Holy Family // Christ in the Garden Print

/ Christ in the Garden The Holy Family icon is an image of the Holy Family. The image of unity in love, the life of a couple, a Christian family, the creation of the Home Church. • The images of the Flower and the Garden (Paradise) are borrowed from the book of Songs of Songs. Lily - a symbol delicate and delicate color, its beauty - fragile, and happiness - quiet. The metaphor of the Bride as the Garden is the fullest manifestation of the marital union of woman and man. The bride is described as a "closed garden" - this emphasizes her purity and fidelity. As a valley flower grows by itself, without the need for human labor, so the Savior is born by the will of the Lord, without violating the purity of the Mother: the garden is the church, the garden is the Mother of God, the garden is the human soul, holiness and righteousness. • Jesus, as the Gardener who "cultivates" our human nature, makes us able to bear the fruit of faith. • Greenery. God does not need only the leaves of virtue - external "holiness", but the real fruits of repentance (Matt. 3: 8), hearing the word of God and fulfilling it (Matt. 13:13). • Woman as a prototype of the Church. God has filled a woman's heart with a deep desire to have children, because she also wants to see His church fruitful. • Joseph is the guardian of the Garden. To be a guardian is to stand faithful to God's Word. • St. Joseph the Betrothed is a Christian image of a husband, father, head of the family. • Joseph is called a "father" when he seeks Jesus. A father is one who seeks a son, seeks God. It is this icon of the father that the Scriptures portray: someone who seeks God and passes on God's experience — that is, faith — to his children.