https://youtubetranscript.com/?v=TsHnGUKEEdM
I’m really happy to be here with you. I’m going to talk about the last judgment. Hopefully I can make it cheerful. This is Jonathan Peugeot. Welcome to the symbolic world. The reason why I wanted to talk about the last judgment is because, first of all it’s one of my favorite icons. And it’s one of my favorite icons because just like the last judgment, or just like the end, just like that moment where everything comes together at the end, the icon of the last judgment is actually an amazing synthesis of the last judgment. It’s actually an amazing synthesis of all of iconography. And in the icon of the last judgment, we find all elements you’ll see as we kind of move through it. We find elements and structures which are in all our icons, but brought together into this one kind of gigantic icon moment. So it’s a good way to kind of understand also what iconography is working towards. One of the things that’s important to understand is that the early church, and even today, the church, even the building of the church, the way that it was conceived is based on the last judgment. So the early churches, even if you go to Rome and you see some of the early churches, you’ll see that what’s represented is this eschatological moment. So for those who don’t know, eschatology is this coming of the last thing, this coming return of Christ, but also that moment where everything is going to become clear and everything will be revealed in its totality. And so the church was made that way. The early Christians, it was a bit complicated the way they were set up. It’s a bit different from now, but they would, the Christ that we see here in the dome of the church is the returning Christ. It is Christ who is returning. And so to understand the icon of the last judgment is also to understand the kind of total visual tradition that the church has given us. As much the sacred space as the way that the images have been laid out in the sacred space, because nothing is arbitrary. And so we’re going to look at the icon of the last judgment, and just kind of work through it, and I’m going to try to help you see how it’s connected to the other icons and hopefully how it ultimately connects to our own life and to that it is actually not just an image of this cosmic moment of finality, but it also shows us the very process by which we attain to that moment, the very process by which we can enter into the resurrection. All right, so the way that the icon is built, you have to see it kind of in two ways. You see it from the top to the bottom, so there’s a vertical reading of the icon, and then there’s left to right. So if you look at it, you can see that I chose this one particularly because it’s very clear. There’s like a line that goes straight down the middle of the icon, which separates it with the left hand and the right hand of Christ. And then there’s also different tiers of the icon, which represent this vertical reading. So the first element we need to look at, of course, is the central element, the one that pulls our eye in, that kind of brings us… The first thing that we notice as we look at it is of course Christ who’s there at the top of the icon and who is represented as this returning Christ, Christ in glory. And like I said, this image of Christ is also the image of Christ in the dome of the church. It’s Christ in glory who is returning in that final moment. But it’s not just… How can I say this? It’s also Christ in every icon. That is, the way that Christ is represented in our iconography, the fact that he’s… If you look at Christ, he’s not 100%, but in so many icons he’s represented wearing this vestment, which is a Roman vestment of a senator, so a vestment of a high-ranking person. Ultimately it becomes this notion that Christ is like the king, Christ is like the emperor, Christ is this high figure. And so that’s how we represent Christ in the icon, because Christ obviously in the first century did not go around Galilee wearing a clavis, which is this sign of Roman nobility with a very fancy Roman dress. That’s not how Christ physically dressed, obviously not. But the reason why we represent Christ that way is because we’re always looking towards that eschatological moment. We’re always trying to show what all of this is leading us to. And what it’s leading us to is this moment where everything will become clear and Christ will return in glory. And so if you look at the images that you have even in your parish, if you see Christ raising Lazarus, or if you see him at the resurrection, you’ll notice that he’s always dressed as, he’s always presented as this glorious Christ. And so Christ is sitting on a rainbow, and he is returning. You can see the same image right there. You look at it over here. It’s the same way that he’s represented at the Ascension. And the reason for that is, technically it’s because that’s what they said. The angels said, you know, just like he went up, you know, that the same way he’s going to return. But it also helps us to understand that in the icon of the Last Judgment, this image of the Ascension is also brought into this image. It’s brought into it. And the way that the Ascension is represented shows us these two tiers. And so we have Christ who’s ascending as the head of the Church. And then under we have the Church itself, which is represented, first of all, as the Mother of God in the center. And then the apostles that are on the side. And so you have these two tiers. You have the head, you have the body. And so the Ascension, that image, it could almost be the return of Christ, because that’s also how Christ returns. He’s going