1 00:00:11,519 --> 00:00:26,960 This is Jonathan Pejel. Welcome to the Symbolic World. Hello everyone. I 2 00:00:27,039 --> 00:00:31,960 thought we could look at a little bit of architecture. I've mentioned several times 3 00:00:31,960 --> 00:00:38,200 in my videos that the church architecture, the Christian church architecture is based in 4 00:00:38,240 --> 00:00:43,359 some ways both on the Old Testament temple imagery, but then ultimately also this 5 00:00:43,439 --> 00:00:47,159 imagery that we find in the Book of Revelation. There's also a third strain 6 00:00:47,280 --> 00:00:51,320 which is related to the manner in which the church architecture was developed, and 7 00:00:51,359 --> 00:00:55,320 that is the visions of the prophets, a vision of Ezekiel. So we're 8 00:00:55,320 --> 00:00:59,799 going to kind of get into all of that, look into several of these 9 00:01:00,159 --> 00:01:03,079 strains, but ultimately what I want to do is begin with the words of 10 00:01:03,159 --> 00:01:07,000 Christ himself. And so before we begin, you know, don't forget. 11 00:01:07,040 --> 00:01:11,519 If you love what the Symbolic World is doing, please go to the Symbolic 12 00:01:11,519 --> 00:01:15,640 World dot com and become a member of the Symbolic World. There are different 13 00:01:15,680 --> 00:01:19,120 ways to do that. There is of course free membership, but there are 14 00:01:19,159 --> 00:01:23,599 also ways to support the Symbolic World with access to q and as to the 15 00:01:23,640 --> 00:01:29,519 free monthly member on the video and also discounts on our different courses and our 16 00:01:29,519 --> 00:01:33,879 different projects. We are doing the Dante course right now and it is wild, 17 00:01:33,920 --> 00:01:37,519 it's quite a right. I'm really excited about it. The first time, 18 00:01:37,680 --> 00:01:40,640 the first Dante class was just great, and so I'm looking forward to 19 00:01:40,680 --> 00:01:44,359 continuing that with Richard Roland. And so the way we want to start here 20 00:01:44,640 --> 00:01:51,159 is with, of course, this very particular verse which talks about the relationship 21 00:01:51,159 --> 00:01:56,840 between Christ and architecture. So Christ has the stone which the builders rejected, 22 00:01:57,319 --> 00:02:01,359 has become the chief cornerstone, was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous 23 00:02:01,400 --> 00:02:06,239 in our eyes. And so when I was young, people would talk about 24 00:02:06,280 --> 00:02:10,400 this verse, I remember, and they would often reference what we often called 25 00:02:10,439 --> 00:02:16,439 the cornerstone today, which is the idea of putting a very square stone at 26 00:02:16,439 --> 00:02:20,919 the corner of the building so that then you can align the rest of the 27 00:02:20,919 --> 00:02:24,439 building to make sure that all the stones that are aligned to it are straight. 28 00:02:25,039 --> 00:02:28,719 And you know, this is a fine interpretation, is very interesting, 29 00:02:28,800 --> 00:02:34,639 but I do think there's a better interpretation for this for what it is the 30 00:02:34,759 --> 00:02:38,000 Christ is, you know, you know, describing what it does it mean 31 00:02:38,039 --> 00:02:42,319 to be the chief cornerstone, you know, the head of the head cornerstone 32 00:02:42,439 --> 00:02:46,800 or something like that and this argument, actually I take from Reniguinot, which 33 00:02:46,159 --> 00:02:49,520 I don't know where he got it from, but I think it's a very 34 00:02:49,560 --> 00:02:52,879 powerful image, which is that, in fact, what this seems to be 35 00:02:53,120 --> 00:03:00,319 referencing is what we call a keystone. And so for those who who know 36 00:03:00,680 --> 00:03:05,240 the way that you build an art, which is the basic structure of all 37 00:03:05,319 --> 00:03:10,000 Roman architecture, is that the arches, the stone in the arch are all 38 00:03:10,039 --> 00:03:15,400 the same. So all the stones inside the arch are all the same, 39 00:03:15,560 --> 00:03:19,560 can be all the same stone, but in order for the arch to hold 40 00:03:19,560 --> 00:03:23,319 together at the very end, you put in what we call a cornerstone, 41 00:03:23,719 --> 00:03:28,639 a keystone, and the keystone what it does is that because it's angled like 42 00:03:28,719 --> 00:03:31,919 this, and because it's one stone that has that angle, it holds the 43 00:03:32,120 --> 00:03:37,439 entire art together. And so this of course makes sense of the words of 44 00:03:37,560 --> 00:03:42,159 Christ, which is that he says that the stone the builders rejected, and 45 00:03:42,199 --> 00:03:45,199 why did they reject it? They rejected it because it didn't look like all 46 00:03:45,240 --> 00:03:49,199 the other stones. It was a different quality of stone. So because of 47 00:03:49,240 --> 00:03:52,719 that, until they get to the end, they don't know what its use 48 00:03:52,800 --> 00:03:54,080 is. Because you have all these stones that stack up, and at the 49 00:03:54,199 --> 00:03:58,280 end you have this one stone that doesn't fit, and this stone that doesn't 50 00:03:58,280 --> 00:04:02,919 fit ultimately ends up being the keystone of the arts, the mystery, the 51 00:04:02,960 --> 00:04:09,759 secret that hides the reason for the rest of the of the entire structure. 52 00:04:09,800 --> 00:04:13,840 And so you know, this is of course a reference by Christ in many 53 00:04:13,879 --> 00:04:16,519 ways, in different in different manners, which is that the you know, 54 00:04:16,560 --> 00:04:20,199 he talks about the pearl, that you buy the entire field in order to 55 00:04:20,240 --> 00:04:25,160 get the pearl, and the pearl is a different quality from the rest of 56 00:04:25,199 --> 00:04:28,639 the field, but it is the reason why you want the field in the 57 00:04:28,759 --> 00:04:30,680 in the first place. It's the reason for the field. And so this 58 00:04:30,800 --> 00:04:35,839 is of course the good way to understand it is that the keystone, it 59 00:04:36,040 --> 00:04:41,040 holds the entire structure together, and it also you know, comes down from 60 00:04:41,079 --> 00:04:45,639 heaven. All of this imagery makes sense and it is the basis of Roman 61 00:04:45,959 --> 00:04:49,839 architecture. Now you know, of course Christ would have been aware of Roman 62 00:04:49,920 --> 00:04:53,800 architecture. He would have you know. And it's also it's not just Roman 63 00:04:53,879 --> 00:04:58,519 architecture. There are other types of architecture that have used arches and you know, 64 00:04:58,600 --> 00:05:03,279 things akin to arches in order to create the structure. Now you know 65 00:05:03,360 --> 00:05:08,199 what you can do with an arch is that you can multiply arches and you 66 00:05:08,240 --> 00:05:12,319 can join them together, and then you can create what we called a vault, 67 00:05:12,920 --> 00:05:18,240 and a vault in architecture also often has what we called a capstone. 