Tuesday Evening

It’s been a good day. I am beginning to understand what is taking place. I wrote this in my sabbatical journal:

I am beginning to sense that a true break is happening, not just a few days.

I spent some time this morning experiencing The Holy Trinity icon. You can see it on this page and read about it by clicking on one of the links to your right. A couple of years ago I wrote a paper about the Orthodox church and their use of icons. I read it today and then spent some significant time in Being Still and Knowing. It was good, very good. I end that paper with this quote, which talks about the 3 “angels” from left to right:

Behind the Father is his house, with “many dwelling places.” Psalm 84 sings, “How lovely is thy dwelling place, O Lord Sabaoth. My heart longs, even faints, for the house of the Lord.” Before the dawn of earthly time, it was already in the Father’s mind to prepare such a place for his children.

Behind the Son, a tree. Eden’s Tree of Life or Calvary’s Tree of Death? The oak of Mamre, yes, but more.

Behind the angel of the Spirit, a holy mountain, where his still small voice can be more clearly heard. Perhaps it is the secret place of the Most High; a lonely place, where each us retreats from time to time.

Above all else, however, it is the peaceable conversation that speaks most to me, and the relaxed, unhurried quality of the three beings. When I was a child, I would awaken and hear the voices of my parents in the next room. It gave me a sense of security, knowing they were there, talking just out of sight. Much more comforting is the conversation of the Three, the voice of Holy Wisdom, speaking, perhaps from time to time, my name.

I’ve been cleaning and reworking my home office. It has been really relaxing and enjoyable. I plan on spending a lot of good time here in the next 3 months, at least when I am in the country. Today I spent some time figuring out how to best use my time in Russia. I want to see all of Andrei Rublev’s icons; they are all located in the The State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow. I hope also to journey out to Sergiev Posad to the see the monastery pictured on this page. This is where Rublev was in the 1400s when he “wrote” (painted) the Holy Trinity icon.

I have also spent a fair amount of time tweaking the Greece and Turkey portion of my trip. I have a meeting tomorrow with the travel agent. I’ve been reading the book of Acts. I get so excited to think that I will see so many of the places that are mentioned in it.