On the Mount of Olives
“Then Yeshua led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. And while blessing them, He departed from them and was taken up into heaven. After worshiping Him, they returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And they were continually in the Temple, praising God.“
Luke 24: 50-53
“I wrote the first volume, Theophiluas, about all that Yeshua began to do and teach – up to the day He was taken up, after He had given orders by the Ruach ha-Kodesh to the emissaries He had chosen. To them He showed Himself to be alive after His suffering through many convincing proofs, appearing to them for forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.
Acts 1: 1-12
Now while staying with them, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father promised – which, He said, ‘you heard from Me. For John immersed with water, but you will be immersed in the Ruach ha-Kodesh not many days from now.‘
So when they gathered together, they asked Him, ‘Lord, are You restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time?‘ He said to them, ‘It is not your place to know the times or seasons which the Father has placed under His own control. But you will receive power when the Ruach ha-Kodesh has come upon you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and through all Judah, and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.‘
After saying all this – while they were watching – He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. While they were staring into heaven as He went up, suddenly two men stood with them in white clothing. They said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you keep standing here staring into heaven? This Yeshua, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw Him go into heaven.‘
Then they returned to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives (which is near Jerusalem, a Shabbat day‘s journey).“
The Mount of Olives is a mountain slope on the east side of Jerusalem. Between the walled inner city of Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives runs the Kidron Valley, a valley frequently mentioned in Sacred Scripture, named after a brook called Kidron. It features prominently in the story of the righteous King Josiah who cleanses the land of Judah and the temple in Jerusalem from all idolatry and foreign gods:
“He stopped the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained from burning incense on the high places in the towns of Judah and around Jerusalem, as well as those burning incense to Baal, the sun, the moon, the constellations, and to all the host of heaven. Then he brought out the Asherah pole from the House of ADONAI to Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem, burned it in the Kidron Valley, ground it to dust and threw its dust over the graves of the common place.“
2 Kings 23: 5-6
We encounter the Kidron Valley also in the gospel of Saint John. In fact, Jesus crosses the Kidron Valley every morning and every evening in the days between Palm Sunday and His arrest and crucifixion. The gospel accounts tell us that he spends the days in the temple in Jerusalem, and the nights on the Mount of Olives.
“When Yeshua had said these things, He went out with His disciples across the Kidron Valley, where there was a garden, which He and His disciples entered.“
John 18: 1
The village of Bethany on the southeastern slope of the Mount of Olives is where Martha, Mary, and Lazarus lived, as well as Simon the Leper. And on this mount, in the Garden of Gethsemane, is Jesus‘ place of prayer. According to Jewish tradition, King David often used to pray on the Mount of Olives.
At the house of Simon the Leper, a woman anoints Jesus “with an alabaster jar of very expensive oil“ (Mt 26: 7), pouring it on His head like it was done with priests and kings.
“Then Samuel took the vial of oil and poured it on his head.“
1 Samuel 10: 1
“Then take the garments, and put the tunic on Aaron, along with the robe, the ephod and the breastplate. Gird him with the artfully woven band of the ephod, set the turban on his head, and put the holy coronet on the turban. Then you are to take the anointing oil, pour it upon his head and anoint him.“
Exodus 29: 5-7
“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious oil upon the head, coming down upon the beard – Aaron‘s beard – coming down on the collar of his robes. It is like the dew of Hermon, coming down upon the mountains of Zion. For there ADONAI commanded the blessing – life forevermore!“
Psalm 133
In fact, the anointing oil used for anointing both kings and priests was stamped from the olives in the groves of the Mount of Olives, which is why Jewish tradition sometimes refers to it as the “Mount of Anointing“.
The Mount of Olives is the location where Lazarus is raised, and where Jesus talks with His disciples about the end of this age and the age to come. There is a large Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives that altogether dates back three thousand years. Among others, David‘s son Absalom, the prophets Zechariah, Haggai, and Malachi are buried there. Jewish tradition holds that the resurrection of the dead will begin on the Mount of Olives – that those buried there will rise first.
