THE VIRGIN MARY - QUEEN OF ANGELS

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The heavenly world is the world of Saints and good angels, that is, the kingdom of Heaven, in which the Virgin Mary is the queen, that is, its ruler… On the head of Queen of angels, in addition to the crown, there is a headdress of twelve golden stars… It is exactly in accordance with the lines from The Revelation of the Apostle John Theologian, “… a great sign appeared in heaven: the Woman clothed with the sun; under her feet is the moon and on her head is a crown of twelve stars”, and soon she was due to give birth to a baby… (Revelation 12:1).

Deciphering the image of “The Woman clothed with the sun“, many interpreters (for example, such early Christian authors as Hippolytus of Rome in the 3rd century, Methodius of Patarsky in the 4th century, Andrew of Caesarea in the 6th-7th centuries, and such modern ones as Sergei Bulgakov, Averky (Taushev), Alexander (Mileant) and Alexander Men), in their works, at first made allusions to the Babylonian, Greek and Egyptian mythological tradition, then gradually they began to identify this image only with the Virgin Mary. Among the first supporters of this view, a mention should be made of such famous religious figures as Saint Epiphanius and Icumenius of Trikkos.

There were also different interpretations of the sun and the moon, though still the interpreters especially noted that in the story of John the Evangelist, on the head of The Woman there was not a crown as a symbol of power, but a crown, which symbolized glory. Bishop Alexander (Mileant) in the sun saw “the moral perfection of the Saints and the grace-filled illumination from the gifts of the Holy Spirit”, and in the twelve stars – the community of people “who had accepted and opened to the action of God.”

The already mentioned Andrew of Caesarea in his interpretation of the Apocalypse also quoted the already mentioned Methodius of Patarsky, who gave the following interpretation of the images in question:

• the sun, with which The Woman is clothed, symbolizes the light of Christ – “the Sun of Righteousness”;
• the moon acts as a symbol of the sacrament of baptism – “by the moon I mean the faith of those who are purified and freed from corruption” (sometimes this image is also understood as Human Wisdom);
• the crown of stars acts as a symbol of virtues.

This approach was reflected both in works on the plot of the Apocalypse, and in individual iconographic plots associated with the Mother of God.

The most famous iconographic works containing the image of “The Woman clothed with the sun” include:

the icon “Apocalypse” of the Assumption Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin, created at the end of the 15th century. In it, the icon painter betrayed the antique features in the image of the Woman as well as in the images of other characters, which made this icon closer to the works of Italian artists of the 15th century;

the fresco cycle on the plot of the Apocalypse in the vestibule of the Trinity Cathedral of the Danilov Monastery in Pereslavl-Zalessky, created in the 17th century;

the wonderworking Vilna icon;

the wonderworking icons “The Joy of All Those Who Sorrow” and “The Blessed Heaven”, created by the icon painters of the Armory in 1678–1680 according to their Western model, brought to Moscow at the end of the 14th century by the Grand Duchess Sofia Vitovtovna, which are now located in the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin;

In 1682, in the same iconography tradition, master Vasily Poznansky painted an applique icon for the Church of the Crucifixion in the Kremlin’s Terem Palace.

Moreover, since the interpretation of the image of The Woman as the Mother of God was also characteristic of the Western Church, its separate iconographic type appeared, where the Virgin Mary in a crown with the baby Jesus in her arms was placed in a radiant solar mandorla, and under her feet, she had a crescent moon. This was especially evident in the German art doctrine, where by the 15th century the type of “The Shining Madonnas” arose.

The moon under the feet of The Woman also entered the iconographic type called “The Immaculate” – that is, an allegorical image of The Immaculate Conception of The Blessed Virgin Mary, in which the Madonna appears hovering on a crescent moon in the sky. One of the most famous Western icons of this type is The Virgin Mary of Guadalupe.

In secular art, the image of “The Woman Clothed with the Sun” became a traditional plot of medieval miniatures for illuminated Apocalypses. It depicted both separate scenes described by the Apostle John (the appearance of The Woman; a dragon trying to devour her baby; the flight of the Woman), and complex compositions with the image of several scenes at the same time. Albrecht Durer and Gustav Dore created the engravings on this plot for their cycles of the Bible illustrations.

Hans Memling, Hieronymus Bosch, Martin Jaffner, El Greco, Diego Velazquez… also created works with such a plot in the classical tradition. Often in their painting, the image of the The Woman did not occupy the central place, and she was usually depicted as a small figure in heaven, like a vision of an Apostle.

The most famous painting with this plot is the painting “The Virgin Mary as the Woman of the Apocalypse” by Peter Paul Rubens.Although on this canvas, the Virgin Mary with the baby Jesus in her arms is placed in the center, and to the left of her – there is the Archangel Michael with angels defeating Satan in the form of a red dragon; in the clouds – there is the half-figure of God the Father, who directs angels to give Mary her eagle’s wings.

In literature, the image of “The Woman Clothed with The sun” is found as an allegory of goodness and beauty in the works by Vladimir Solovyov a Russian philosopher, theologian, poet, pamphleteer, and literary critic. Moreover, under his influence, Alexander Blok in his first poetic collection “Poems about a Beautiful Lady” gave this image a detailed embodiment.

This image was also popular with other poets of The Russian Silver Age. For example, Andrei Bely, according to the memoirs of Ivan Bunin, “called Bryusov in his writings “The Secret Knight of the Woman Clothed in the Sun”, and Dmitry Merezhkovsky in the second part of his trilogy “Christ and the Antichrist”, describing the bricklayer’s impression from a cathedral, writes:

“Sometimes the sounds of the organ from below seemed to echo, like prayer sighs from the inner church, from the depths of its stone heart – and then it seemed that the whole great building lived, breathed, grew and ascended to heaven, like the eternal praise of Mary Being Born, like a joyful hymn of all ages and nations to The Virgin Most Pure – to The Woman Clothed with the Sun.”

The protagonist of the novel “The Name of the Rose” (“Il nome della Rosa“) by Umberto Eco, during his visit to the book depository of a monastery in northwestern Italy, saw “The Woman, Clothed with Light, who brought her mouth closer to my mouth and began to breathe into my face. I pushed her away with both hands, but my hands seemed to rest on a bookcase, and immediately the books began to grow to an extraordinary size. I no longer understood where I was, who I was, where the earth was, where the sky was”…

This image may also be found in the cinema… So, in the thriller “Red Dragon” a serial killer shows journalist Freddie Lounds his tattoo on his back – a very popular drawing by William Blake – “The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun” …

Moreover, the flag of the European Union depicts 12 stars, which the author of the flag clearly borrowed from the description of “The Woman Clothed with the Sun”…

So… Even today, the image of “The Woman Clothed with the Sun” is, well, – very, very popular!

In addition, by the way… Apocalypse is the first word of the final book of the New Testament – “The Book of Revelation of John the Theologian” and this is the last word of the now ending era of Sleepy Mind…

Moreover, well… Apocalypse (ἀποκάλυψις) in Koine, that is, in common Greek – the language of the Christian New Testament, means “new great knowledge, disclosure, revelation, removal of the veil…”

The Apocalypse is not “the destruction of the world”, not the end of the earthly history of humankind!

The Apocalypse is a description of cataclysms and miracles that precede the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, that is, the beginning of a new era – the beginning of the REVIVAL of humankind!

People may turn to the Virgin Mary – Queen of Angels in any life trouble with requests:

• to save and help, especially when it concerns children;
• give strength and patience;
• give understanding and love.

The feast day of The Nativity of the Virgin Mary is celebrated on 21 September.