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Sister Anne Eason O.S.B. St Cecilia's Abbey
Sister Anne Eason is a Benedictine nun of St Cecilia’s Abbey, Pax Cordis Jesu (Cong. Solesmes ), Ryde, Isle of Wight, UK.
https://stceciliasabbey.org.uk
After five years of study at Rhodes University, South Africa, she graduated with a degree in English (specialising in poetry), and in Biblical Studies (specialising in Hebrew exegesis). A degree in Philosophy of Religion at the University of South Africa was begun but was not completed because of monastic duties. An independent student of Aramaic, she is also an artist and iconographer.
This present work offers a fresh reading of the Servant Songs of Deutero Isaiah with reference in particular to the Song of Songs and the Gospel of John. It is not necessary to know
Hebrew, Aramaic or Greek in order to appreciate the insights of the sacred texts in these
languages, but they have been included occasionally for those who know them.
As the ambience of this work is monastic lectio divina it is hoped that anyone who takes the spiritual life seriously will find it enriching.
https://stceciliasabbey.org.uk
After five years of study at Rhodes University, South Africa, she graduated with a degree in English (specialising in poetry), and in Biblical Studies (specialising in Hebrew exegesis). A degree in Philosophy of Religion at the University of South Africa was begun but was not completed because of monastic duties. An independent student of Aramaic, she is also an artist and iconographer.
This present work offers a fresh reading of the Servant Songs of Deutero Isaiah with reference in particular to the Song of Songs and the Gospel of John. It is not necessary to know
Hebrew, Aramaic or Greek in order to appreciate the insights of the sacred texts in these
languages, but they have been included occasionally for those who know them.
As the ambience of this work is monastic lectio divina it is hoped that anyone who takes the spiritual life seriously will find it enriching.
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I have at some points in this chapter referred to Herman Hesse’s analysis of the artistic ‘type’ in his novel Narcissus and Goldmund and compared and contrasted it with John as artist and mystic.
In this chapter I explore John’s use of the night as an image embedded in his theology of the Passion. But I have also discussed the image of the night used differently. Finally, I have given an in-depth exegesis of the Aramaic text of the encounter with Christ and Nicodemus which happened at night, a fact which John mentions in the three instances in which he refers to Nicodemus. To do this, I have kept awareness of John’s poetic and mystic gifts in the frame. John is a contemplative. They love to pray in the dark, in the middle of the night, when the inner eye of the deep self can see the invisible without distraction. “… by night, His song will be with me, A prayer to the God of my life.” Ps. 42.8. John, as a child, his father having a fishing business, would have watched the lantern-lit boats on the Galilee Lake at night floating beneath the night sky… an image evocative of prayer and the eternal. He would have seen similar images while at Ephesus and Smyrna overlooking the Mediterranean…
I have provided guidelines for approaching the text in this way, which I hope will help the reader to discover its riches. My work in this volume is based on John in the Aramaic which provides rich insights not found in the Greek. The Introduction is entitled Imaging the Depths and that gives some insight into this volume’s focus on image. There are some overlaps with The Passion of the Word, of course, as the images in the Fourth Gospel reside in the text and I have referenced them.
The exegesis stays true to the traditional Lectio Divina hermeneutic of “finding Christ” in the text while demonstrating a productive use of the tradition, not as telically determinative, but as a tool or sounding board to help bring forth a diversity of meanings. As one small example the Hebrew/Aramaic verbal root נחם/ܢܚܡ is shown to denote not just “grief,” but “consolation,” “rest,” and even “resurrection” (per the Syriac of John 11:25), completing a full cycle of meaning. The writing style is lyrical and does not shy away from the polyvocal semantics of Semitic languages, teasing out idioms and wordplays wherein Hebrew and Aramaic either operate in tandem or find an indifferentiable unity of expression. Students of world religions and humanities will find the text especially useful as a means for approaching Catholic spirituality and history through a living and faithful example of the monastic life, one which embraces a plurality of disciplines and higher academic studies.
Notice about a further volume in progress
The prophecies were like an arrow released into ‘the unknown’, travelling towards distant horizons yet to emerge as Israel travelled through the landscape of history with God. Or like a flare which for a few seconds lights up the dark landscape of the present, showing us the nature of our position. In terms of the arrow, the horizon could be manifold, revealing itself gradually, severally, with different aspects coming to fruition at various times as Israel travelled forward. Eventually the prophecies would take the complete form of a coherent perfection, as in the Paschal Mystery of Christ, so poignantly alluded to in the Servant Songs. Having reached the moment of fulfilment, the prophecy continues to travel by being embodied in the Eucharist and the phenomenon of the Ecclesia. In terms of the flare, the prophecies illuminate the inscape of religious consciousness, and cast their beams beyond, to the landscape, the expression of Israel’s identity and morality, her love or lack of love. The interface between that inscape and the landscape is where Israel’s sanctity, or lack of it, is bathed by the same lumen.