In the gospel of Matthew we read that some graves were opened and some holy ancestors were raised right at the moment of Jesus‘ death on the cross, similar to Lazarus being raised.
“And Yeshua cried out again with a loud voice and gave up His spirit. And behold, the curtain of the Temple was split in two, from top to bottom. And the earth quaked and rocks were split apart. And the tombs were opened, and many bodies of the kedoshim who were sleeping were raised to life. And coming forth out of the tombs after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.“
Matthew 27: 50-53
Now as you read this, think of the cemetery on the Mount of Olives, and imagine how those being raised walk down the slope of the mount, make their way across the Kidron Valley, and enter into the city of Jerusalem through the gate on its eastern side, (today called the Lion‘s Gate), following the footsteps of Jesus who had entered into the city as the King of Peace – the King of Salem (cf. Genesis 14: 18) – on a donkey on Palm Sunday through that very gate, and who, some days later, had been brought before the religious and imperial authorities in chains after having been led by the soldiers who had captured Him through that very same gate once again.
That the “tombs were opened“ and “many bodies (…) raised to life“ (Mt 27: 52) right when Jesus had finished his course as the Savior, the one sent by the Father and atoning for our sins, is a beautiful and meaningful substory within the greater story: His sacrifice unto death is life for us.
Finally, as we have seen in the very beginning: It is on the Mount of Olives that Jesus ascends into heaven, to sit down on His throne at the right hand of the Father, after having been present to the Holy Apostles for forty days, instructing and preparing them for their mission to “go therefore and make disciples of all nations, immersing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Ruach ha-Kodesh, teaching them to observe all I have commanded you“ (Mt 28: 19-20). The two angels appearing at Christ‘s ascension tell the apostles that He will come again “in the same way as you saw Him go into heaven“ (Acts 1: 11), which indicates to mean that at His return, He will come from heaven to the Mount of Olives.
There is a passage in the book of the prophet Zechariah – one of the prophets buried on the Mount of Olives, a prophet who lived at the time of the rebuilding of the temple and of Jerusalem’s city walls after the Babylonian captivity – that traditionally is viewed as being connected to the prophecy of the two angels:
“I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to wage war. (…) Then ADONAI will go forth and fight against those nations as He fights in a day of battle. In that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives which lies to the east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a huge valley. (…) Then ADONAI my God will come and all the kedoshim with Him. In that day there will be no light, cold or frost. It will be a day known only to ADONAI, neither day nor night – even in the evening time there will be light. Moreover, in that day living waters will flow from Jerusalem, half toward the eastern sea and half toward the western sea, both in the summer and in the winter. ADONAI will then be King over all the earth. In that day ADONAI will be Echad (One) and His Name Echad (One).“
Zechariah 14: 2-9
This link between the Mount of Olives “east of Jerusalem“ and Christ‘s second coming is one of the reasons for the Catholic tradition of orienting altars and prayers toward the East.
Sacred Scripture also tells us of the Jewish tradition of praying toward Jerusalem from the diaspora, being scattered throughout the world. The prophet Daniel, one of those exiled from Jerusalem, living in Babylon, prays thus:
“Now when Daniel learned that a written decree had been issued, he went into his house, where the windows in his upper room opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he knelt down, prayed and gave thanks before his God, just as he did before.“
Daniel 6: 11
These three hours of prayer throughout the day are also the backbone of the structure of Christian prayer sanctifying the day. In the Didache, the Teaching of the Apostles, a very early church manual from the first century, one finds the instruction to pray the Our Father three times a day.
We must only open up the very first book of the Old Testament, the book of Genesis, begin to read – and we will realize that time and space are not arbitrary in the world God created. If we keep reading, book by book, we will also realize that they are not arbitrary in the way God chooses to redeem the world. Time and space are crucial.