to come back and manifest the unity of the head and the body, the total unity of the head and the body. And so next to Christ is the Theotokos, the Mother of God, on his right. And then St. John the Baptist on his left. Then continuing on that side, you have St. Peter, who’s on the right of the Mother of God. You have St. Paul, who’s on the left of the Mother of God. You have St. Paul, who’s on the left of St. John the Baptist. That’s what we call a deesis. The deesis is the basic pattern of all, once again, of all of iconography. Christ in the center, flanked by different saints in a sort of hierarchy, usually the Mother of God to his right, St. John the Baptist to his left. You see that often. Often you’ll see it in an iconostasis, for example. So in the iconostasis, it doesn’t have to be 100% this way, but often in your iconostasis you have that as well. To the right of Christ is his Mother, but then often in the iconostasis, we’ll have to his left, there will be St. John the Baptist. Why do we have those two? Why do we have those two? Because those two are the ones who pointed to Christ. They’re the ones who said, this one, his Mother, by burying him, and St. John the Baptist as also coming before him. But there’s more than that. There’s more than that. And already we’re going to start to see this other separation of the icon, between the right hand and the left hand. And so, of course, we know when we have the right hand and the left hand, we think immediately of the parable of Christ and the sheep and the goat. So this is actually one of the earliest images of the Last Judgment. This is a sixth century image from Ravenna. And here it’s very simple, right? There’s Christ in the center, and then there are the sheep to his right, and the goats to his left. And there’s St. Michael on his right, and Gabriel to his left. Okay? Go back here. And this is going to be the first sign to help us understand that this is really a cosmic image. Because we tend to think of the right hand of Christ as good and the left hand of Christ as bad. But it’s not necessarily so, right? There are positive aspects to the left hand of Christ as well. And we see those in St. John the Baptist, in St. John the Forerunner. We see what I would call the positive aspect of the left hand. And so what does Christ say to the sheep and the goats? He says to the sheep and the goats, he says to the sheep, come, right? Come in, come into the kingdom. And he says to the goats, move away, move away. Now, that is what we see. The Mother of God is everything that is the right hand, in the positive aspect of the right hand. She is covered, right? She is hidden, right? She is inside. She is an image of this bringing in. And that’s what she did to Christ. She gathered humanity in her womb so that it could receive God in her womb. And so that is this gathering. And the Mother of God almost always has this whole notion of gathering. And even in our own interaction with her, that is how we see her, as this Mother that gathers in. And then St. John the Forerunner, he is the wild man. So he is the very opposite. She is closed, hidden. She is completely covered. And he is wild and his hair is crazy and he is wearing sheep skins. And he is living out into the desert and he is screaming to everybody, repent, repent, repent. And the Mother of God, she is in secret, she is in silence. And we encounter her in that silence and in that secret. And so we already have this right hand and left hand. But like I said, it is not necessarily negative. And then if we move just a little bit further, we see St. Peter on the right of Christ. St. Peter, who is that foundation, who is that rock. The imagery of St. Peter is that image of the foundation. He is the apostle to the Jews. So he is this rock and the apostle to those that are the inside. Teach those that are on the inside. And who is on the other side? It is the apostle Paul. Who is the apostle Paul? First of all, he was strangely a Roman citizen and he was the apostle to the Gentiles. He is the kind of somewhat legitimate apostle, the 13th apostle. He comes on the fly and then he goes out to the world and he preaches to everybody. So you have this image of this moving out. But this image of the moving out is a positive image at the beginning. It is not just positive and negative in terms of morality. It is really a cosmic structure. It is the structure of reality. This is what we are looking at. It is the way that the world works. And so now let’s follow the central… One of the reasons… Okay, so the reason why Christ is sitting on a rainbow is because he is sitting on the heavens. There is a text in the Psalms where it says that God is sitting on… That the heavens are his throne and the earth is his footstool. And so here is Christ showing us that he is divine and then sitting on the heavens. And the rainbow is obviously a symbol of heaven because it is that dome, right? It is that arch that we can see. But it is also a bridge, right? It is also this bridge which connects heaven and earth. And so we get all of that in this image of Christ sitting on the rainbow. It is a very ancient, ancient image. So as we move now down the line, we have an image which is called the Hetimasia. Can you see it? It is that weird square right here. So that weird square with the cross and the two angels, it is called the Hetimasia. And what it is, it is the prepared cross. It is the throne that is prepared for the return of Christ. Now, you could… you have it, like I said, you could take that image of the ascension. And it is the same thing. So we don’t show the mother of God there, but we show a throne. And the mother