In the time of the prophets ancient Hebrew was a sacred language with restricted vocabulary, and this played an important role in the consciousness of Israel. If, for example, the redactor used a particular word in the context of a prophecy, it resonated for the listeners who knew it in other contexts. Poetry works in a similar way and the prophecies and songs are essentially poetry. But the prophet was in an authentic prophetic ecstasy. His prophecies, when recorded and related, used the methods of poetry. I am discussing a society in which the oral tradition was still very important and cultures dependent upon oral tradition have memories far surpassing our own. The poetic form, the pun, assonance, onomatopoeia, repetition, alliteration and the balance of parallelisms to name some features, were used to perfection in the Semitic prophetic tradition to create a response in the receptive soul. This was instinctive and inspired, to preserve in the memory of the people their identity as a nation belonging to God.
So as a particular word or sound fell on the ears of the listeners it created concentric circles of meaning upon the hearers’ consciousness like a pebble falling on water. The circles of meaning radiated outwards from the place of impact within the receptive psyche in a mixture of unconscious and conscious association. Perhaps the ordinary person could not have explained this, but if prompted he would show that he knew the connections and nuances. There was also a corresponding ‘downward’ projection of meaning as the phrase created or lit up layers descending into the historical consciousness, which reached backwards through the generations of the corporate ‘person’ who was Israel beloved of God.
With the wisdom of Pope Benedict I bring this meditative study on the Passion of the Word to a place of pause. I cannot call it a conclusion for the Servant Songs are a bridge to all that is eternal. It is rather like the fourth mode in Gregorian Chant which has a feeling of suspension about it, similar to an unfinished symphony. We call it the ‘contemplative mode’ because it is, like contemplation, always orientated towards the infinite, and associated with light and sight. The exegesis of the prophecies of the Servant Songs is similar. Dealing with profound mysteries it is not possible, in my view, to pin them down too tightly. Their treasures are without limit.
I have at some points in this chapter referred to Herman Hesse’s analysis of the artistic ‘type’ in his novel Narcissus and Goldmund and compared and contrasted it with John as artist and mystic.
In this chapter I explore John’s use of the night as an image embedded in his theology of the Passion. But I have also discussed the image of the night used differently. Finally, I have given an in-depth exegesis of the Aramaic text of the encounter with Christ and Nicodemus which happened at night, a fact which John mentions in the three instances in which he refers to Nicodemus. To do this, I have kept awareness of John’s poetic and mystic gifts in the frame. John is a contemplative. They love to pray in the dark, in the middle of the night, when the inner eye of the deep self can see the invisible without distraction. “… by night, His song will be with me, A prayer to the God of my life.” Ps. 42.8. John, as a child, his father having a fishing business, would have watched the lantern-lit boats on the Galilee Lake at night floating beneath the night sky… an image evocative of prayer and the eternal. He would have seen similar images while at Ephesus and Smyrna overlooking the Mediterranean…
I have provided guidelines for approaching the text in this way, which I hope will help the reader to discover its riches. My work in this volume is based on John in the Aramaic which provides rich insights not found in the Greek. The Introduction is entitled Imaging the Depths and that gives some insight into this volume’s focus on image. There are some overlaps with The Passion of the Word, of course, as the images in the Fourth Gospel reside in the text and I have referenced them.
The exegesis stays true to the traditional Lectio Divina hermeneutic of “finding Christ” in the text while demonstrating a productive use of the tradition, not as telically determinative, but as a tool or sounding board to help bring forth a diversity of meanings. As one small example the Hebrew/Aramaic verbal root נחם/ܢܚܡ is shown to denote not just “grief,” but “consolation,” “rest,” and even “resurrection” (per the Syriac of John 11:25), completing a full cycle of meaning. The writing style is lyrical and does not shy away from the polyvocal semantics of Semitic languages, teasing out idioms and wordplays wherein Hebrew and Aramaic either operate in tandem or find an indifferentiable unity of expression. Students of world religions and humanities will find the text especially useful as a means for approaching Catholic spirituality and history through a living and faithful example of the monastic life, one which embraces a plurality of disciplines and higher academic studies.
Notice about a further volume in progress
The prophecies were like an arrow released into ‘the unknown’, travelling towards distant horizons yet to emerge as Israel travelled through the landscape of history with God. Or like a flare which for a few seconds lights up the dark landscape of the present, showing us the nature of our position. In terms of the arrow, the horizon could be manifold, revealing itself gradually, severally, with different aspects coming to fruition at various times as Israel travelled forward. Eventually the prophecies would take the complete form of a coherent perfection, as in the Paschal Mystery of Christ, so poignantly alluded to in the Servant Songs. Having reached the moment of fulfilment, the prophecy continues to travel by being embodied in the Eucharist and the phenomenon of the Ecclesia. In terms of the flare, the prophecies illuminate the inscape of religious consciousness, and cast their beams beyond, to the landscape, the expression of Israel’s identity and morality, her love or lack of love. The interface between that inscape and the landscape is where Israel’s sanctity, or lack of it, is bathed by the same lumen.