The apostolic tradition of ad orientem worship
Ad orientem is Latin for “to the east“. In many Catholic churches the altar is set up eastward, though not in every case, as this was and is not always possible architecturally. In the traditional Latin Mass, the priest and the people together face the altar (in the east), in any case they face together ad Dominum and ad crucem, toward the Most Blessed Sacrament and toward the crucifix of the altar, toward the liturgical East, while this practice got often lost and abandoned in the Ordinary Rite.
The former Pope Benedict XVI celebrated Holy Mass ad orientem during his pontificate, and in a book on the Spirit of the Liturgy written some years earlier while he was still a Cardinal, he explained why changing the worship practice from ad orientem to ad populum (meaning the priest is turned “to the people“) was and is not a good idea:
“The turning of the priest towards the people has turned the community into a self-enclosed circle. In its outward form, it no longer opens out on what lies ahead and above, but is closed in on itself. The common turning towards the East was not a ‘celebration towards the wall‘; it did not mean that the priest ‘had his back to the people‘: the priest himself was not regarded as so important. For just as the congegration in the synagogue looked together towards Jerusalem, so in the Christian liturgy the congregation looked together ‘towards the Lord‘. As one of the Fathers of Vatican II‘s Constitution on the Liturgy, J.A. Jungmann, put it, it was much more a question of priest and people facing in the same direction, knowing that together they were in a procession towards the Lord. They did not close themselves into a circle, they did not gaze at one another, but as the pilgrim People of God they set off for the Oriens, for the Christ who comes to meet us.“
Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger: The Spirit of the Liturgy, Ignatius Press 2000; published on: https://www.ratzinger.us/The-Altar-and-the-Direction-of-Liturgical-Prayer/
Cardinal Ratzinger was concerned that the “self-enclosed circle“ replaces the “procession“ of the “pilgrim People of God“ when ad orientem gets lost, changing the way we perceive the Church and our own place in it.
Saint Basil the Great, one of the Cappadocian Church Fathers, has left us in writing that praying towards the East was, in his day and age, seen as one of many unwritten customs of apostolic origin, and that he thinks that these customs need to be kept in order to guard the message of the Church intact:
“Of the beliefs and practices whether generally accepted or publicly enjoined which are preserved in the Church some we possess derived from written teaching, others we have received delivered to us ‘in a mystery‘ by the tradition of the apostles; and both of these in relation to true religion have the same force.
Saint Basil the Great
And these no one will gainsay; – no one, at all events, who is even moderately versed in the institutions of the Church. For were we to attempt to reject such customs as have no written authority, on the ground that the importance they possess is small, we should unintentionally injure the Gospel in its very vitals; or, rather, should make our public definition a mere phrase and nothing more.
For instance, to take the first and most general example, who is thence who has taught us in writing to sign with the sign of the cross those who have trusted in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ? What writing has taught us to turn to the East at the prayer? Which of the saints has left us in writing the words of the invocation at the displaying of the bread of the Eucharist and the cup of blessing? For we are not, as is well known, content with what the apostle or the Gospel has recorded, but both in preface and conclusion we add other words as being of great importance to the validity of the ministry, and these we derive from unwritten teaching.“
In the eight century, Saint Germanus (634-733) and Saint John of Damascus (675-749) are in agreement with Saint Basil the Great concerning the apostolic origin of praying ad orientem:
“Praying toward the East is handed down by the holy apostles, as is everything else. This is because the comprehensible sun of righteousness, Christ our God, appeared on earth in those regions of the East where the perceptible sun rises, as the prophet says: ‘Orient is his name‘ (Zech 6:12); and ‘Bow before the Lord, all the earth, who ascended to the heaven of heavens in the East‘ (cf Ps 67:34); and ‘Let us prostrate ourselves in the place where His feet stood‘ (cf Ps 67:34); and again, ‘The feet of the Lord shall stand upon the Mount of Olives in the East‘ (Zech 14:4).“
Saint Germanus in his work On the Divine Liturgy