of God is Christ’s throne. It is another vision of Christ. And the mother of God is Christ’s throne. It is another vision of the church which is preparing itself, which is laying itself out, preparing itself to receive its king. So the church is… that is what the notion of the empty seat represents. It is a very ancient image. And it is very interesting because it actually can help us understand a little bit how the church… some of the difficulties that were present at the beginning of the church, because the idea of the Hetimasia was present, started at the Nicene Council. At the Nicene Council, when Constantine couldn’t be there, they left this throne, which was empty. And this empty throne represented the power of the emperor in his absence. And a lot of the fathers were not so keen on that. They weren’t so keen on having that type of imagery. And so right away at Constantinople, at the next council, right away, they did the same thing, but instead they put a book of the Gospel on the throne. And so it became, rather than being an image of an empty seat prepared for the emperor in his absence, it became an empty seat prepared for Christ in his absence. And there are many, many scholars until now who believe that that throne, the bishop’s throne that used to be in the apse of the church, at the end of the apse of the church, was at first a throne that was left empty, because it was the throne that was prepared for the return of Christ. The whole liturgy was based on this idea that we are waiting for the return of Christ, and the throne is here prepared so that Christ can sit in his throne. But most importantly for us, it’s really to understand what the role of the church is, what it is that we have to do, even in our own lives, the idea of preparing the throne. I mean, that’s what we need to do in ourselves. We need to prepare ourselves. We need to work on laying things out properly, preparing the body into which Christ is joined to. And so that’s our work. And it follows down in the middle of the… And then of course there is the cross that is there on the throne, and the cross acts as this balance. There’s a… I don’t know if you have this Troperion, but there’s a Troperion in the Russian tradition, which says your cross of Christ is like a balance, right? For the thief who looked at you was raised up, and the thief that didn’t was cast down. So the cross already is an image of the Last Judgment. In the cross itself is already this… everything is accomplished in the cross. So we have this balance, this central axis which goes down, which separates the left and the right-hand side. And that’s what the cross acts as that image. Then we have the two angels. And the two angels, it’s very fascinating. This part, I don’t totally understand this part, and I’ll explain why. Look at the two angels, the red and the blue angel. So this is really… this is a sixth century image. And the red angel is on the right hand of Christ. You think it’s Saint Michael. And then the blue angel is on the left hand of Christ. I don’t totally understand it. And here they flipped it. If you look at an iconostasis, often you will have an image of Saint Michael on the right-hand side. You have one. But often on the other side you’ll have an image of Saint Gabriel. It doesn’t have to be an image of Gabriel. But it often will be an image of Gabriel. So that structure, like I told you, that basic, basic structure has been there from the beginning. It just seems that sometimes the two angels seem to flip on each side. But this kind of cosmic structure is there in the way the iconostasis is laid out. It’s there with the dome. Everything is totally coherent in the way that it’s set up. So now moving down from the Hetimassia, then we have the angel which is holding the scales. And so the scale itself, like the cross, right, it’s this straight line which goes down. And depending on what side, which way things are going to go. And it’s represented as this angel on the right side and the demon on the left side. This image, everybody has seen this image before, this image. You see it in, you know, when you were young you saw these cartoons and there was an angel on the right shoulder and the devil on the left shoulder. That’s that right there. It’s the same thing. The same image, okay. It is this possibility that we have, right, that we have in ourselves. St. Gregory of Nyssa goes as far as saying that God has appointed for each person an angel which encourages us towards heaven and a corruptor which tempts us and brings us down, okay. And so this is a very ancient tradition, this idea that there are these two sides. Homer Simpson didn’t make it up. And so it really is this very, very ancient idea of these two possibilities within us, right. These two possibilities of either giving in to our passions, to that which divides us, that’s what pulls us apart and it brings us down. Or else giving in to, not giving in, sadly we wish it would be that simple. Submitting ourselves to the higher virtues, to love, to charity, you know, to compassion and then being able to move up. And so in this image, this is the judgment itself. And so the soul is being judged of the person. It’s being judged whether it has been pulled down or whether it has gone up. And you see this, I think I have an image of it. Alright, so here’s a good image of it. So here you see the soul. Sometimes in the image of the live judgment you’ll actually see the soul which is standing in the middle, right, as this person who could go either way, like we can go either way. And then the angel that is putting in the scroll the good things that the person has done and then