In the time of the prophets ancient Hebrew was a sacred language with restricted vocabulary, and this played an important role in the consciousness of Israel. If, for example, the redactor used a particular word in the context of a prophecy, it resonated for the listeners who knew it in other contexts. Poetry works in a similar way and the prophecies and songs are essentially poetry. But the prophet was in an authentic prophetic ecstasy. His prophecies, when recorded and related, used the methods of poetry. I am discussing a society in which the oral tradition was still very important and cultures dependent upon oral tradition have memories far surpassing our own. The poetic form, the pun, assonance, onomatopoeia, repetition, alliteration and the balance of parallelisms to name some features, were used to perfection in the Semitic prophetic tradition to create a response in the receptive soul. This was instinctive and inspired, to preserve in the memory of the people their identity as a nation belonging to God.
So as a particular word or sound fell on the ears of the listeners it created concentric circles of meaning upon the hearers’ consciousness like a pebble falling on water. The circles of meaning radiated outwards from the place of impact within the receptive psyche in a mixture of unconscious and conscious association. Perhaps the ordinary person could not have explained this, but if prompted he would show that he knew the connections and nuances. There was also a corresponding ‘downward’ projection of meaning as the phrase created or lit up layers descending into the historical consciousness, which reached backwards through the generations of the corporate ‘person’ who was Israel beloved of God.
With the wisdom of Pope Benedict I bring this meditative study on the Passion of the Word to a place of pause. I cannot call it a conclusion for the Servant Songs are a bridge to all that is eternal. It is rather like the fourth mode in Gregorian Chant which has a feeling of suspension about it, similar to an unfinished symphony. We call it the ‘contemplative mode’ because it is, like contemplation, always orientated towards the infinite, and associated with light and sight. The exegesis of the prophecies of the Servant Songs is similar. Dealing with profound mysteries it is not possible, in my view, to pin them down too tightly. Their treasures are without limit.
I would not wish to depart from the understanding of the words which Jerome and others have used in their comments on this text. The Church has worked with it as such. But I think there might be a place for at least examining a translation which opened up aspects to this verse which would be consonant with the nature of the Servant and also with the writings of S Paul and S John. Such a translation would put a different understanding of the response of the Servant, with whom the prophet is identified in these lines. It will be like painting, a reflection in different colours of the text, beneath it, or like seeing the possibilities of another rendering submerged beneath it yet visible. It is to listen to the silent melody as described by Zolli above, within the verse.
The Servant Songs belong to Israel’s prophetic heritage. The Song of Songs is not at first sight a prophetic work yet it nevertheless serves a prophetic purpose when it is used by the Church in her liturgies to direct the interior gaze towards the mysteries of Christ’s Incarnation and Resurrection. When we hear these songs liturgically, those of the Servant, and the Song of Solomon, we understand their mutuality and their illumination of each other. The Shir HaShirim takes us beyond the Passion, showing His beauty in the Resurrection and His Father’s desire for Him.
In the time of the prophets ancient Hebrew was a sacred language with restricted vocabulary, and this played an important role in the consciousness of Israel. If, for example, the redactor used a particular word in the context of a prophecy, it resonated for the listeners who knew it in other contexts. Poetry works in a similar way and the prophecies and songs are essentially poetry. But the prophet was in an authentic prophetic ecstasy. His prophecies, when recorded and related, used the methods of poetry. I am discussing a society in which the oral tradition was still very important and cultures dependent upon oral tradition have memories far surpassing our own. The poetic form, the pun, assonance, onomatopoeia, repetition, alliteration and the balance of parallelisms to name some features, were used to perfection in the Semitic prophetic tradition to create a response in the receptive soul. This was instinctive and inspired, to preserve in the memory of the people their identity as a nation belonging to God.
So as a particular word or sound fell on the ears of the listeners it created concentric circles of meaning upon the hearers’ consciousness like a pebble falling on water. The circles of meaning radiated outwards from the place of impact within the receptive psyche in a mixture of unconscious and conscious association. Perhaps the ordinary person could not have explained this, but if prompted he would show that he knew the connections and nuances. There was also a corresponding ‘downward’ projection of meaning as the phrase created or lit up layers descending into the historical consciousness, which reached backwards through the generations of the corporate ‘person’ who was Israel beloved of God.
The subheadings of the Introduction are:
The Voice of the Singer,
Songs of the Pearl,
Exegesis as Icon,
The Gospel of John,
Hebrew Prophecy: Fire in the Bones,
The Sacred Language.
From these you will see that it is a creative movement, an intertestamental referencing. The quest is peregrine as exegesis is by nature a pilgrimage, but also because the Semitic mind wanders contemplatively around the themes of scripture. As the work takes its impetus from the ancient languages of the sacred texts it is important to read the sub section on The Sacred Language. It is advised that you have the scriptural text open while you read these chapters, to easily follow the connections between themes and texts. I will be sharing each chapter here as I complete its proof reading, and finally it will be available as a book.