Forgetting the recent unhappy evil of the Pachamama idols, consider the beauty and truth of revealed fulfillment of Revelation 12 in Our Lady of Guadalupe, and the truth of Marian theology the Western Catholics held and many still do hold.[1] For perhaps the worst part of the Pachamama fiasco was its proximity to Marian feasts, and the fact that Heaven had provided something so much more beautiful, so much more profound, so much more lovely for Rome to use to preach the Good News to the people of Amazon and all the planet.
Likely prior to the feast of the Annunciation Sunday March 25, 31 AD, coming Passover being Tuesday March 27th that year, at the wedding feast of Cana, just before Jesus turned water into wine, Jesus said:
Woman, what have I to do with thee(?) mine hour is not yet come.
This is a hard phrase. It can only be understood in terms of the purity of the phrase that is not a question save in a rhetorical sense. There are questions in the Bible that are not questions. For example, ‘what is truth.’ Pilate has reduced ‘truth’ to what, while the Truth is Jesus Christ WHO is standing before him. The Philistines say to Samson, ‘what is stronger than a lion, what is sweeter than honey’ and this prefigures their denial of the Holy Resurrection as Samson prefigures the crucifixion. Death is stronger than a lion, and the Word of the Lord in resurrection is sweeter than honey. The Lord answered the Philistines by eating the honey and the broiled fish that represented Leviathan. And Jesus says “My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me” not as a question but as the phrase of the Psalm we are to read so as to realize the full truth and reality that all had been foretold in the Holy Scriptures, which are perfect!
What the Mother of God answered Jesus was already taught by her, so her answer preceded His question posed phrase, and her thrice question posed phrase preceded even herself, for the Holy Spirit is above time and has spoken through the prophets; the Holy Spirit is the spouse of the Mother of God and I AM. So let us consider Proverbs.
There was no King Lemuel in Israel, until the coming of Jesus Christ, so the prophecy of king Lemuel is the prophesy of Emanuel, the prophecy His Mother taught Him:
The words of king Lemuel, the prophecy that His mother taught Him.
What, my son? and what, the son of my womb? and what, the son of my vows?[2]
What an answer! Jesus was revealing through the question the answer through a three-fold question as to what His Mother has to do with Him, and it is Jesus Himself, the Logos, whose words are uttered so that by way of remembrance we would remember the prophecy and proverb:
Give not thy strength to women, nor thy ways to that which destroys kings. It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink: Lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted.
Give strong drink to him that is ready to perish, and wine to those that be of heavy hearts. Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.
Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction. Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy…[3]
Jesus is at a wedding, and He is not going to give His strength to women but to the Church His Bride. Jesus is turning water into wine, but it is the wine steward who will taste the wine and the assembled guests. Perhaps recalling this proverb, Simon Zealot follows Jesus leaving the wine and his bride![4]
Jesus was called by His Mother to enter the ministry, and the fulness of time, in exact accordance with Revelation 12, Jesus would reveal His own Mother as The Fatted Calf through a miraculous Icon.
Consider then the Icon Our Lady of Guadalupe:
The Divine Name appears in this Icon, but in a slightly different manner than in most Orthodox “Sign” Icons. It also illustrates Proverbs 31 more explicitly. Jesus is the Son upholding the Scroll, or Yod, in the material of the Virgin’s dress[5].
