From ‘Veil’ (καταπέτασμα) Theology to ‘Face’ (πρόσωπον) Christology. Body as a veil concealing divine glory - direct experience and immediate perception (αἴσθησις) of God

Abstract

According to Pauline theology we are 'earthen vessels' (2 Cor. 4:7) till Christ is formed in us (Gal. 4:19). Into the most holy place of our being, in which the very presence of God dwells, He 'enters within the veil' (Heb. 6:19) and 'put in our hearts the light' (2 Cor. 4:6). So, being 'clothed in Christ' (Gal. 3:27) we all are being 'transformed into his image' which is the 'form of God' ἐν μορφῇ Θεοῦ (Phil. 2:6). To Saint Ephrem, "The First-born wrapped himself in a body / as a veil to hide His glory" (CNis XLIII,21, LumE 74). He juxtaposes the image of Moses being veiled with Jesus' veiling on Himself in the Incarnation. Face of Moses shone and he laid veil over his face, just as Lord, from the Womb, entered and put on the veil of the Body (Nativity 73). Also, the veil of the temple was intended by Moses to symbolize the veil of heaven, and both veils together prefigured the flesh of Christ, which enfolded and concealed his divinity. Firstly, we will focus on the analogy between Thabor's garments and bodies in the water of Baptism (De Epiphania 9, 12), both glory / Light garments of the Son, the "Father Ray" (Heb. 1: 3; Sogyatha I 1-2). Secondly, we are interested in St. Ephrem's interpretation of Matthew 27:50-51 (The Crucifixion IV, 1-12, Comm. Diatess. XXI, 4-6). Here, he combines two Pauline texts (Heb. 6:19 and 2 Cor. 3: 14-18) showing that, in fact, the veil split gave back to the Lord the glory that Jews have rejected. The latters dressed him with veil altar (Azym. V, 6the purple, which was the inner veil of the temple; Katapetesma: a curtain) actually they clothed Him with His symbol of the divine glory presence. The Veil of Light is that who hides the apophatic 'aesthetics' of God's Face. This is the way of concealing the divinity from velum scissum to the eucharistic bread. In this view the Body becomes the 'Veil of flesh' (καταπέτασμα) in accordance with the clothing imagery. This study is about the Biblical, syrian and hesychast perichoretic interweaving of visible (created) and invisible (uncreated). First, the syntagm "Within the Veil" (καταπέτασμα) is related to the biblical and patristic understanding of salvation as a garment. Thus, the Syrian (nuhrā qaddīša Ephrem's "eṣtal šubḥa") is nothing less than the reception of Paul (veil of flesh, Heb 10:20) spirituality of divine light (δόξα). Dionysius speaks of his spiritual father, Hierotheos who is "suffering" the mystery of