68 00:05:18,639 --> 00:05:25,079 So the capstone is similar to the keystone. It is a stone that holds 69 00:05:25,199 --> 00:05:28,800 all the ribs of the vault together. And so imagine all the ribs of 70 00:05:28,800 --> 00:05:32,759 the vault are like arches, and then in the center you put this stone, 71 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:40,600 particular stone that connects all the arches together and hold them in the middle. 72 00:05:40,839 --> 00:05:46,240 And so often in this structure, what they would do in the capstone 73 00:05:46,800 --> 00:05:49,800 is they would often put the monogram of Christ or different images, sometimes of 74 00:05:49,879 --> 00:05:56,360 Lamb, but sometimes in the West they would literally put an image of Christ. 75 00:05:56,600 --> 00:06:00,319 You know, that is the capstone, the three dimensional version of a 76 00:06:00,399 --> 00:06:05,399 keystone that holds the ribs of the vault together. And so again this stone 77 00:06:05,920 --> 00:06:11,519 is different from all the other stones. It is a connector stone, and 78 00:06:11,800 --> 00:06:15,439 all the other stones of the rib are all the same because they just kind 79 00:06:15,439 --> 00:06:17,720 of go all the way up. And then you have this last stone which 80 00:06:17,800 --> 00:06:23,600 is strange and looks ill shapen at the outset, but ultimately is the reason 81 00:06:23,920 --> 00:06:28,199 and maniffects the wholeness of the entire structure, and so this is of course 82 00:06:28,360 --> 00:06:30,560 you can see how all of this is related to the symbolism of Christ. 83 00:06:30,639 --> 00:06:35,079 But in the Orthodox tradition we don't necessarily have ribbed vaults this way. But 84 00:06:35,160 --> 00:06:40,279 what we do have is of course the dome. And so a dome is 85 00:06:40,360 --> 00:06:45,720 a three dimensional arch. So the image of the arch itself now projected into 86 00:06:45,800 --> 00:06:50,120 space so that it creates this round structure, and so it can help you 87 00:06:50,279 --> 00:06:56,560 understand architecturally why it is that we put the image of Christ up there at 88 00:06:56,600 --> 00:07:00,360 the very top of the dome, For it is in some ways an image 89 00:07:00,399 --> 00:07:03,240 of the keystone or the capstone, or the top of the arch, or 90 00:07:03,240 --> 00:07:09,240 the chief cornerstone, which is at the very top of the structure, gives 91 00:07:09,240 --> 00:07:14,639 the reason for the structure, and also you know, shows everything that it's 92 00:07:14,680 --> 00:07:20,439 pointed to and what holds it all together. And so to go further into 93 00:07:20,480 --> 00:07:27,800 this understanding, we have to basically understand this the image of the arch itself, 94 00:07:28,160 --> 00:07:32,040 that is that an arch is an image of the union of Heaven and 95 00:07:32,120 --> 00:07:36,879 Earth in its very structure. Why, because it has a dome at the 96 00:07:36,920 --> 00:07:41,759 top, it has a circle at the top, and it has a square 97 00:07:41,800 --> 00:07:45,879 bottom. It has a flat bottom, so it's square at the bottom and 98 00:07:45,920 --> 00:07:48,399 it's round at the top. For those who don't know that the heaven is 99 00:07:48,480 --> 00:07:51,439 round and the Earth is square, I know this is difficult for people to 100 00:07:51,839 --> 00:07:56,639 totally understand. If you're interested in that, I wrote several articles on the 101 00:07:56,759 --> 00:08:01,480 Orthodox arch Jurnal about the cosmic vision and how you know the basic experience of 102 00:08:01,519 --> 00:08:05,279 heaven and Earth is that earth is that the heaven is round and earth is 103 00:08:05,319 --> 00:08:09,079 square. Of course, if you lie down in a field and you look 104 00:08:09,199 --> 00:08:11,000 up into the heavens, what will you see? What will you experience? 105 00:08:11,319 --> 00:08:16,000 You will experience this dome. The heaven will present itself as a dome that 106 00:08:16,199 --> 00:08:20,639 then comes down and connects with the Earth. And the Earth is a square 107 00:08:20,839 --> 00:08:26,759 because of your experience of the earth. Because the Earth has four corners, 108 00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:31,039 the Earth is experienced as stable. And our experience of something that's stable is 109 00:08:31,039 --> 00:08:37,200 something that has four and so think of a beast with four feet, think 110 00:08:37,240 --> 00:08:41,159 of a table with four legs. If you want to make something stable in 111 00:08:41,200 --> 00:08:43,360 the world, which you do is you make it square. That is the 112 00:08:43,360 --> 00:08:46,360 best way for it to be stable. But it also has a reflection of 113 00:08:46,360 --> 00:08:52,000 our experience in the world, which is that we do experience our place in 114 00:08:52,039 --> 00:08:56,600 the world as four that is, we have in front of us, we 115 00:08:56,720 --> 00:09:00,240 have behind us. Then we have the left and the right, and we 116 00:09:00,279 --> 00:09:05,159 experience that as the four directions as north, south, you know, east, 117 00:09:05,240 --> 00:09:11,960 west, or depending on the orientation. The ancient orientation was actually eastward, 118 00:09:11,200 --> 00:09:13,840 so it would have east in front of you. You would have north 119 00:09:15,039 --> 00:09:18,279 on your left hand, you'd have south on your right hand, and you 120 00:09:18,279 --> 00:09:22,360 would have the west behind you. It's also the structure of a church which 121 00:09:22,360 --> 00:09:26,080 faces east, and therefore you have the front of the church, where you 122 00:09:26,120 --> 00:09:30,960 know it represents ultimately it's an image of the heaven, but it also represents 123 00:09:30,960 --> 00:09:33,120 the east the front, and then you have the west in the back that 124 00:09:33,159 --> 00:09:39,039 when you were baptized, you turn around and you spit at the devil who's 125 00:09:39,080 --> 00:09:41,559 in the west, because he's in the place where darkness starts. And then 126 00:09:41,600 --> 00:09:46,120 the left hand is the strange is the dark hand, because the sun never 127 00:09:46,240 --> 00:09:50,919 goes north, and the right hand is the south hand, which is the 128 00:09:50,919 --> 00:09:54,919 place where the sun is. So sun goes up from the east, moves 129 00:09:54,159 --> 00:09:58,840 south and then sets in the west. Okay, but it's just to understand 130 00:09:58,840 --> 00:10:01,720 that our experience of the world is that it is a square. So once 131 00:10:01,720 --> 00:10:07,759 you kind of understand that that a good way to represent the relationship between Heaven 132 00:10:07,799 --> 00:10:11,639 and Earth is this way, then then you can understand how this image, 133 00:10:11,679 --> 00:10:18,799 this arch becomes the structure by which Christian churches are understood and start to manifest 134 00:10:18,799 --> 00:10:22,720 themselves in both the east and the west in different ways. But nonetheless, 135 00:10:24,080 --> 00:10:31,039 so some of the very first churches we have in Rome will have this structure. 