the demons that are trying to pull the scales down so that you go that way. And in this image it’s the hand of God who is holding the scale. And in his hand are the souls that are to be judged. Let me just show you this. Okay. And so, and it’s not just an image of the last judgment. This notion, this is the image of our life. The image of our daily life. This is an image of the divine ladder. And what it represents, it represents the struggles of the person in their life to ascend the ladder, to go up and encounter God, to reach the state of illumination and unity with God. And in that image it is at the same time this image of a judgment. Or the same image that you saw with the angel on one side. You can see right here, here’s the angel. And in this version the angel is holding a crown. Sometimes you have the angel just encouraging the person to go up. And then on the other side you have these demons that have these hooks trying to pull the people down into the mouth of death that’s down there, into the mouth of hell. So that’s really, you know, if you can leave with just one thing today is to understand how the image of the last judgment and the last judgment itself is something which is already happening now. It is not just something to wait for. It is the very process of our existence which will in the end be full, will be fulfilled in the last judgment, but is already part of our existence today. Yes? Climbing the ladder now? Yes. Definitely. Definitely. I mean the St. John Climacus wrote a book called, this is based on the book by St. John Climacus, which is the ladder of divine ascent. And a lot of people during Lent they read this book. It’s very hard to read. Don’t, don’t, don’t, probably don’t read it. At least don’t read it without the guide of a spiritual father because it’s really written for aesthetics. But the principle of the book or the principle of this notion that we are called to ascend, that we are called to encounter God and be united with God fully, totally, you know, as much as it’s possible, as St. Maxxon says, that that’s what we’re called to do. Right? And so the process of the resurrection is one that’s happening now. You read it in the saints. You read it in the fathers that we can already participate in the resurrection now. And when we, when we take the sacrament, when we take the holy sacrament, we are already in that eschatological moment. That is probably one of the hardest things to understand. When we take the sacrament, when we, when we sing and we talk about that we are united with the cherubim, united with the angels, gathered together. Right? And then we thank God for all, we thank God for all that he’s done, for all that Christ has done. And then we name them. Right? We heard it today. We, we, we, we, the, the, I don’t know it in English, but the, the, the incarnation, the, the death, the resurrection, the ascension, and then the last coming. We even say we thank you for that which has already been accomplished. We are living, we can, we have access to that eschatological moment already. Now one of the aspects that we see in terms of the right and the left hand, which isn’t in the first image that I showed you, but is often in the image of the last judgment, is we often have Adam and Eve, which are there next to the throne of prepared judgment. Some, not necessarily always in the exact same place. So you have here Adam on the right of Christ, and then you have Eve on the left of Christ. And so that also brings in to the last judgment the image of the Anastasis, the image of the resurrection. So in the image of the resurrection we have Christ that goes down and brings up Adam and Eve, you know, to their resurrection. It’s very mysterious. To their resurrection. And here they are. Right? Christ has brought them there. Here they are right now. You know, participating in the last judgment. Participating in that moment. Standing in for all of us. Standing in for man and woman. As being the father and mother of all of us. So it’s, and here in this image it’s very interesting because you see Christ on his left hand, he’s holding a sword. Sometimes you’ll have Christ with a sword coming out of his mouth on his left side, depending. In our image we have this scale, this balance, where Christ is raising up his right hand and lowering his left hand. And if you want to understand what this means right here, a lot of people wonder why the third bar of the Russian cross? Why is it tilted? Why is it slanted? And that’s why. Because your cross, O Christ, is a balance. There’s that same gesture in the cross that you have Christ doing with his hands. And it’s very, you find it all over the place. This is an image, this is the Florence Baptist, Baptist tree, right? This is a western, this is a western image based on eastern prototypes. But here you have Christ raising up his right hand and then pushing away with his left hand. And the same. He’s sitting on a rainbow. He has his mother on his right side. He has St. John the foreigner on his left side. There’s St. Peter. It’s hard to see now. I don’t know if that’s St. Paul though. Maybe it’s St. Paul. This is really, I mean this is not just a, this is a very, this is an image that has been built up in the church from the very beginning, right? From the very first structure of how the church is built. All right. So now, on the right side of Christ, we have the saints, right? That are, like he said in the image of the sheep and the goats, the saints that are on his right side getting ready to be gathered in, to enter into the kingdom, to enter into his mercy. Below that, we have paradise. So paradise is down here and you