“It is not without reason or by chance that we worship towards the East. But seeing that we are composed of a visible and an invisible nature, that is to say, of a nature partly of spirit and partly of sense, we render also a twofold worship to the Creator; just as we sing both with our spirit and our bodily lips, and are baptized with both water and Spirit, and are united with the Lord in a twofold manner, being sharers in the Mysteries and in the grace of the Spirit. Since, therefore, God is spiritual light, and Christ is called in the Scriptures Sun of Righteousness and Dayspring, the East is the direction that must be assigned to His worship. For everything good must be assigned to Him from Whom every good thing arises. Indeed the divine David also says, Sing unto God, ye kingdoms of the earth: O sing praises unto the Lord: to Him that rideth upon the Heavens of heavens towards the East. (…) And when He was received again into Heaven He was borne towards the East, and thus His apostles worship Him, and thus He will come again in the way in which they beheld Him going towards Heaven; as the Lord Himself said, As the lightning cometh out of the East and shineth even unto the West, so also shall the coming of the Son of Man be. So, then, in expectation of His coming we worship towards the East. But this tradition of the apostles is unwritten. For much that has been handed down to us by tradition is unwritten.“
Saint John of Damascus: Exposition of the Orthodox Faith. Book IV, Ch. 12: Concerning Worship towards the East
How can we ever afford to lose, abandon, disregard something of apostolic tradition?
Paradise and baptism
“Then ADONAI Elohim formed the man out of the dust from the ground and He breathed into his nostrils a breath of life – so the man became a living being. Then ADONAI Elohim planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there He put the man whom He had formed.“
Genesis 2: 7-8
“ADONAI Elohim sent him away from the Garden of Eden, to work the ground from which he had been taken. And He expelled the man; and at the east of the Garden Of Eden He had cheruvim dwell along, with the whirling sword of flame, to guard the way to the Tree of Life.“
Genesis 3: 23-24
Paradise, the Garden of Eden, is located “in the east“ (Gen 2: 8). And when Adam and Eve are exiled from paradise, the gate to paradise which the cherubim guard is “at the east“ (Gen 3: 24). So the direction away from paradise is West, the direction toward paradise East.
“Moreover the Scripture also says, And God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there He put the man whom He had formed: and when he had transgressed His command He expelled him and made him to dwell over against the delights of Paradise, which clearly is the West. So, then, we worship God seeking and striving after our old fatherland.“
Saint John of Damascus: Exposition of the Orthodox Faith. Book IV, Ch. 12: Concerning Worship towards the East
In the fourth century, Saint Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem, explains in his catechesis to “the newly baptized“ why they were charged to renounce Satan “in the West“ during the baptismal rite. In every church since ancient days, baptismal fonts are on the eastern side.
“First ye entered into the vestibule of the Baptistery, and there facing towards the West ye listened to the command to stretch forth your hand, and as in the presence of Satan ye renounced him. Now ye must know that this figure is found in ancient history. For when Pharaoh, that most bitter and cruel tyrant, was oppressing the free and high-born people of the Hebrews, God sent Moses to bring them out of the evil bondage of the Egyptians. Then the door posts were anointed with the blood of a lamb, that the destroyer might flee from the houses which had the sign of the blood; and the Hebrew people were marvellously delivered. The enemy, however, after their rescue, pursued after them, and saw the sea wondrously parted for them; nevertheless he went on, following close in their footsteps, and was all at once overwhelmed and engulphed in the Red Sea.
Saint Cyril of Jerusalem: Five Catechetical Lectures to the Newly Baptized, First Lecture on the Mysteries
Now turn from the old to the new, from the figure to the reality. There we have Moses sent from God to Egypt; here, Christ, sent forth from His Father into the world: there, that Moses might lead forth an afflicted people out of Egypt; here, that Christ might rescue those who are oppressed in the world under sin: there, the blood of a lamb was the spell against the destroyer; here, the blood of the Lamb without blemish Jesus Christ is made the charm to scare evil spirits: there, the tyrant was pursuing that ancient people even to the sea; and here the daring and shameless spirit, the author of evil, was following thee even to the very streams of salvation. The tyrant of old was drowned in the sea; and this present one disappears in the water of salvation.