136 00:10:31,080 --> 00:10:37,240 And so the first structures that appear as soon as Christianity becomes legal is 137 00:10:37,240 --> 00:10:41,039 what we call the basilica structure. So the basilica structure has this image of 138 00:10:41,080 --> 00:10:46,559 the arch as being horizontal, and so you kind of take the arch, 139 00:10:46,759 --> 00:10:50,279 you lay it on the ground, and now the east becomes the image of 140 00:10:50,360 --> 00:10:54,759 the heavens, and the west becomes the image of the earth, because the 141 00:10:54,799 --> 00:10:58,759 sun comes up, comes up in the east and goes down in the west, 142 00:11:00,120 --> 00:11:05,879 and so it creates that structure this way. And the apps, which 143 00:11:05,919 --> 00:11:09,559 is the very top of the church, which is this round part that you 144 00:11:09,600 --> 00:11:13,399 see at the very top of the church, then becomes an image of Heaven 145 00:11:13,600 --> 00:11:20,559 itself, which is why in the churches. You know, Christ is represented 146 00:11:20,799 --> 00:11:24,000 in the apps, in the early churches, in the churches in the West 147 00:11:24,279 --> 00:11:28,240 also for a very long time. You see Christ is sitting on the world. 148 00:11:28,679 --> 00:11:33,039 He is surrounded by angels, and he is in that appse. The 149 00:11:33,080 --> 00:11:37,799 apse is a half dome. It is an image. It's a dome that's 150 00:11:37,840 --> 00:11:41,679 cut in that's cut in half, and so it represents this heaven which is 151 00:11:41,720 --> 00:11:50,320 there. But it also has the strength of representing the arch again now this 152 00:11:50,399 --> 00:11:56,240 way. So now you have a horizontal arch which goes moved towards towards the 153 00:11:56,279 --> 00:12:01,000 east, but because of the structure of the apps, you also have a 154 00:12:01,080 --> 00:12:05,480 vertical arch which goes up and is represented here. And then you can multiply 155 00:12:05,559 --> 00:12:09,840 that. You can see in this image of the Church of Saint Pras said 156 00:12:09,039 --> 00:12:16,320 in Ravenna, where you have these multiple arches that are both the apps, 157 00:12:16,759 --> 00:12:20,840 then the entire basilica which is projected into the east, and then of course 158 00:12:22,000 --> 00:12:28,279 moving into the the apps, you also have different arches that move into it. 159 00:12:28,320 --> 00:12:33,360 And then it's that arch is then repeated in the shape of the windows. 160 00:12:33,720 --> 00:12:37,559 You know, everything then repeats it as a fractal structure where you have 161 00:12:37,799 --> 00:12:43,120 arches within arches, arches projected this way, arches projected this way, and 162 00:12:43,159 --> 00:12:46,679 then you have arches that are inside the arches. And this can be taken 163 00:12:46,759 --> 00:12:50,879 to levels that are very extreme. If you think of here's a transversal of 164 00:12:52,000 --> 00:12:56,080 Hagia Sophia, where you can see now all the arches kind of coming together, 165 00:12:56,120 --> 00:12:58,919 where you have the main dome in the center. Then you have the 166 00:13:00,120 --> 00:13:05,759 second arches that create the pendentives inside, and then you have multiple arches. 167 00:13:05,320 --> 00:13:09,679 Everything about it is just arches within arches all the way down to the level 168 00:13:09,720 --> 00:13:13,279 of the window and to the shape of the church itself. So you have 169 00:13:13,679 --> 00:13:18,320 understand that this image of the union of Heaven and Earth is a fractal image. 170 00:13:18,399 --> 00:13:22,519 This is what I'm telling you NonStop, which is there's a union of 171 00:13:22,559 --> 00:13:26,440 heaven and earth in your heart. You know you have Heaven and Earth in 172 00:13:26,480 --> 00:13:28,840 your heart. This is this is attested to by the by this herean fathers, 173 00:13:28,840 --> 00:13:33,000 where there's a little Heaven and a little earth inside you and a ladder 174 00:13:33,000 --> 00:13:37,600 which connects the two. And then your body has that shape as well. 175 00:13:37,639 --> 00:13:43,039 If you've noticed, your head is round and your feet are square. So 176 00:13:43,240 --> 00:13:46,120 a human being is made like an arch, not only in arch, but 177 00:13:46,159 --> 00:13:50,039 also a square, because if you put your hands out like that, then 178 00:13:50,120 --> 00:13:54,480 you have you have the shape of a western church with the extension of the 179 00:13:54,519 --> 00:13:58,320 four and at the very top you have the east, which is the top 180 00:13:58,480 --> 00:14:01,720 the roundness of the skull. And this is I mean, this is the 181 00:14:01,799 --> 00:14:07,480 testit to and all these theological all these like weird mythological stories you'll find, 182 00:14:07,559 --> 00:14:11,720 like for example, in the Northern Scandinavian stories, the idea that there's a 183 00:14:11,799 --> 00:14:16,279 giant, primordial giant, and they they they use his the inside of his 184 00:14:16,360 --> 00:14:20,919 skull to make the heaven, you know. And so this is alluding to 185 00:14:20,960 --> 00:14:24,960 the fact that the human the human being is a microcosm of the cosmos, 186 00:14:26,000 --> 00:14:30,360 our experience of the world, and its shape is reflected in the way that 187 00:14:30,399 --> 00:14:35,440 we are, that we are made. And so then this, this fractal 188 00:14:35,480 --> 00:14:37,639 structure gets repeated, repeated in the church at every level. And in the 189 00:14:37,679 --> 00:14:43,320 early churches there was even what we call the ciborium, which was a kind 190 00:14:43,360 --> 00:14:48,759 of canopy that was set up above the altar and would now represent this structure 191 00:14:48,919 --> 00:14:56,039 once again inside the altar. So you would have a a a structure with 192 00:14:56,159 --> 00:15:01,200 four feet