tell what’s going on here? Can someone guess what’s going on here? No. So that is St. Peter. What is he doing? What does St. Peter have in his hands? He’s got the keys. He’s opening the door. He’s opening the door to paradise. And paradise is the Garden of Eden, people. A lot of people struggle. They always think that when we die, we go to heaven. That is not a Christian understanding at all. We don’t die and go to heaven. The return to paradise really is that image of the New Jerusalem at the end of time. This joining, it’s a joining of heaven and earth. It’s a resurrection of the body. It’s not this disincarnated floating spirit. We will have a, it’s mysterious. I don’t know exactly what it means, but there is a resurrection of the body. And so on the door of paradise is the cherub that God put on at the gate. At the gate of paradise to stop Adam and Eve from entering into paradise. But is that the only place where God put a cherub? At the gate of paradise? Where else is there a cherub? At the limit of something, you know? On the veil of the temple, before entering into the Holy of Holies, there were cherubs which were stitched into the veil. And so the cherub that’s at the gate of the garden is also the cherub that is at the entering of the Holy of Holies. So to enter into paradise is to enter into the Holy of Holies. It’s to enter into that sacred place. It’s to ascend the mountain with Moses, to go up to the holy place. And so the entering into paradise is also entering into the holy place in the church. It is this encounter with the sacred. And so we have St. Peter, I don’t know why St. Paul is there, but I think it’s because St. Peter and St. Paul kind of always have to be together. It’s like the apostles of the Jews, apostles of the Gentiles, we need the right and the left hand. And this idea of the right and the left hand is there, you know, it’s there in, it’s there everywhere. I want to show you an image of, oh, here, I forgot to show you this image. This is an image of the Council of Constantinople. And now you can see the Hetymazia in the back, the prepared throne with the book on it. And then all around are the fathers of the council. And now the king or the emperor is sitting to the side. He’s not sitting in the middle, you know, and this prepared throne for Christ is the central image. But in the image of Pentecost, we have the same structure. We have the same structure. We have St. Peter on the right, St. Paul on the left. And in the image of Pentecost, also, we have the prepared throne. And that’s empty space between St. Peter and St. Paul. That space is prepared for Christ. And so it’s the same, it’s the same idea, it’s the same concept. The image, the image of this empty space between the two is the same image as the Hetymazia. It’s the prepared throne for Christ as he returns to join himself with his church, ultimately. All right. Okay. Now, in paradise, who’s in paradise? Can you guess who the first person we encounter in paradise is? No? What has he got? Do you guys see? He’s here. He’s right here. What is he carrying? No? What is he carrying? Carrying a cross. Who is, who, it’s the good thief. Right? It’s the good thief. And it’s important to understand why we have the good thief there. Because I told you, the cross is where all was finished, where all was accomplished on the cross. And so the good thief becomes the image, becomes the image of all those who look to Christ. And Christ says, today you will be with me in paradise. Right? It’s true, it’s true for everybody. Like today, you can be with me in paradise if you look to Christ. And so the good thief becomes this first image of, this first image of what is happening on the cross. And what is happening in the whole story of salvation. Okay? So that’s why we have the good thief there. Someone said what the next one is. What’s the next one? That’s a weird one if you look at it. Let me see what’s going on there. No. I’ll show you an easier one to recognize. Oh yeah, so this one. I’ll tell you. So here’s an easier one to recognize. Of this. Of what’s happening there. On the right. Obviously, on the left side it’s someone else. It is, yeah, it’s Abraham. And he has on his lap Lazarus. Who said Lazarus? Someone said Lazarus. Alright. Because, right, because of the story that Christ told about those two places. About the right-hand place and the left-hand place. One of them was represented as Lazarus sitting in the bosom of Abraham. And one of them was represented as someone who was in the place of suffering. Now, in this version, and in many versions, it’s not just Lazarus. But you see all these heads. These little heads. In this claw. Right? And it’s this gathering in of Israel into the bosom of Abraham. Now, what’s important to understand is that these images that you see. All those images that are there. They’re there for a reason. They’re there to help you understand what paradise is. What is that? Okay? And so the bosom of Abraham. That’s an image of what paradise is. It is this returning to your origin. Going back into the place out of where you came from. Right? Going back to the garden. Going back to Abraham. Those are two images of the same thing. They’re just at different levels. But this idea of going back into paradise, into the garden, from which we came, from which we were dispersed. And going back into Abraham is the same thing. Right? It’s just slightly a different version. And that’s also why, next to Abraham. Who’s next to Abraham? Am I hiding people? Right. So it’s the mother of God. And the mother of God is next to Abraham. Why? For the same reason. Right? She is paradise. Okay? So the mother of