Sign Iconography:
The reveal, or Hei, is with respect to the Holy Virgin herself, the Sun, the moon, and the stars in creation. And Jesus appears directly beneath with arms outstretched as in crucifixion and by implication in the womb at the same time! With Jesus and His arms outstretched in the Cross, the Lord provides the final Hei in this Icon, just as the Icon reveals the proverb, the Revelation itself, and the Mother of God as the fatted Calf. This goes to the Immaculate Conception of the Mother of God through Christ Crucified and through the genealogy of the Lord given in Luke, and beautifully explained at this site:
https://www.ancient-hebrew.org/hebrew-names/the-genealogy-of-genesis-five.htm
The image on close inspection does not have brush strokes. It is located in Guadalupe[6] Mexico, which is 135 degrees West Longitude from Cana, 9 hours by the Sun. It appeared in 1531, 1000 + 500 years, a time and half a time[7] approximately 9 months from March 25 on December 12. The image does not contain brush strokes, such images being impossible to produce in 1531 and difficult even with modern lasers and techniques. It is found on a Cactus Tilma that is impossible to paint on and should have disintegrated 400 years ago from dry rot in the conditions of Mexico. In fact, a copy of it done on regular materials dry rotted in eight years at the time.
The story of how Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared is worth telling and goes to the reality that there are Saint Roman Catholic Saints. Saint Juan Diego was a native American who had a Marian vision. The Blessed Mother of God appeared to him on December 9, 1531 while in a hurry to make it to the Mass of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. The Virgin Mary asked Juan to request that a chapel be built in her honor on Tepeyac Hill, that was the site of a former pagan temple.
When Juan approached the Bishop, the Bishop basically brushed him off. Later the same day, Juan encountered the Virgin Mary again and told her he failed. However the Holy Virgin insisted he try again. Juan returned to the Bishop the next day and repeated his request, and now the Bishop asked for proof. Juan went straight to Tepeyac and once again encountered the Holy Virgin. Mary agreed to provide a sign the next day, December 11.
However on the 11th, Juan’s uncle became very sick and he was obligated to stay and care for him. Juan set out to find a priest, and tried avoiding Tepeyac Hill, again encountered the Virgin Mary who appeared and asked him what was wrong. After Juan explained the situation Mary promised his uncle would be cured, and asked him to climb the hill and collect flowers growing there. He obeyed, finding many flowers blooming in December on rocky land. He filled his tilma (cloak) with the flowers and returned to the Mother of God. The Virgin Mary arranged the flowers within his cloak and told him this was a sign to be presented to the Bishop.
When Juan Diego went to the Bishop with the flowers, and opened his tilma, the image was on the burlap garment. The amazed bishop agreed to build the Chapel.
The following day Juan found his uncle was fully healed. He explained that he too saw the Holy Virgin Mary. She also instructed his uncle that there was to be a Church built on Tepeyac Hill, and further that she wanted it to be known as Guadalupe[8]. With the news of this tremendous miracle, native Americans began to flock to the image and convert in mass. While in Northern Europe, protestants were smashing iconography, in Mexico, millions were being converted by iconography.
The manner of this icon’s production is miraculous, and the event was recorded upon microscopic examination of the iris of the eyes in the image, 2000x. There are highly detailed images of 13 people, including the stunned Bishop, in both the left and right eye of the image, with different aspects just as images are transmitted to each of the human eyes from slightly different angles.
The floral patterns of the dress show the positions of constellations in the sky, both Northern and Southern hemisphere when projected to a realistic sky arc. The constellations of Draco and Scorpio threaten the image, as one finds in Revelation 12. However the constellation Borealis crowns the Mother of God in the image, again recalling “And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.”[9]
With respect to “What my Son” we have that element in Jesus beneath the Mother of God appearing. “What the Son of my womb” as the Holy Mother of God is obviously pregnant. “What the Son of my Vows”, as the Mother of God is Immaculate, and has kept her vows which are with respect to the Commandments of God, the Holy Mother’s dress itself is the Scroll – Yod. The Mother of God, is the bride of the Holy Spirit.[10] The Mother of God takes the NAME of her spouse in the very substance of her dress and is clothed in absolute immaculate perfection.
In the view of this author the appearance of this Icon affirms Western Roman Marian theology, and when studying this image, at least for this Orthodox, the Mother of God has appeared as the fatted Calf herself, to eventually reconcile East and West as again, the Lord promised to reveal the NAME to His disciples. For at least for this “Orthodox”, it seems like the Immaculate Conception of the Mother of God is supported by the appearance of this icon.