and then a dome at the You know, sometimes the dome wouldn't 193 00:15:01,200 --> 00:15:07,039 necessarily have to be a dome. It could also be a It could also 194 00:15:07,200 --> 00:15:09,799 just be like a triangle at the top. But even that, like you 195 00:15:09,840 --> 00:15:15,679 know, the the image of the capstone as the stone that holds the whole 196 00:15:15,720 --> 00:15:18,799 structure together in an arch makes sense, but it also makes sense in the 197 00:15:18,840 --> 00:15:24,320 sense of a triangle or the sense of a pyramid. As you probably know, 198 00:15:24,440 --> 00:15:28,279 the capstone of pyramids, of the Egyptian pyramids would have been a fractal 199 00:15:28,879 --> 00:15:35,039 pyramid that would be gold at the very top of the of the pyramid, 200 00:15:35,159 --> 00:15:39,440 and then the rest of the pyramid at the bottom. So you can see, 201 00:15:39,480 --> 00:15:46,320 for example, like in the famous the famous unfinished pyramid that you find 202 00:15:46,320 --> 00:15:50,120 on the dollar bill, that the capstone is not there. There's no capstone 203 00:15:50,519 --> 00:15:54,200 on the pyramid. And above the pyramid is the eye, which is the 204 00:15:54,240 --> 00:15:58,080 image of the capstone, which is the image of the logos, you could 205 00:15:58,080 --> 00:16:06,799 say, descending on the peerred manifesting the act of being, the act of 206 00:16:06,879 --> 00:16:10,240 consciousness, the act of evaluating all the things that Mattia talks about in his 207 00:16:10,279 --> 00:16:14,039 book as being ultimately being an image of the capstone, itself, the thing 208 00:16:14,080 --> 00:16:17,559 that is above the pyramid and comes down upon it. Okay, So this 209 00:16:17,679 --> 00:16:22,480 is also all there in this image of this fractal relationship, and it is 210 00:16:22,519 --> 00:16:26,519 also there in this ciborium that we find inside the church. Now, there 211 00:16:26,519 --> 00:16:30,720 are different ways you can end up doing it, and there's an indefinite variety 212 00:16:32,240 --> 00:16:37,840 of church structures which play with this imagery and will represent it in different ways. 213 00:16:37,080 --> 00:16:42,639 And so in the West what ends up mostly happening is that this basic 214 00:16:42,720 --> 00:16:49,879 structure of the arch gets represented in the shape of the church itself as a 215 00:16:49,879 --> 00:16:55,600 fractal, as a macrocosm of the human shape, with a Latin cross, 216 00:16:55,600 --> 00:16:59,600 so you can imagine with Christ with his hands out and the body down. 217 00:16:59,639 --> 00:17:03,039 So you can see that on the right side here which this is I think 218 00:17:03,080 --> 00:17:07,240 it's a point of view of Shaft or one of the Gothic churches. And 219 00:17:07,279 --> 00:17:12,160 then on the left then you can see an orthodox structure which emphasizes the squareness 220 00:17:12,200 --> 00:17:18,400 of the shape itself. Below here and there the cross is inside, usually 221 00:17:18,440 --> 00:17:22,519 some kind of Greek cross or square cross, which nonetheless represents these four directions, 222 00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:26,160 the fourness of the human body. And then ultimately, like I said, 223 00:17:26,920 --> 00:17:30,759 the cross of course, of Christ itself, which is the ultimate meaning 224 00:17:30,799 --> 00:17:33,839 of it. And so then you but the way that they did it, 225 00:17:33,880 --> 00:17:37,440 And this is really interesting because you know, one of the things you see 226 00:17:37,440 --> 00:17:42,279 happening in the in the Christian tradition is that there seems to be an effort 227 00:17:42,599 --> 00:17:48,640 to get to this, to get to the to get to the dome, 228 00:17:48,119 --> 00:17:52,160 you know, to get to the idea of putting a dome on a square. 229 00:17:52,519 --> 00:17:56,839 And there were some attempts to do this in you know, even before 230 00:17:56,880 --> 00:18:00,240 on the Russian time, in the Russian in the Roman times, you know, 231 00:18:00,279 --> 00:18:04,400 you can see the Pantheon, for example, in Rome, it's a 232 00:18:04,559 --> 00:18:08,119 dome on a if you look at it sideways, like if you look at 233 00:18:08,160 --> 00:18:12,160 it from outside, it looks like an arch, because it's a dome on 234 00:18:12,200 --> 00:18:18,400 the ground with a vertical side, so it looks like an arch. But 235 00:18:18,519 --> 00:18:21,200 when you're inside, it's not a square at the bottom, it's a circle. 236 00:18:21,839 --> 00:18:25,119 And so like, how can we get to a full representation of this 237 00:18:25,240 --> 00:18:30,799 imagery? And the solution is to stack the arches them on each other. 238 00:18:30,880 --> 00:18:34,920 It is really to use the fractal structure of heaven and earth in order to 239 00:18:34,960 --> 00:18:41,599 make this work. This is how the Christians and Justinian excelling in this with 240 00:18:41,680 --> 00:18:47,119 how Yes Sophia develop the structure of the Pendentives, and so the Pendentives what 241 00:18:47,160 --> 00:18:51,000 they are is you can see in this image the pentitives are what the little 242 00:18:51,079 --> 00:18:53,079 a's that you have there. And the way you do that is that you 243 00:18:53,200 --> 00:18:57,960 create two arches, a wider arch at the bottom and then a narrow arch 244 00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:02,119 at the top. And what it does is it distributes the weight so that 245 00:19:02,160 --> 00:19:08,160 the narrower dome can then hold on the wider dome at the bottom, and 246 00:19:08,200 --> 00:19:12,640 it distributes the weight in a way that makes the dome possible, that makes 247 00:19:12,680 --> 00:19:17,039 it possible for you to create the dome. But what it also does is 248 00:19:17,079 --> 00:19:22,920 it emphasizes very powerfully the relationship between the circle and the square, because what 249 00:19:23,039 --> 00:19:26,119 you can do with the arches as you see here, is that then the 250 00:19:26,839 --> 00:19:33,880 second arch you can pull it down into again a square. And then when 251 00:19:33,960 --> 00:19:40,319 you look up you actually see four corners that come out as you create this 252 00:19:40,400 --> 00:19:47,720 with fractal arches that go all around all around the structure, and these four, 253 00:19:48,160 --> 00:19:53,559 you know, these four Pendentives. What the Church ends up doing is 254 00:19:53,920 --> 00:20:00,000 putting in them an image of the four Evangelists and it is of course a 255 00:20:00,079 --> 00:20:07,319 manner to represent how the one becomes the many, how become one