But nevertheless thou art bidden to say, with arm outstretched towards him as though he were present, ‘I renounce thee, Satan.‘ I wish also to say wherefore ye stand facing to the West; for it is necessary. Since the West is the region of sensible darkness, and he being darkness has his dominion also in darkness, therefore, looking with a symbolical meaning towards the West, ye renounce that dark and gloomy potentate. (…) Then in a second sentence thou art taught to say, ‘and all thy works‘. Now the works of Satan are all sin, which also thou must renounce (…). Thou renouncest therefore the works of Satan; I mean, all deeds and thoughts which are contrary to reason. Then thou sayest, ‘and all his pomp‘. Now the pomp of the devil is the madness of theatres, and horse-races, and hunting, and all such vanity (…). (…) After this thou sayest, ‘and all thy service‘. Now the service of the devil is prayer in idol temples; things done in honour of lifeless idols (…). (…) When therefore thou renouncest Satan, utterly breaking all thy covenant with him, that ancient league with hell, there is opened to thee the paradise of God, which He planted towards the East, whence for his transgression our first father was banished; and a symbol of this was thy turning from West to East, the place of light.“
So the West is darkness, is Egypt and Satan‘s dominion, but the East – where the sun rises – is “the place of light“, reminiscent of paradise, there is the kingdom of God.
“Ad orientem converteris; qui enim renunciat diabolo ad Christum convertitur.“
Saint Ambrose of Milan
In the baptismal rite one turns from the West to the East, from Satan to Christ, from darkness to light, from death to life. Facing west, one first denounces Satan, all his works, his pomp, and his service, and then turning east, one enters into the New Covenant with God, is clothed with Christ (cf. Gal 3: 17), and “yields“ oneself “to God as (…) alive from the dead, and (one‘s) body parts as tools of righteousness to God“ (Rom 6: 13).
So we can actually think of praying eastwards as both a reminder of the paradise we long for, meaning the full salvation and communion of God being all in all in the age to come, and of our baptism, which is our covenant with God who has made Jesus Christ the gate through which humanity can enter into paradise anew.
“I am the gate! If anyone comes in through Me, he will be saved. He will come and go and find pasture.“
John 10: 9
The banner of Judah “toward the sunrise“
Recently I began reading in the book of Numbers again, and already in its second chapter I found something quite interesting – something that is, I think, worth relating here in this context.
While the Israelites are on their way through the wilderness to the promised land, to the land flowing with milk and honey, after having been liberated from Egypt and Pharaoh, they are given many instructions along the way by God through Moses. They are nomads, pilgrims, a nation journeying, worshipping their God in the “Tent of Meeting“, in a portable tabernacle made of wood and cloth – not yet in a temple of stones in the city of Jerusalem.
In the book of Numbers we read about their “camp formation“. God gave them a fixed order for organizing their camp, their decampments, and a “marching order“ for their battles with the nations. The numbers that are given here are the number of men from each tribe that are available “to serve in the army of Israel“ (Num 1: 3).
“‘Let each man encamp under his own standard among the banners of their ancestral house at an appropriate distance around the Tent of Meeting. Those camping on the east – toward the sunrise – will be of the standard of Judah, according to their divisions. (…) Camping next to him shall be the tribe of Issachar. (…) Next, the tribe of Zebulun. (…) All those numbered to Judah‘s camp, by their divisions, are 186,400. They are to advance first.
Numbers 2: 2-31
The standard of the camp of Reuben shall be on the south side, by their divisions. (…) Those camping next to them are the tribe of Simeon. (…) Next, the tribe of Gad. (…) All those numbered to the camp of Reuben are 151,400. They are to set out second.
Then the Tent of Meeting will move out with the camp of the Levites, which is in the middle of the camps (…).
On the west will be the standard of the camp of Ephraim, by their divisions. (…) Next to him is the tribe of Manasseh. (…) Next, the tribe of Benjamin. (…) All those numbered to the camp of Ephraim are 108,100, by their divisions. They are to advance third.