The purity and truth of the image testifies to the logical beauty and truth of Mary’s Immaculate and sinless person. In the Old Testament, all conception, except for Adam and Eve, was outside of the Garden. The conception of the New Adam, Jesus Christ the Lord, and the New Eve through her Holy and Righteous parents Saints Joachim and Anna are in the Garden, which is to say in the Church and in the Holy Spirit, might be supported by these points:
#1. Immaculate means “free from sin.” It does not intrude upon the mechanism beyond the Proverb and the Icon. For the Icon points to the Proverbs, and Jesus upholds the fold of Mary’s dress that is itself the Tent of the Presence of Incarnate God. And Jesus is shown with a down cast face and outstretched arms for He is come to be Crucified for our sins. By the merits of the Son and the revelation of the Mother, the vows are upheld. Now one might point out a vow is ahead of time, but so is the Proverb and so was Eve and the Lord’s words and promise and Adam’s prophecy as will be explained. So too was “In the Beginning” in ancient Hebrew, which contains the Aleph and the Tav, the Alpha and Omega, the Tav being the Cross.
Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executes my counsel from a far country: yes, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it.
Hearken to me, ye stouthearted, that are far from righteousness: I bring near my righteousness; it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry: and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory.[11]
#2. The Icon Conception of the Mother of God depicting Saints Joachim and Anna appears in the Orthodox Catholic Church and the Church is revealed as the Garden in the Holy Spirit. The Icon does not depict the triumph of original sin, but of the grace of the Holy Spirit and the Cross over Chronological time in the Conception of Christ’s pure and Immaculate Mother.
#3. Orthodox Saint Symeon the New Theologian in his 13th theological discourse says the following:
“But being Himself at once God and man, His flesh and soul were and are Holy – and beyond Holy. God is Holy, just as He was and is and shall be, and the Virgin is immaculate, without spot or stain, and so, too, was that rib which was taken from Adam. However the rest of humanity, even though they are His brothers and kind according to the flesh, yet remained even as they were, of dust, and did not immediately become Holy and sons of God. [12]
Clearly Saint Symeon the New Theologian has made the distinction of Immaculate conception by saying the “Virgin is Immaculate, without spot or stain, and so too, was that rib which was taken from Adam.” God did not make the Sun, Moon, Stars or anything in Creation to sin or to be dominated by sin. The sinful nature and fall was man’s free choice, but the Holy Virgin’s choice not to sin, though born in the low estate of the consequence of sin, was in no way part of her character by her vows which are foretold by her Divine Groom who is the Holy Spirit. And again, this affirms Orthodoxy for she has received the Holy Spirit who has proceeded from the Father, and Solomon was instructed by the Holy Spirit to give the Proverb, and so too Adam who named his wife the mother of all living.
#4. The Mother of God appears and is proclaimed in the Orthodox Church by her Iconography as the “Hei” within the Divine NAME. The NAME of God is Holy and Eternal. As the NAME of God is Holy the Virgin is Pure and Immaculate. As the NAME of God is eternal, the Virginity of the Mother of God, Hei, is eternal.
#5. When a woman is in her mother’s womb, the eggs for the successive generation are formed. Saint Anna, bearing the Mother of God, also held in her body the Good Seed which was promised even to the old Eve,
And the LORD God said to the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.[13]…
And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.[14]
#6. The Icon Our Lady of Guadalupe is real, its miraculous fulfillment of Scripture thus far is real, and its testimony in the dress of the Mother of God as the Yod, as the Scroll, indicates the Immaculate bearing of Christ by the Mother of God, and the Immaculate and pure nature of the Mother so bearing. And again this is through and in Christ who upholds the scroll and thus the vows in Himself by the Cross.
#7. Extensive study of ancient hymnography in the Church bears witness to the Immaculate nature not only of Christ’s Conception, but the agency of an immaculate conception via the Holy and Righteous ancestors of God Saints Joachim and Anna. For ‘the marriage bed is pure and undefiled.’