manifests itself 256 00:20:07,319 --> 00:20:11,160 in four, how one is stabilized into four, just like the oneness of 257 00:20:11,279 --> 00:20:18,000 the dome gets stabilized into four pillars into the church. But this is also 258 00:20:18,160 --> 00:20:25,079 a reflection on the vision of Ezekiel, which is why sometimes in the Four 259 00:20:25,119 --> 00:20:30,960 Glories what you see is the evangelist, but sometimes in the Four Glories what 260 00:20:30,039 --> 00:20:34,920 you also see are the faces of the Cherub. And so this is of 261 00:20:34,960 --> 00:20:40,799 course a famous image of Christ's and glory by rube Lev, where you can 262 00:20:40,880 --> 00:20:45,680 see that it looks like what it would look like if you stood in the 263 00:20:45,839 --> 00:20:49,839 church underneath. Right, you stood in a church under here, and you 264 00:20:49,920 --> 00:20:55,680 looked up into the dome, what you would see is this, right, 265 00:20:55,680 --> 00:21:00,960 you would see the four corners coming down from the glory, and on those 266 00:21:00,000 --> 00:21:04,400 four corners would be the four evangelists, but also representing the four beasts. 267 00:21:04,480 --> 00:21:08,519 In Rubelev's image, it is the four beasts of the Cherub, that is 268 00:21:08,960 --> 00:21:14,279 the man, the eagle, the bull, and the lion. And you 269 00:21:14,279 --> 00:21:18,519 can see that it's really referencing the vision of Ezekiel, because under his feet 270 00:21:18,559 --> 00:21:23,720 you can see that there are these wheels, and now the square of the 271 00:21:23,759 --> 00:21:29,400 earth is represented both. So if you look at how powerful this image is. 272 00:21:30,000 --> 00:21:33,599 It has the relationship between the circle and the square in multiple ways. 273 00:21:33,880 --> 00:21:41,640 So you can see that the square is his footstool, right it is, 274 00:21:41,759 --> 00:21:44,759 the round is of course his head, which I can't show, but and 275 00:21:44,799 --> 00:21:48,799 then the round is this glory around him, and then the square is also 276 00:21:48,279 --> 00:21:52,599 the four points that are on the corner. It's a very powerful image of 277 00:21:52,599 --> 00:21:59,839 this fractoral relationship between the circle and the square. And you know, interestingly 278 00:22:00,079 --> 00:22:03,559 enough, if you look at the bottom of his feet, which you see 279 00:22:03,599 --> 00:22:07,839 are these wheels. Look now at the church. This is a very powerful 280 00:22:07,839 --> 00:22:12,759 church in terms of the fractal relationship between all these arches. I think this 281 00:22:12,880 --> 00:22:18,200 is church in Serbia. I think it's one of the cathedrals, I'm not 282 00:22:18,240 --> 00:22:25,079 sure. And so you can see that here the Dome of Christ represents the 283 00:22:25,079 --> 00:22:27,359 ascension, and there's a fractal relationship all through, which is that in the 284 00:22:27,400 --> 00:22:30,359 Dome of Christ you have Christ up at the top. Then you have the 285 00:22:30,359 --> 00:22:34,440 Mother of God that is represented. You know here Christ is up here at 286 00:22:34,480 --> 00:22:37,319 the top, you have the Mother of God which is represented at the lower 287 00:22:37,359 --> 00:22:42,799 part, which becomes like an image of Earth inside of the Dome of Heaven. 288 00:22:44,039 --> 00:22:48,880 And then that gets reproduced down here where you have two apses. You 289 00:22:48,000 --> 00:22:52,279 have one appse which is at the top and has Christ in it, that 290 00:22:52,440 --> 00:22:56,960 is in glory, and then you have a smaller apse which is below and 291 00:22:57,000 --> 00:23:00,200 we're recessed. And in that smaller app you have the Mother of God sitting 292 00:23:00,240 --> 00:23:04,079 there with Christ in her lap. And look at how powerful the use of 293 00:23:04,160 --> 00:23:11,519 these repeating arches is in this architecture. You have arches within arches within arches. 294 00:23:11,599 --> 00:23:17,920 It's really quite astounding. But look also as that what is below the 295 00:23:17,960 --> 00:23:22,680 feet, you know, below the dome of Heaven that comes down are the 296 00:23:22,680 --> 00:23:26,960 these chandeliers, the corals chandeliers, now the chorus chandelier, this round chandelier. 297 00:23:27,119 --> 00:23:32,200 Often there are two chandeliers in many churches where you have on the one 298 00:23:32,240 --> 00:23:37,119 hand this round chandelier which hangs from the dome and then the outside of the 299 00:23:37,160 --> 00:23:40,640 dome, and then you'll also often have a chandelier that hangs from the center 300 00:23:40,680 --> 00:23:44,599 of the dome that comes down and is one kind of more the way we 301 00:23:44,720 --> 00:23:48,119 usually understand a chandelier like with all the lights in it, and so you 302 00:23:48,160 --> 00:23:52,720 have one around and one in the middle. And what happens in many churches, 303 00:23:52,759 --> 00:23:55,160 in the monasteries, for sure, but then also in many churches that 304 00:23:55,240 --> 00:24:02,119 at Pasca and that certain feasts, what they'll do is they'll spin the corals, 305 00:24:02,880 --> 00:24:07,559 and then inside the spinning corals will also spin the chandelier. And it's 306 00:24:07,599 --> 00:24:14,559 this powerful image of these rotating wheels. And so you know, let's look 307 00:24:14,599 --> 00:24:18,160 now at the vision of Ezekiel, and you'll see how all this comes together 308 00:24:18,599 --> 00:24:23,480 in a very powerful way. And so I looked, and I saw a 309 00:24:23,480 --> 00:24:29,079 windstorm coming out of the north, an immense cloud with flashing lightning, and 310 00:24:29,119 --> 00:24:33,400 surrounded by brilliant light. The center of the fire looked like glowing metal, 311 00:24:33,759 --> 00:24:37,160 and in the fire was what looked like four living creatures. Each of the 312 00:24:37,240 --> 00:24:41,599 four had the face of a human being, and on the right side, 313 00:24:41,759 --> 00:24:44,920 each had the face of a lion, and on the left the face of 314 00:24:44,960 --> 00:24:48,440 an ox. Each also had the face of an eagle. Such were their 315 00:24:48,519 --> 00:24:52,319 faces. As I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on 316 00:24:52,359 --> 00:24:57,279 the ground besides each creature with its four faces. This was the appearance and 317 00:24:57,279 --> 00:25:03,240 structure of the wheels. They sparkled like topaz, and all four looked alike. 