The standard of the camp of Dan shall be on the north, according to their divisions. (…) Next to him will encamp the tribe of Asher. (…) Next, tribe of Naphtali. (…) All those numbered to the camp of Dan are 157,600. They are to advance last by their standards.“
So the camp of Judah is to encamp “toward the sunrise“ (Num 2: 3) and “to advance first“ (Num 2: 9) in battle. Now the only camp we can be said to belong to – through the body and blood of Jesus Christ, through the sacraments that unite us, body and soul, with Christ – is the camp of Judah, as Jesus took flesh from the Blessed Virgin Mary who was a physical descendant of the tribe of Judah.
By the way, it is an interesting side note that the tribe of Zebulun is adjoined here to the camp of Judah, marching under Judah‘s banner. As you probably know, each one of the tribes was given a certain portion of the promised land once the people of Israel arrived there and took possession of it. Well, Nazareth of the Galilee, the place where the Holy Family took residence after returning from their exile in Egypt, is located within the boundaries of the land ascribed to the tribe of Zebulun… Ancestries, names, identities, and space and time – they are never “accidental“ in God‘s grand story of salvation.
Now there is an interesting line in one of the Hallel psalms, which are the psalms the Jews prayed and to this day pray during the night of the Passover meal. It is Psalm 114, a prayer remembering the Exodus. But this verse cannot possibly refer solely to the first Exodus of Israel leaving Egypt. Rather it somehow can only be understood as a partly prophetic utterance pointing to the second Exodus that Christ inaugurated.
“When Israel came out of Egypt, Jacob‘s house from a people foreign-speaking, Judah became His Sanctuary, Israel His dominion.“
Psalm 114: 1-2
How did Judah become God‘s Sanctuary through the first Exodus? After all, Judah was not the tribe designated for the priestly service in the sanctuary according to the Old Covenant cut at Mount Sinai, but the tribe of Levi was. And the city of Jerusalem, which later on became the city where the Ark of the Covenant found its resting place in the Temple, is part of the territory of Benjamin, not Judah.
Yet, in a prophetic sense we might understand what has been said as follows: Judah did indeed become God’s Sanctuary and the sanctuary for all the chosen ones from all nations in the New Covenant cut in Jesus Christ, the “King of the Jews“ (John 19: 19), the “Lion of the tribe of Judah“ (Rev 5: 5).
The initial sacrament that binds us together with “the Lion of the tribe of Judah“ is Holy Baptism, followed then by Holy Confirmation and our abiding in Him through Holy Communion. At the time of Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, the catechumens who were about to enter into the Church, into the holy Body of Christ, through baptism were stripped off their clothes as a first step in the baptismal rite, as “an image of putting off the old man with his deeds“ as well as “imitating Christ who was stripped naked on the Cross“ (St Cyril of Jerusalem: Five Catechetical Lectures to the Newly Baptized).
Before making their confession of faith in God Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and being immersed “three times“ in a pool of water, “hinting by a symbol at the three days burial of Christ“ (ibid.), they were anointed with oil from top to bottom.
