Years ago, I attended a lecture on the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the fascinating story of its compilation and editing. (Believe me, it was fascinating!) One thing I remember being told, almost in passing, was that the editors insisted every edition include a small number of pictures they deemed essential. I was always puzzled by this painting of the three young men in the fiery furnace from the book of Daniel and by why it was considered so important. Later on I discovered, when I attended a Scripture class, that it was interpreted as an Old Testament type that is Christological, Marian, and of the Holy Spirit.
In Daniel 3, three young Jewish men named Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah (often called by their Babylonian names, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego), refuse to worship the golden image set up by King Nebuchadnezzar, and are therefore thrown into a blazing furnace. The furnace is so hot that it burns those closest to it, but miraculously not the three young men inside. The king, looking in, is shocked, first to see them survive but also to see a mysterious fourth figure:
“But I can see four men walking free in the heart of the fire and quite unharmed.” (Daniel 3, 25, RNJB)
The three emerge, but the fourth figure is no longer visible. Nebuchadnezzar then praises their God for sending “his angel” to rescue them (verse 28). The figure is not named in Scripture, but some early Church Fathers interpreted him as a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ who delivered them.
The three emerge, but the fourth figure is no longer visible. Nebuchadnezzar then praises their God for sending “his angel” to rescue them (verse 28). The figure is not named in Scripture, but some early Church Fathers interpreted him as a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ who delivered them.
The song of the three young men, which is also in Daniel 3, is chanted every Sunday in the Liturgy of the Hours. In the Byzantine Liturgy, commentaries are chanted after the Old Testament canticles, which are known as Canons. Each Canon is a set of troparia, beautiful hymns that are drawn from the homilies of the Church Fathers and are extremely rich in theological content, so much so that if anyone wants to understand the Church’s traditional imagery, I recommend they pray them regularly. I began to do so several years ago, and it has been a continual source of inspiration, an education in the images in the Christian artistic tradition - quite apart from all the spiritual benefits that praying the liturgy brings! Some readers might already have noticed several posts inspired by this project. Of course, if I had been aware of these hymns earlier, it would not have been such a mystery to me why the editors of the Catechism thought this image so important.
Ode 8, from Sunday morning Orthros (Morning Prayer), in Tone 1, which is a commentary on the song of the three young men in the fiery furnace. Many generations of Christians, therefore, will have known by hearing and singing this hymn regularly in the liturgy what had been a mystery to me for so long. It begins as follows:
“The furnace moist with cool dew prefigured a wonder surpassing nature: as it left unharmed the young men that were thrown into its midst, so also the fire of the Godhead descended within the Virgin’s womb, leaving it unscathed. Wherefore let us sing a hymn of praise and say, ‘Let the whole creation bless the Lord and exalt Him forever!’ ”
The beautiful icon above is an illumination by the Armenian artist Toros Roslin, 1210-70, who worked at the scriptorium of Hromkla in the kingdom of Cilicia. This was a state established by Armenian refugees fleeing the Seljuk invasion of their land, on the Mediterranean coast of southern modern-day Turkey.