318 00:25:03,400 --> 00:25:07,920 Each appeared to be made like a wheel, intersecting a wheel. Spread 319 00:25:07,960 --> 00:25:15,000 out above the heads of the living creatures was what looked something like a vault, 320 00:25:15,720 --> 00:25:19,079 sparkling like crystal and awesome. Then there came a voice from above the 321 00:25:19,160 --> 00:25:23,680 vault over their heads as they stood with lowered wings. Above the vault, 322 00:25:23,759 --> 00:25:29,319 over their heads was what looked like a throne of Lapis lazuli. And high 323 00:25:29,359 --> 00:25:36,039 above on the throne was a figure like that of a man. All right, 324 00:25:36,160 --> 00:25:44,559 Now look at that again. When Ezekiel says that above the earth was 325 00:25:44,680 --> 00:25:48,559 a vault, he's talking about your experience of heaven. He's talking about a 326 00:25:48,599 --> 00:25:52,920 dome. He says, above your head, above his head was a dome, 327 00:25:53,640 --> 00:26:00,240 and above the dome was a throne of Lapis lazually. And and then 328 00:26:00,279 --> 00:26:06,079 on the throne was the son of Man. On the throne was who, 329 00:26:06,319 --> 00:26:11,559 in Christian understanding, came to be Christ, rank to be the incarnate one. 330 00:26:11,720 --> 00:26:17,359 And so he described this powerful image of a dome with Christ above it, 331 00:26:17,759 --> 00:26:22,440 the capstone, the chief cornerstone. You know, all of his symbolism 332 00:26:22,519 --> 00:26:26,880 crashing together in powerful ways, and then he describes these four beasts the four 333 00:26:26,960 --> 00:26:30,440 But what he does is he uses a fractal structure. It's very very powerful, 334 00:26:32,720 --> 00:26:36,039 you know. It's like there are four beasts, like these four corners, 335 00:26:36,200 --> 00:26:40,559 and the four beasts each have wheels that have wheels within wheels. Think 336 00:26:40,599 --> 00:26:42,000 of it, and it really is a chariot. That's the way to understand 337 00:26:42,039 --> 00:26:48,079 it. It's it's what the Hebrew mystics called the macaba. It's this mystical 338 00:26:48,200 --> 00:26:53,279 chariot that is a fractal structure that manifests God in the world. So you 339 00:26:53,400 --> 00:26:56,519 have these four beasts, and each of the four beasts have four faces, 340 00:26:56,920 --> 00:27:02,599 and then the four and then they each have wheels that are wheels within wheels, 341 00:27:02,880 --> 00:27:06,759 and so you have this powerful fractal structure. Now in the way we 342 00:27:06,799 --> 00:27:11,000 represent it in the church, the fractal is how can I say this is 343 00:27:11,039 --> 00:27:15,880 there in a different way. And so we don't represent each glory, you 344 00:27:15,920 --> 00:27:21,160 know, we don't represent each glory as having four faces, but we just 345 00:27:21,240 --> 00:27:26,880 represent the four faces as emanating from the central Son of Man. And we 346 00:27:26,920 --> 00:27:32,720 don't necessarily represent wheels within wheels within wheels. We have simply represent the wheels 347 00:27:34,119 --> 00:27:37,079 and you can see. But you can see when you look now at the 348 00:27:37,160 --> 00:27:41,839 church that it is this fractal system. It is this fractal relationship of heaven 349 00:27:41,880 --> 00:27:45,160 and earth, of how the dome and the square, and the penitives and 350 00:27:45,200 --> 00:27:49,680 the arches upon arches within arches, and also even the chandelier and the circle 351 00:27:49,680 --> 00:27:53,759 of the dome and the chandelier that hangs down from it is these wheels within 352 00:27:53,799 --> 00:28:00,359 wheels within wheels. But you can see that uses the same symbolism and presents 353 00:28:00,400 --> 00:28:03,359 it in a way that is understandable. And now this fractal system is really 354 00:28:03,480 --> 00:28:08,119 very true. And if you're interested, Mattsira, my brother Mattir wrote an 355 00:28:08,200 --> 00:28:14,799 article about it in the Secrets of God's Dog, which is here a very 356 00:28:14,839 --> 00:28:18,160 amazing article. Very grateful he was that he gave it to us, and 357 00:28:18,200 --> 00:28:22,079 he shows that in Ezekiel there are two descriptions of the cherub, one in 358 00:28:22,119 --> 00:28:25,319 which the cherub, like I said, has the faith of a man, 359 00:28:25,519 --> 00:28:27,519 the face of an egle, of a lion, and an ark. But 360 00:28:27,559 --> 00:28:32,559 there's another description where it says there's a face of a man, a face 361 00:28:32,599 --> 00:28:34,240 of an egle, a face of a lion, and the face of a 362 00:28:34,359 --> 00:28:42,920 cherub. And so he Ezekiel installed inside the cherub the very fractal reflection where 363 00:28:42,960 --> 00:28:48,160 one of the faces is the hole itself, and so it's like a mirror 364 00:28:48,200 --> 00:28:52,599 reflecting within a mirror where the whole has the fourfold structure, but one of 365 00:28:52,640 --> 00:28:57,200 those is the fourfold structure itself. And you can imagine that going indefinitely, 366 00:28:57,680 --> 00:29:02,839 you know, fractally down into because that cherub also has four faces, and 367 00:29:02,880 --> 00:29:06,519 then the face of a cherub and etcetera, etcetera, as you kind of 368 00:29:06,519 --> 00:29:11,920 move into this beautiful, powerful, fractal structure. So it's pretty amazing to 369 00:29:12,000 --> 00:29:18,200 see how the Christians, you know, took this image that of Ezekil. 370 00:29:18,240 --> 00:29:21,680 Of course, there are many other symbolisms in the Church. Maybe one day 371 00:29:21,680 --> 00:29:25,519 we can go through other aspects of the symbolism, but this is definitely one 372 00:29:25,640 --> 00:29:30,200 that's very important. It seems like the Christians had this desire to make real 373 00:29:30,880 --> 00:29:36,759 the vision that Ezekiel had of the of the chariot. And it's important to 374 00:29:36,799 --> 00:29:41,839 understand the Church as this chariot because what the chariot does in terms of the 375 00:29:41,839 --> 00:29:48,440 structure of the Marcabite shows how God reveals himself in multiplicity with the four faces 376 00:29:48,440 --> 00:29:52,000 of the Cherub, but also of the chariot that can move around and can 377 00:29:52,039 --> 00:29:56,559 manifest himself in different ways. This is very different from the revelation of the 378 00:29:56,559 --> 00:30:00,319 Temple, or the revelation of the Tabernacle, which is in one point place. 