“Then, when ye were stripped, ye were anointed with exorcised oil, from the very hairs of your head to your feet, and were made partakers of the good olive-tree, Jesus Christ. For ye were cut off from the wild olive tree, and grafted into the good one, and were made to share the fatness of the true olive tree. The exorcised oil therefore was a symbol of the participation of the fatness of Christ, being a charm to drive away every trace of hostile influence. For as the breathing of the saints, and the invocation of the Name of God, like fiercest flame, scorch and drive out evil spirits, so also this exorcised oil receives such virtue by the invocation of God and by prayer, as not only to burn and cleanse away the traces of sins, but also to chase away all the invisible powers of the evil one.“
Saint Cyril of Jerusalem: Five Catechetical Lectures to the Newly Baptized, Of Baptism
After their baptism, the new members of the Body of Christ in 4th century Jerusalem would receive oil again, holy chrism – in what Saint Cyril calls “unction“, that is Holy Confirmation, the actual sacrament of being anointed and sealed with the Holy Spirit:
“And as Christ was in reality crucified, and buried, and raised, and you are in Baptism accounted worthy of being crucified, buried, and raised together with Him in a likeness, so is it with the unction also. As He was anointed with an ideal oil of gladness, that is, with the Holy Ghost, called oil of gladness, because He is the author of spiritual gladness, so ye were anointed with ointment, having been made partakers and fellows of Christ. But beware of supposing this to be plain ointment. For as the Bread of the Eucharist, after the invocation of the Holy Ghost, is mere bread no longer, but the Body of Christ, so also this holy ointment is no more simple ointment, nor (so to say) common, after invocation, but it is Christ‘s gift of grace, and, by the advent of the Holy Ghost, is made fit to impart His Divine Nature. Which ointment is symbolically applied to thy forehead and thy other senses; and while thy body is anointed with the visible ointment, thy soul is sanctified by the Holy and life-giving Spirit. And ye were first anointed on the forehead, that ye might be delivered from the shame, which the first man who transgressed bore about with him everywhere; and that with unveiled faces ye might reflect as a mirror the glory of the Lord. Then on your ears; that ye might receive the ears which are quick to hear the Divine Mysteries, of which Esaias said, The Lord gave me also an ear to hear; and the Lord Jesus in the Gospel, He that hath ears to hear let him hear. Then on the nostrils; that receiving the sacred ointment ye may say, We are to God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved. Afterwards on your breast; that having put on the breastplate of righteousness, ye may stand against the wiles of the devil. For as Christ after His Baptism, and the visitation of the Holy Ghost, went forth and vanquished the adversary, so likewise ye, after Holy Baptism and the Mystical Chrism, having put on the whole armour of the Holy Ghost, are to stand against the power of the adversary, and vanquish it, saying, I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me. (…) Moreover, you should know that in the old Scriptures there lies the symbol of this Chrism. For what time Moses imparted to his brother the command of God, and mage him High-priest, after bathing in water, he anointed him; and Aaron was called Christ or Anointed, evidently from the typical Chrism. So also the High-priest, in advancing Solomon to the kingdom, anointed him after he had bathed in Gihon. (…)
Saint Cyril of Jerusalem: Five Catechetical Lectures to the Newly Baptized, On Chrism
Christ is the beginning of your salvation; for He is truly the First-fruit, and ye the mass; but if the First-fruit be holy, it is manifest that Its holiness will pass to the mass also. Keep this unspotted: for it shall teach you all things (…). For this holy thing is a spiritual safeguard of the body, and salvation of the soul. (…) Having been anointed, therefore, with this holy ointment, keep it unspotted and unblemished in you, pressing forward by good works, and being made well-pleasing to the Captain of your salvation, Christ Jesus, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.“
The complete immersion of the body in “exorcised oil“ before baptism, being anointed for the death, burial, and resurrection of baptism just like Jesus Christ was anointed at Simon the Leper‘s house in Bethany on the Mount of Olives (“she did it to prepare Me for burial“ (Mt 26: 12)), sounds like a beautiful tradition in my ears. There is still an anointing before baptism today, also in the Latin Rite, but it is not an immersion of the whole body in oil.
As Saint Cyril of Jerusalem has taught us in fine and rich words, the holy anointing oil used in the sacraments of the Church signifies being engrafted into the true and fat olive tree, as well as participating in the kingship and priesthood of Jesus Christ through whom Judah was made God‘s Sanctuary, reminding us how kings and priests were anointed: with holy olive oil, pressed from the fruits of the groves and gardens on the Mount of Olives, poured on the head flowing down the whole body unto the toes.