None of this should be taken as an untimely call for some sort of reconciliation between the East and West schism, for the Icon Our Lady of Guadalupe has yet to bring forth healing Myrrh as other miraculous icons in the Orthodox Church. Heaven will make known the proper timing of things, but proper respect, love, and recognition of reality is required by all of us. Truth is important. If there is error in the above points, it might be useful to the present author and others to refute these points in an understandable manner.
This is to be believed because it is too beautiful and true not to believe. It should be believed because the Holy Scriptures are affirmed and confirmed. It should be believed not because we are good, but because being bad and repentant, we have reason to believe. Frankly that is pathetic compared to righteous monks and Saints, but even us sinners have been given “The Sign.”
Many of our Orthodox brothers and sisters display an intense and frankly passionate hatred of western Catholicism beyond reason and Christian charity. We have to love our enemies and forgive them, and even more so our wayward brothers and sisters. Just as the spirit of the prodigal son infests the western church with its harlotry with the nations, its temporal distortion and its deviation from ancient customs, so too the spirit of the prodigal son’s brother seems to infect the Orthodox Church. A blind man could see it with a cane.
One can be very distant from the Father even when one has all of the inheritance and all of the beauty of the field of the Holy Spirit at one’s fingertips. We have to understand ourselves and our sins. The west historically upheld all of Orthodoxy and kept the faith when the East failed to do so. Therefore, the fatted Calf that seems to be revealed in this Holy Icon is both for East and West. However, there is a division.
Acknowledging where others are correct is not an endorsement of those things that are incorrect, any more than rejecting error is somehow an endorsement to reject truth. Dispassion and logic are not the enemy of Christ who used logical arguments in the Holy Gospels to convince the poor scribes and Pharisees of the truth, as well as using prayer. In some instances, such as Saint Nicodemus, Saint Joseph of Arimathea and Saint Paul, logic from the pure logos worked very well.
The Way of Christ is the Cross, not the way of philosophers and logical sinners such as this present author. However, this present author cannot help but marvel at the beauty of revelation in Holy Scripture, and believe Holy Scripture, and what he has heard ought to be shouted from the roof tops. And frankly there are things in prayer, in life, in “coincidences” that seem to affirm this path at least on a personal level.
If this present author stumbled upon what is correct, it is the work of God alone and to Him be all Glory: Glory to the Father, to the Son and to the Holy Spirit now and ever and unto ages of ages, Amen.
[1] Clearly the Roman Catholics must have held true Marian doctrine to have received this miracle.
[2] Proverbs 31:1-2
[3] Proverbs 31:3-9, Holy Mary’s call to Jesus to enter ministry prophesied, all of Proverbs 31 speaking of the Mother of God.
[4] In ancient Church Tradition, Simon Zealot was the bridegroom at the wedding of Cana. No wonder they called him zealot!
[5] The Roman doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of the Mother of God so confirmed by the Iconography
[6] Guadalupe, hidden river in a mixture of Spanish and Latin, a name requested for it by the appearance of the Virgin Mary, appears in Spain and is connected with a statue of Saint Luke’s possession when his relics were found and paraded to Constantinople. The statue was hidden in a river for nearly 800 years during the Moorish occupation of Spain. Revelation 12:15-16 “And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.”
[7] II Peter 3:8, Revelation 13:14
[8] This appearance with precision in time, times and half a time and name associated with hidden river points to Revelation Chapter 12.
[9] Revelation 12:1-2
[10] Conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary. “I AM the Immaculate Conception” as revealed to Saint Bernadette of Lourdes – the Spouse has the privilege of taking the NAME of her groom.
[11] Isaiah 46:9-13
[12] St. Symeon New Theologian, On the Mystical Life, page 168
[13] Genesis 3:14-15
[14] Genesis 3:20 All Living includes God. Adam has prophesied the coming of the Mother of God through Eve.
The Two Pillars 