God is paradise. Because she is the place where creation met its creator. She is the place where heaven and earth touched. Just like paradise was this mountain where heaven and earth touched. And Adam and Eve were at the top. And so too, the mother of God is that place where heaven and earth touched. She is paradise. She is also the throne. She’s all those images. She’s the church. She’s all those images of how we can come and encounter God. And we can receive God to the extent that it’s possible. And that’s why she is. So those images that you see, they’re not just arbitrary things you put in there. But they are all images to help you understand what are we talking about when we talk about paradise. What are we talking about? So what is it? It’s the church. I told you. It’s an entry into the holy place. That’s why we have those cherubim. Paradise and the church are the same. The mother of God and the church is returning to our origins. It’s returning to the garden. All these images, when you start to lay them out and you start to see them next to each other, it can start to awaken. Father talked to us about the noose. Because we can’t access the noose with our rational thinking. We can’t access it. But these types of images are there to awaken in us, to connect things together and to awaken in us this intuition. Okay. Because obviously paradise is not going to say this. But I mean all these images are there to help us understand what paradise is. And we have to take them together. We can’t just separate them. I hope this is important. All right. Now how we go to the bad side, how we go to the nasty side. All right. Let’s go to the left side. All right. Now on the left side, first thing you notice is this crazy red river that flows out. It flows out of the foot of Christ. And that comes from a vision in Daniel, in the book of Daniel. When Daniel sees the son of man coming, he describes this river of fire which flows from his throne. And comes out. Let’s not talk about that for now. Let’s talk about the top part first. So I’m sure that this image right here, that is probably some of the weirdest images you’ve ever seen. What’s going on up here? Right here. Okay. So it’s hard to see because the image is small. But what’s happening is you have all these beasts that are spitting up people. Okay. So you have all these different monsters. Right. See that guy coming out of that sea monster’s mouth? There’s a guy coming out of the lion’s mouth. All right. So all these monsters are spitting up people. And the same for the fish, all these things. So like what is that? What is that? And then you have an angel who’s blowing a trumpet. So the angel is blowing the trumpet. It’s the angel of revelation. Blowing the trumpet to call the dead to rise. And so the way we show this is by showing these beasts that are giving up their prey. Why do we show it that way? Because this is also, I’ve been trying to show you that this is not just, this is an image of what’s going on in you right now. It’s not just an image, it is an image of the total final image of the cosmos. But it’s also an image of what’s happening in you right now. And so these beasts are the passions. There are these monsters. There are all these things that rip us apart, that tear us apart, that bring us down into death. And here are these beasts that are giving up. So you see, it’s not just beasts. You see people coming out of their tombs as well. So some people are coming out of their tombs, and then some people are coming out of these different beasts. And so that’s the image in the Church Fathers of the animals, of this kind of animality. It’s always this image of the passions. When Adam and Eve fell, God gave them these garments of skins. Thanks. And it was this joining, it was this joining to our animal nature. And so the animals that are giving up their dead is really an image, first of all, of how this image of death, that’s what it is. It’s an image of us being devoured. We all experience it. Everybody has that experience of being pulled down by your passions, whether it’s hunger, whether it’s your sexual passions, whether it’s pride, whether it’s avarice, all these passions, they pull us into death. But it is also possible, not only is it possible, but it is possible for those to give up their dead at the calling of Christ. We can enter into, come back from that experience. So it’s very interesting, it’s very important to understand that those two are kind of laid up against each other. Right here and right here. So here we have people being eaten by this beast. And then above it, we have people being given out, being regurgitated. This is not arbitrary, I know some people might think it’s arbitrary, but we have a very old image of this, very, very old one, it’s this one. There’s reasons why these images are chosen, because we know that the resurrection has already been represented as Jonah being spit out by the fish. That we’re coming out of death, death is coming out of this animal existence. It’s kind of raising ourselves up, you know. And so that’s why, not only that’s why the beasts are spitting up the people, that’s also why the head of the fish becomes an image of, becomes an image of hell itself. Can you see that it’s the same? So Jonah’s, the image of Jonah’s fish becomes this ultimate image of the mouth of Hades, the mouth of death. In the West, the image of the Anastasis of the resurrection. This is the Western image of the resurrection. And so in the East we have this image here, that you all see, of Christ raising Adam and Eve out of this pit and out of the tombs, but in the West it was always Christ raising people out of