But let us return to Israel’s camp and marching order in the wilderness. It is just as prophetic as the verse in Psalm 114: The tribe that will bring forth both King David and the “Son of David“, the Messiah, is to lead the whole nation, is to “advance first“ in the battles along their way. And Judah’s proper place is “toward the sunrise“. Its banner is raised in the East. After all, eastwards is the direction the children of Israel are heading here: They are literally on a journey, on a pilgrimage from the West, from Egypt, to the East, to the land God promised them, led by the standard of the Lion of Judah.
“Judah, so you are – your brothers will praise you (…). Your father‘s sons will bow down to you.“
Genesis 49: 8; 10
“The scepter will not pass from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he to whom it belongs will come. To him will be the obedience of the peoples.“
“Judah“ means “to be praised“, by the way, derived from the Hebrew verb yada (to praise). The Hebrew word for “thanks“ (toda) is also related to the same root. We see the meaning of this name not only in Jacob‘s blessings over Judah but also in Leah‘s reaction to the birth of her fourth – and last – son:
“Now ADONAI saw that Leah was unloved, so he opened her womb; but Rachel was unable to conceive. (…) Then she became pregnant again and gave birth to a son and said, ‘This time I praise ADONAI.‘ For this reason she named him Judah. The she stopped having children.“
Genesis 29: 31-35
And yet another side note we could meditate on: the tribe chosen for bringing forth the Messiah, the “firstborn of all creation“ (Col 1: 15), is the tribe stemming from the youngest – the last born – son of the unloved woman seen and loved only by God…
Some weeks after noticing this connection between Israel‘s camp formation in the wilderness and ad orientem, I stumbled across the remarks of Saint John of Damascus which I already partly quoted above and was happy to see that this connection was indeed also on the minds of the ancient Fathers and Doctors of the Church:
“Moreover the tent of Moses had its veil and mercy seat towards the East. Also the tribe of Judah as the most precious pitched their camp on the East. Also in the celebrated temple of Solomon the Gate of the Lord was placed eastward.“
Saint John of Damascus: Exposition of the Orthodox Faith. Book IV, Ch. 12: Concerning Worship towards the East
Maranatha
Praying towards the East makes sense for many reasons, and so does journeying in procession with a specific direction, led by the leader of the camp, by the captain who stands for the Captain, and advances forward first, the priest and the people thereby processing together in one direction.
“The whole Church is a priestly people. Through Baptism all the faithful share in the priesthood of Christ. This participation is called the ‘common priesthood of the faithful.‘ Based on this common priesthood and ordered to its service, there exists another participation in the mission of Christ: the ministry conferred by the sacrament of Holy Orders, where the task is to serve in the name and in the person of Christ the Head in the midst of the community.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 1591-1592
The ministerial priesthood differs in essence from the common priesthood of the faithful because it confers a sacred power for the service of the faithful. The ordained ministers exercise their service for the People of God by teaching (munus docendi), divine worship (munus liturgicum) and pastoral governance (munus regendi).“
Praying eastwards pictures our common waiting for Christ’s coming at the end of the age when His feet will touch the Mount of Olives again; our common journey back from exile to paradise; and the constant common call to turn from darkness to light. It makes us camp as a pilgrim people in procession, like Judah, “toward the sunrise“ – always waiting, with “loins girded“, for Him – Maranatha (Aramaic, meaning “O Lord come!“ or „Our Lord comes / is coming“).
“(…) you are to eat it this way: with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet and your staff in your hand. You are to eat it in haste. It is ADONAI‘s Passover.“
Exodus 12: 11
“Let your loins be girded and your lamps burning.“
Luke 12: 35
We believe Jesus Christ, our “Orient“, to be present in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the altar. So the whole Church does well in looking toward Him, our common King and High Priest who is “always living to make intercession for (us)“ (Heb 7: 24), the one “able to save completely those who draw near to God through Him“ (Heb 7: 24), from whom we all together receive all graces.
“(…) all the evil the children of Israel and the children of Judah have done to provoke Me – they, their kings, their princes, their kohanim, their prophets, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. They have turned their back to Me and not their face. Though I taught them early and often, they have not listened to receive instruction.“
Jeremiah 32: 32-33