve didn’t know about the Tree of Life that sat on the top of the mountain of Paradise because its view was obscured by the Tree of Knowledge. In this way, Paradise is structured much like the Tabernacle in the time of Moses and Joshua, or the Temple built by Solomon.

At the bottom of the mountain was a third tree: the fig tree. After the fall, it is from this tree that Adam and Eve acquire the leaves to hide their shame and nakedness, which was no longer covered by the glory of God.

Finally, there’s one more tree: the thorny tree, or thorn bush (pictured just outside the “wall” in the photo above). This marks the outer boundary of the Paradise at the bottom of the mountain. It also protects the garden from a world of hostility – the fallen world in which we now live.

Before we move one, I must also mention the four rivers that flow out of paradise. In order for a river to flow, it must go from higher ground to lower ground. Perhaps this is why St. Ephrem sees Paradise as a mountain. So, rivers flow from the top of the mountain, where the Tree of Life is, and spread out into the entire world. In other words, the world is fed “life” from the tree at the top of the mountain.

OK, now that we have covered all that, what does this have to do with the cross?

The Cross Is Paradise Regained

Well, the cross brings all these images together. In short, the cross is the entirety of Paradise, and how we now eat of the trees and receive life.

First, the crown of the thorns. Christ takes the lowest part of the mountain, the thorny tree, and makes it a kingly crown, thus taking the lowest aspect of creation and elevating it to the highest. This is exactly what he does with us. He takes us in our low estate and raises us up the height of the heavens.

Next the cross. The cross represents both the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge.

The crossbar, to which Christ’s hands were affixed, represents the Tree of Knowledge. One side it points to evil: the thief who did not confess Christ. The other side points to good: the thief who repented and confessed Christ as the Son of God.

The vertical beam represents the Tree of Life. It’s through Christ that we are now able to eat of this tree and share in the life of God. Put another way, Christ is the fruit of which we are now allowed to eat.

The four rivers are seen when the centurion pierces Christ’s side and blood and water flow out. We, of course, partake of these life-giving waters at every Divine Liturgy when we drink from the chalice. This is the source of life that flows through all of creation.

So, for early Christians, especially for St. Ephrem, the cross represented all of Paradise, presented in one image and now accessible to us as Christians. Now, at the midpoint of Lent, we are reminded that our journey is not futile. Our journey is leading us not to witness a monstrous execution, but back into Paradise. Lent is the desert through which we walk to ascend the mountain so that we may finally eat of the Tree of Life.

P.S. Put On Christ and Become Renewed

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Works Cited

The idea for this post came from a video put up by Jonathan Pageau called Symbolism of the Tree. It’s from this video that I was able to get a screenshot of St. Ephrem’s vision of paradise. I highly recommend everyone head over there and watch that video for more information. Click here.

I also highly recommend everyone check out St. Ephrem’s Hymns of Paradise. You can purchase a copy of it here.