this mouth of death. This mouth of Hades, okay. And this image is there in the East too, I showed it to you before. See, down there. So there it is also in the image of the ascent, right. Also to remind you that this is happening now, right. This is not just, I mean, it is the ultimate image, but it’s also one which engages us today. All right. I’m almost done. I’m almost done. Yeah. The possibility. Yeah. Well, it has to do, I mean, I think it has to do with this notion of the left hand as being related to the wild, to the animal. It’s also the desert. You can see in the image, it’s the wildness. So the wildness in the Bible is represented as the desert, right. When the Israelites are lost in the desert, so you see this desert, but it’s also the flood, right. It’s also the waters. So you have these two images together. You have the image of the desert, the image of the flood. So it really is this image of the limits, right. Different images of chaos, different images of the limits of what is ordered, okay. And so that’s why it’s on the left hand side. But like I said, it’s not just the image of the desert. And so that’s why it’s on the left hand side. But like I told you, the left hand side is not just that. It just is. It’s just an aspect of reality, okay. But there is obviously the ultimate, you know, the final image of the final judgment of those who are eaten by the beast. And we know that it’s possible, right. I mean, we know that people can let themselves or fall so deep that they are devoured. And fire is really the best image for that, okay. But it’s important to understand that fire is not just a bad thing. It’s not just a negative thing. We have another fire, right. We have that fire right there, okay. See, they have fire. And so fire is this multiplication. It’s this division. It’s this moving out. And so the fire of the Holy Spirit that made people speak in languages that everybody could understand, right. That’s like St. Paul that moves out. So it’s that left hand that moves out. But that also can be fragmentation. It could also be something that you lose all cohesion and it’s ash. The only thing left is ash, okay. And so it’s an image of this breakdown. Is there a way in which the left side is chaos and the right side is order? There’s a way that chaos can be tamed and… Well, it is slightly. I wouldn’t limit it to that. I would say that the right side is really this bringing in. And then the left side is this kind of this breaking apart. But you could use those terms. I mean, it wouldn’t be totally… But there is a negative right side too. I’m not talking about it here. But there is also a negative aspect of the right side. It has to do with St. Peter. St. Peter is the right hand of Christ. But he’s the one who also is full of pride, right. So pride is the sin of the right hand. St. Maximus the confessor said it explicitly that pride and self-sufficiency is the right hand sin. And then the passions, drunkenness and prostitution, all those types of things, they are sins of the left hand. They are sins that dissipate. But in the image of judgment, really, then finally this is the final image. And often in the good images of the light judgment, you’ll see kind of different categories of people that are kind of in the fire. And so usually they’ll be like… Here we see there’s a king. Often they’ll be kings. Usually we put the kings and the bishops and the priests and we put those down there. But yeah, anyways, especially in the West that’s what happened. In the West you really had this tradition of showing only kings and bishops and priests and monks in hell. And normal people, yeah, they don’t go to hell. What do the words on the scrolls for the angels say? I don’t know. I was trying to figure it out. I couldn’t find what was written. But I think it probably has to… I would think that it would be the words of Christ saying, enter into my kingdom on one side and then, you know, yeah, depart from me. I think that’s what it is. But I couldn’t read the…I tried to read and I couldn’t. Did I give you an idea of this icon? Yeah. Maybe I missed…did I answer your question or did I miss…kind of miss your question? Yeah, go ahead. Go ahead again. Last judgment. And the sort of assumption there is that everything on the left, it’s fallen, it’s going to be consumed, it’s the chaff that’s separated out. But yet there seems to be a promise, a hope, right? The desert and the flood led to renewal. You got the resurrection from the tombs, the redemption from the passions that swallowed them. So is there some seed of hope that’s built into this? I think there definitely is. I mean, there definitely is, like for us, there definitely is a seed of hope that that which pulls us on the left side or that which pulls us into fragmentation, into death, we can be saved from that, obviously. But we have to be careful about…we have to be careful…like down there, I would say that all abandon, all hope. Like Dante put that quote up there. I think that what exactly that entails, like we don’t know what exactly that entails. But I think that part of the Christian tradition, there is really this idea that there really is this possibility of losing ourself. And I think that that’s important. And yeah, I think it’s important that it is possible to totally lose yourself and that there is no way back. So one final thing. You mentioned this is sort of a reflection of reality. So is this what’s going on within us now, this terror, but also the final thing that happened? I think so. That’s definitely how I see it. But I also see that last judgment as the finality of all of us. Like I said, it’s still now. It’s also