Arriving At The Harbor Of Our Salvation

Arriving At The Harbor Of Our Salvation

 
Introduction

 
“O Lord, bless…, that we may reach the harbor of salvation, which is the glorious feast of your Resurrection.” (Prayer of Forgiveness: The Miracle at Cana in Galilee)

 
In the Maronite liturgical tradition Holy Week is itself a season within the liturgical year.  The liturgical celebration known as Coming to the Harbor, in many ways sums up within its title, what the Church has been doing through the Season of Great Lent, and will be doing during Holy Week, that is, journeying to the harbor of salvation. 

Naheero or Coming to the Harbor was traditionally celebrated on the evening of Hosanna Sunday.  Now commonly celebrated during Holy Week, the faithful remember that like the Wise Virgins who kept their lamps burning, the Church is a holy ship that keeps the flame of faith alive, as it enters the harbor of salvation.  

The images of Coming to the Harbor and Holy Week, through prayers, Scripture, and hymnology; speaks of our enduring hope and faith in the Lord’s actions of redemption and salvation:

0 Harbor of safety and salvation,

through this incense we now offer You,

be a Support and a Savior to all those who came, in true faith,

to the harbor of Your holy Church. - ‘Etro (Prayer of Incense/Perfume)

 
Jesus Christ is the harbor of salvation, and the Church offers him incense, which is the sweet perfume of our prayers.  The incense and accompanied prayers recall his burial, his opening of the gates of Sheol, which was the abode of the righteous who died before him, and his Glorious Resurrection from the dead.   

The Harbor of Light

“The Harbor of Light: That night the light covered earthly beings and heavenly ones; they all praised the Son of Light, the Maker of light; in the world, He brings safety to the harbor.” (Qolo: The Liturgy of Coming to the Harbor)

 
Within the age of the Fathers of the Church, distinctive theological themes and language emerged in the major cultural/linguistic regions of the Church.  As concerns the central acts of salvation, the Latin Fathers tended towards an emphasis on the suffering and Crucifixion of Christ, the Byzantine Fathers on the Resurrection, and the Syriac Fathers on the Light (Life) that dispels the darkness (sin and death) that emerges from the Great Saturday of the Light.  

The early Syriac Father, Aphrahat writes:

And when Jesus, the slayer of Death, came, and clothed Himself in a Body from the seed of Adam, and was crucified in His Body, and tasted death; …the dead saw light in the darkness, they lifted up their heads from the bondage of death, and looked forth, and saw the splendor of the King Messiah. - Aphrahat, Demonstration XXII

 
A harbor is only recognized by its light in the darkness of the sea.  Jesus the harbor of safety and salvation was recognized by the righteous dead by his light, that overshadowed and destroyed the darkness of the sea of death.  

The poetic theology of Saint Ephrem is the greatest example of Patristic Syriac thought on the theme of Light.  We hear in his Nuhro/Hymn of Light:

The Light of the Just and the Joy of the upright is Christ Jesus our Lord. …He came to rescue us from darkness and to fill us with the radiance of His Light. …His glory shines upon the world and enlightens the very depths of the abyss.  Death is annihilated, night has vanished, and the gates of Sheol are broken.  - Saint Ephrem, Hymn of Light

 
Ephrem proclaims that Jesus is the Light of the Just, therefore, the light of the Church, and the Church of the Just are the righteous who lived before his coming. The Fathers of the Church often saw the Just of old as the righteous of ancient Israel and the holy pagans; united with those who live now by faith in the Church, made light to the nations in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, who dispels the darkness.  

Ephrem reflecting the Syriac theology of Holy Saturday as the Saturday of the Light, points to the effects of the Light, which is the annihilation of death and the breaking of the gates of Sheol, the place of the dead.  The Light is victorious, the Light of the Harbor, which is Jesus Christ, has destroyed the darkness that has held humanity captive.     

The Parable of the Ten Virgins

The Gospel of Matthew’s parable of the Ten Virgins, proclaims that wisdom is rooted in the choice to care for the light, the light of salvation:

Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. …the bridegroom came and those who were ready went into the wedding feast with him. Then the door was locked. Afterwards the other virgins came and said, ‘Lord, Lord, open the door for us!’  But he said in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, I do not know you.’ Therefore, stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour. - Matthew 25:1-2, 10-12

 
The disciplines and liturgies of Great Lent, Holy Week, all leading to the celebration of the Glorious Resurrection of the Lord, teaches that the faithful must be vigilant in their care of the faith given by Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit.  

The lamps of light that brought the faithful to the harbor of salvation, are given to the Church to be kept burning bright.  While both the wise and the foolish virgins rested and slept, it was the wise virgins who were prepared for the coming of the bridegroom.  So that if they were asleep or awake, the wise were ready to enter into the wedding feast.  

The Hebrew Scriptures or Old Testament had also spoken of this kind of wisdom in the context of a wedding celebration:

  Her I loved and sought after from my youth;
    I sought to take her for my bride[
    and was enamored of her beauty. - Wisdom 8:2

 
The wise seek the Light, which is the Lord, and the wise never lose sight of the beauty of salvation.

Conclusion

In Holy Week the Church enters the Harbor of Salvation, the Light of Christ.  This light is entrusted to the Church, to be wise in its keeping the light burning bright, and to share the Light of Christ (evangelize), and bring others to the True Light.   

Rev. David A. Fisher,