379 00:30:00,640 --> 00:30:03,799 Or the Temple it was in one place. It wasn't all over all 380 00:30:03,839 --> 00:30:06,839 over the world. It could only be in one place. And there's a 381 00:30:06,839 --> 00:30:11,039 difference of course in Christian uh in the Christian liturgy, which is that the 382 00:30:11,079 --> 00:30:15,720 temple structure, which becomes Ezekiel's structure at the same time, is now everywhere, 383 00:30:15,759 --> 00:30:22,079 and so every city, every town, every place can't have its own 384 00:30:22,160 --> 00:30:26,759 fractal participation, which is a full participation. Right. It's like each church 385 00:30:27,119 --> 00:30:32,519 is the church because it is this, this mirror, this reflected mirror of 386 00:30:32,519 --> 00:30:37,799 the fullness in its particular state, just like Christ was in his particular state, 387 00:30:37,920 --> 00:30:42,920 a reflection of the fullness of God. The Church becomes a small version 388 00:30:42,920 --> 00:30:48,119 of that that is now can move in the sense that it can be multiplied 389 00:30:48,599 --> 00:30:52,640 all over the world without you know, without any limit. And so you 390 00:30:52,640 --> 00:30:56,200 can see how this image of the Marcaba now instantiates itself in the church. 391 00:30:56,279 --> 00:31:02,000 Now, so this is very important all this is very important to understand. 392 00:31:02,000 --> 00:31:04,839 But there is also another aspect which is very important to understand, and that 393 00:31:04,839 --> 00:31:08,839 it's part of Christian symbolism, and we have to acknowledge because we have to 394 00:31:08,839 --> 00:31:15,680 be careful a little bit about limiting it to this this kind of glorious fractal 395 00:31:15,000 --> 00:31:18,920 aspect. And so on the one hand, God manifests itself in this beautiful 396 00:31:18,960 --> 00:31:23,279 fractal thing, but there's also a manner in which God is always warning us 397 00:31:23,319 --> 00:31:30,839 to be careful not to mistake the fractal mirror with himself. And so in 398 00:31:30,920 --> 00:31:37,559 the very verse where Christ says that he is the stone of the that he 399 00:31:37,720 --> 00:31:41,119 is the head of the art, he says the stone which the builders rejected 400 00:31:41,200 --> 00:31:45,000 has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord's doing, and it is 401 00:31:45,079 --> 00:31:52,759 marvelous in our eyes. But then it goes on and says, therefore, 402 00:31:52,960 --> 00:31:56,000 I tell you that the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and 403 00:31:56,160 --> 00:32:01,799 given to a people who will produce its. Anyone who falls on this stone 404 00:32:01,920 --> 00:32:07,559 will be broken to pieces. Anyone on whom it falls will be crushed. 405 00:32:07,039 --> 00:32:13,640 So you can see that these two verses are taken from the Old Testament and 406 00:32:13,759 --> 00:32:20,160 they're smashed together in a powerful way where you see the two aspects of Christ, 407 00:32:20,599 --> 00:32:23,960 the aspect of Christ which manifests itself in the world, then also the 408 00:32:24,039 --> 00:32:30,759 aspect of God which is hiding itself or is you know, it's like Christ 409 00:32:30,839 --> 00:32:36,279 setting up the Peter as his representative, but then Peter being able to betray 410 00:32:36,400 --> 00:32:40,480 him, and Peter being called Satan if he is not connected to that high 411 00:32:40,559 --> 00:32:44,759 aspect. And so the idea is that you know, you can imagine now 412 00:32:44,880 --> 00:32:47,960 that the chief cornerstone, right, this keystone, falling on you and crushing 413 00:32:49,039 --> 00:32:52,559 you. And also because it's so irregular being on the ground and being the 414 00:32:52,599 --> 00:32:58,000 stumbling stone, and so Christ is also this stumbling stone if for those who 415 00:32:58,119 --> 00:33:04,359 don't recognize the stone is it becomes a stumbling stone but on the But also 416 00:33:04,599 --> 00:33:08,000 Christ is always as he is setting up his kingdom, He's always saying, 417 00:33:08,079 --> 00:33:13,480 be careful not to mistake the kingdom for the king, and to not mistake 418 00:33:13,599 --> 00:33:20,079 the fractal representation for the for the one who's instantiating it. And so this 419 00:33:20,279 --> 00:33:23,720 is why in the story of Christ, there are many stories where he is 420 00:33:24,720 --> 00:33:30,039 negating or you know, showing that in fact, this fractal, this fractal 421 00:33:30,119 --> 00:33:35,799 representation is not sufficient, and that there's a sensi which you have to always 422 00:33:35,839 --> 00:33:37,920 be able to attend to the highest and not mistake the one for the other. 423 00:33:38,480 --> 00:33:45,000 So, for example, in the Transfiguration, interestingly enough, Saint Peter, 424 00:33:45,160 --> 00:33:47,640 who is the one that Christ chose to be his representative, test hells 425 00:33:47,720 --> 00:33:52,119 Christ, you know, you know, Lord is good to be here. 426 00:33:52,359 --> 00:33:54,720 Why don't we build a tabernacle. Why don't we build a house for you 427 00:33:55,240 --> 00:34:00,279 and for Moses and for Elijah so that we can stay here forever, right, 428 00:34:00,359 --> 00:34:02,400 so we can just be here because it's great to be here. And 429 00:34:02,640 --> 00:34:08,960 Christ refuses him. Christ does not accept that you build a house for him, 430 00:34:10,320 --> 00:34:14,079 you know. And then there are stories where it says God is spirit, 431 00:34:14,159 --> 00:34:16,079 and those who worship him with worship in spirit and truth, and not 432 00:34:16,199 --> 00:34:21,519 in Jerusalem, not at the Temple, not in these particular spaces. There 433 00:34:21,599 --> 00:34:22,760 is also the image, of course, with the veil of the temple which 434 00:34:22,800 --> 00:34:27,760 is being ripped, and Christ saying that now the body is the temple, 435 00:34:28,039 --> 00:34:30,199 our body, physical body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. And so 436 00:34:30,559 --> 00:34:38,480 there's this movement in order to negate in some ways the fractal representation. While 437 00:34:38,599 --> 00:34:45,480 Christ is the instantiator of that fractal representation at the same time, and this 438 00:34:45,639 --> 00:34:49,679 is important to understand. It seems like a contradiction, but once you understand 439 00:34:49,800 --> 00:34:52,519 it, you can see that it is in fact in some ways. You 440 00:34:52,599 --> 00:34:55,880 said Christ created your eyes, but he says, if the eye is an 441 00:34:55,920 --> 00:35:00,719 obstacle to you being in communion with God, then it out, you know, 442 00:35:00,840 --> 00:35:04,320 throw it away. You know, anything in creation that becomes an obstacle 443 00:35:04,360 --> 00:35:07,320 to you being communing with God should be removed, even though He is the 444 00:35:07,400 --> 00:35:12,639 origin of those very things, and He manifests himself in those