now. Yeah. And I think that there’s nothing…this is absolutely orthodox to say that because that’s why our liturgy is the way it is. That’s why in our liturgy we are already in the Kingdom. That’s why we are already in the Resurrection. We are participating in the Resurrection when we take the sacraments. And so it’s really there. It’s part of our…but obviously it’s mysterious because there really is also this notion that there is a cosmic finality into which everything will be transparent. Yes, Father. Could the left section be like purgatory? I mean, where in a sense people are being… Maybe. Maybe. Let me show you…I’ll show you a different…I wasn’t necessarily going to show you this, but I’ll show it to you. Oh, boy. Here we go. And I might get in trouble for this. I’m telling you. So in some images of the last judgment, you will see a big snake. You’ll see this giant snake which is swerving down. Depends not always exactly the same. In this one, he’s biting the heel of Adam. And the snake is swerving down, down into the fire. And along the snake, there are these nodes. Okay. Shoots and ladders. That’s right. That’s exactly what it is. It’s exactly shoots and ladders. And on the snake, just like we saw on the ladder of Divine Ascent, there are angels. Right? And the angels are helping people up the snake. And then there are demons that are pulling people down the snake. So it’s exactly shoots and ladders. And that…let me see if I have another image of this. Here’s another one. All right. So here we see it more clearly because you can see the angel than the demons at each node. Okay. And those nodes are what people call the toll houses. And it’s very controversial in the Orthodox Church. I’m telling you right now, I’m not taking one side or the other, but I can explain to you what it is. And the toll houses are this process. Are the process of judgment of the person, you could say. They’re just like the ladder. There are these different nodes. And each node represents a sin and a virtue. And then the story is that the soul ascends these nodes. And at each step is…there’s an angel and a demon, just like all the others. And if you pass, you go up. And if you don’t, you stay there. And so it is the very process of sanctification. And so I think also in the toll houses, it’s important to understand also that although we see it as happening after death, it’s the same as the ladder. It’s the same thing. It’s happening now. It’s also happening now. And so that’s this image of this snake. But when you say shoots and ladders, you couldn’t have had a better image. It’s a shoot and a ladder at the same time. The same thing. Because in a sense, the fact that God has allowed the devil and his demons to be around, they have a role in the economy of salvation. I’m talking about the snake. They have a role. We’re meant to be tempted. We can’t grow unless we actually overcome, unless we fight temptation, unless we’re sanctified, unless we just receive the graces and go up against our passions. Right. And we become. And I think that’s really important to understand is that as we ascend the ladder, then we become what’s at that ladder. It’s not just a question of arbitrary judgment or arbitrary or like you did this and you didn’t do this. It’s to become something. It’s to acquire a virtue. And so as you acquire virtue, then you become that, which is at that level. And you become more and more in the image of God. So it’s a process of transformation of the person. It’s not just a bunch of rules you have to follow in order to go to heaven or to go to hell. That’s not it. It’s to become something. And what you become, that’s paradise itself. Right. To acquire the virtue is paradise. There’s nothing else. Right. That’s what it is. To become something and to enter the paradise is to become that which is in paradise, is to be in the holy place, to have to be in a place in yourself and in your life where you can, are transparent to God, that God flows through you and you have nothing holding it back. Okay. And I think that’s really important to understand. One last thing I want to show you about this one, sorry, these ones, is here you really get, when I told you about this right hand and left hand, and some of these icons you get it like a, you know, like it’s almost like going up and going, like an elevator and a ship, you know. So on one side you have these saints that are ascending on the right side. They’re going up on the right side of Christ. Then on the left side you have all these demons that are falling down into the fire. So you have this ladder, right, and all these nodes, and then the ascension and the descent on the other side. And so it’s really, it’s an image of, like I told you, it’s an image of reality, an image of the hierarchy of the world. It’s an image of the ontological hierarchy of reality. Alright, so I think, I mean I think I’ve kind of gone through the icon. There are, like, there are variations, and I’m not going to go through all the variations, because really there are all kinds of variations on this image. I kind of gave you a basic structure of what this icon looks like, and then you can then explore what, you know, like in this image, for example, you have, you don’t have the dead people getting thrown up by animals. But you have the same images here. You have this gray mass, and you have all these people inside, and you have the angels that are calling with trumpets. And so it also is this being raised up out of death that’s happening. And here it’s been put into contrast directly with the Mother of God as an image of paradise. So you have these two sides, you know, opposing each other.