in those realities, 445 00:35:12,679 --> 00:35:16,280 and the eye is particularly strong about that because he's basically it is it's 446 00:35:16,360 --> 00:35:21,800 the closest thing to what is described in Genesis One as God creating the world 447 00:35:21,840 --> 00:35:24,159 and seeing that it is good. It's like that there is this, you 448 00:35:24,239 --> 00:35:29,039 know. It's like Christ saying, you know, the commandments, saying love 449 00:35:29,119 --> 00:35:32,760 your father and your mother and God, and Christ criticizing the Pharisees. He 450 00:35:32,880 --> 00:35:38,239 tells the Pharisees that the Pharisees are horrible because they attribute to God what they 451 00:35:38,280 --> 00:35:42,599 should attribute to the parents. Because the Pharisees what they would do is they 452 00:35:42,599 --> 00:35:45,719 would say oh, I didn't receive what I received in the world from my 453 00:35:45,800 --> 00:35:49,760 parents. I received it directly from God, you know, holier than thou. 454 00:35:49,880 --> 00:35:52,920 And then, refusing the fractal system that God has created, you know, 455 00:35:53,039 --> 00:35:57,880 to make the goods we get from God come from others, Christ criticizes 456 00:35:57,920 --> 00:36:00,519 him for doing that. But then Christ also says, he who does not 457 00:36:00,639 --> 00:36:02,559 hate my father, their father and mother, he who does not hate their 458 00:36:02,599 --> 00:36:07,920 brother for the sake for my sake, you know, will not enter into 459 00:36:07,960 --> 00:36:12,480 the kingdom. And so this, this strong duality has to be understood properly, 460 00:36:12,760 --> 00:36:16,920 and that is what accounts of course for the asceticism of the Church. 461 00:36:17,039 --> 00:36:23,079 And so you have powerful images in our tradition of you know, for example, 462 00:36:23,159 --> 00:36:28,320 saying these these are two icons from Father siloeon Justiniano, who, as 463 00:36:28,360 --> 00:36:30,599 you know, I think is one of the one of the best iconographers in 464 00:36:30,639 --> 00:36:35,159 the world right now. And so you can see this icon of Saint Euprius 465 00:36:35,239 --> 00:36:38,239 the Great. Where Saint Nuprius lived in the wilderness, he had access to 466 00:36:38,360 --> 00:36:43,840 no church, he had access to no liturgy, but he received communion directly 467 00:36:44,360 --> 00:36:47,159 from Christ, directly from the Angel who came to commune with them. And 468 00:36:47,320 --> 00:36:52,920 similarly with you know, Saint Mary of Egypt who lived in the desert, 469 00:36:52,119 --> 00:36:59,880 an extreme asthetical life for all all of her life of repentance, and then 470 00:37:00,079 --> 00:37:06,719 ultimately receiving communion once before she died. And so there's room in Christianity, 471 00:37:06,840 --> 00:37:09,960 and not only room, but there's a necessity to keep the tension between those 472 00:37:10,039 --> 00:37:15,400 two. And you often see by the way in the church, this competition 473 00:37:15,840 --> 00:37:20,039 between the monastic aspect of the church and the liturgical aspect of the church. 474 00:37:20,320 --> 00:37:22,760 And you find it in the writings of some of the even some of the 475 00:37:22,800 --> 00:37:28,360 great theologians of the twentieth century, where there's a anti monastic stance because they 476 00:37:28,440 --> 00:37:32,360 want to see you know, Christ manifested fractally in all aspects of reality. 477 00:37:34,760 --> 00:37:37,760 And then on this in the same way, you can sometimes have the monastic 478 00:37:37,840 --> 00:37:45,119 tendency to see with suspicion, you know, the the this instantiation, all 479 00:37:45,199 --> 00:37:49,320 these stories of monks who say, who don't like when there's melodies, you 480 00:37:49,400 --> 00:37:52,519 know, on the in the Desert fathers, basically they would sing without melody 481 00:37:52,719 --> 00:37:58,079 because melody is is a dangerous seductor, like it can seduce you into its 482 00:37:58,119 --> 00:38:00,599 pleasures, you know, And so you can see like that tension is part 483 00:38:00,599 --> 00:38:04,800 of Christianity, and it's there in the story of Christ himself, and it 484 00:38:04,920 --> 00:38:09,159 is important to keep to maintain the tension. But ultimately, when you come 485 00:38:09,400 --> 00:38:15,760 also to the final image of creation, it is an image of this fractal 486 00:38:16,400 --> 00:38:22,360 structure, and so you know, and here is a powerful representation of it 487 00:38:22,480 --> 00:38:29,000 by Jake Jacobello Albert Baregno a Western image from the fourteenth century where now you 488 00:38:29,079 --> 00:38:31,960 can really see it. And so of course now the arch is not round, 489 00:38:32,119 --> 00:38:37,400 it is a pointed arch. But nonetheless you can see Christ in the 490 00:38:37,679 --> 00:38:43,519 arch coming down from above, being the corner chief cornerstone, and now being 491 00:38:44,039 --> 00:38:47,920 the one at the top of the dome in the image of Ezekiel, and 492 00:38:49,079 --> 00:38:52,519 coming down upon the square, which is the Earth, which is the heavenly 493 00:38:52,599 --> 00:38:58,280 Jerusalem, which is the Church. It is an image of the groom coming 494 00:38:58,639 --> 00:39:02,280 to his bride. It is all of this imagery of the union of heaven 495 00:39:02,320 --> 00:39:07,239 and Earth which we see in the Book of Revelation, in the presentation of 496 00:39:07,280 --> 00:39:13,719 the Heavenly Jerusalem. But then it is also you know, the basic cosmic 497 00:39:13,760 --> 00:39:16,519 image. It's the image of everything you know, and it is it is 498 00:39:16,719 --> 00:39:24,400 can be let's say, resumed in the simple structure of an arch and so 499 00:39:25,079 --> 00:39:30,159 hopefully this is helpful to you and it can give you some insight into why 500 00:39:30,559 --> 00:39:34,960 church architecture looks the way it does. There are, of course, other 501 00:39:35,079 --> 00:39:37,800 aspects of the symbolsom Like I said, I want to be careful that you 502 00:39:37,840 --> 00:39:40,480 don't think that this is the only thread that you can follow to understand the 503 00:39:40,599 --> 00:39:45,199 architecture. But this is definitely a very powerful one that can help us appreciate 504 00:39:45,320 --> 00:39:52,639 and understand, you know, how strong the Christian symbolism is, you know, 505 00:39:52,719 --> 00:39:57,280 and how it's embedded in the very structure of our architecture. So thank 506 00:39:57,320 --> 00:40:00,199 you for your attention everyone, and I'll talk to you very so soon, 507 00:40:00,400 --> 00:40:00,800 but bye.