On the Rood Screen

The Rood Screen at Canterbury Cathedral, Ancient Mother Church of English Christianity (via Wikipedia)

By Bp. Joseph Boyd (Ancient Church of the West)

"For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father, now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God…” (Ephesians 2:18-20, KJV) 

One of the greatest misconceptions in popular Christianity today is the belief that a “personal relationship with God” excludes other people, and that “all you need to be a Christian” is “me, my Bible, and God.” This flies in the face of the earliest Fathers of the Church, who believed with St. Irenaeus of Lyon that “One Christian is no Christian.” It has often been mistakenly believed that unmediated access to God the Father through Christ excludes us from the necessity of the Covenant Community of the Church, and also excludes others from importance in the process of receiving God’s grace. Many believers often proof-text from Ephesians 2:18 to prove this, "For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father,” not reading the following verses which teach us that because of this, “[We] are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.” (verses 20-22) 

A desire for an unmediated access to God fails for four reason - 1) Christ is our mediator in heaven, 2) we do not know Christ except for the work of the Holy Spirit and those teachers and preachers through which He works, 3) the Apostles and their successors in the Church were the mediators of the Gospel and right doctrine on earth (the mechanism through which the Scriptures were preserved and correct teaching was clarified), and 4) our relationship is mediated by our brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers in the Church (in as much as our experience with God is largely dependent upon them, and is reflected attitudinally and emotionally, even if we, ostensibly, receive thoughts directly from the Scriptures). Therefore, there is no direct “access”, in fact, the Scripture that speaks of having access to the Father is, indeed, speaking of a mediated relationship. There are ranks in heaven, orders and “grades,” which are clearly marked in the Book of Revelation (Rev 4:4, 6:9, 7:15, 11:16). No one, not even the heavenly angelic hosts, can look upon the Father. There is no unmediated approach to God.

St Andrews, Heckington

This brings us to the “barrier problem” that most Protestants have with ancient Christian Architecture, taking the form of Chancel Barrier, Iconostasis, or Rood Screen. Suppose one were to see the Temple Veil ripped from top to bottom. Would you suppose that this was an invitation to waltz in and take up the role of the High Priest, who went in just once a year, and that with fasting, prayer, preparation, bells and ropes as insurance against getting struck dead, and try to prove “equal access?” Think of it. What do you think happened in the temple when such a dramatic action occurred? Should we forget that God Himself promised in Scripture that he who touched the Ark of the Covenant should die? The faithful men who were gathered in the Holy Place, before the Holy of Holies, fell to the ground and covered their eyes. I can assure you that not one of them ran up to the Mercy Seat and sat down. Not one of them thought, “This is a sign that we are all sacrificing priests now.” No, in awe and in fear they covered their faces and thought, “what is this terrible thing that has happened. How angry is God with us? How would He chose to leave us and desecrate His own throne in this way.” These thoughts were right, because Christ, as the Very Presence of God, had descended into the deep, His Body, the ultimate Veil, Temple, Ark, and Mercy Seat, was broken and sacrificed by disobedient and sinful hands. The Presence left the Temple and the side poured blood and water, His Body was broken for us, just as the one great symbol of God’s hidden divinity, the veil, was torn. 

Instead, in all the ancient churches, the Holy of Holies was rebuilt, where the Scriptures, the Symbols of the Covenant, and the Body and Blood of Christ were kept. The tripartite architecture of the Narthex, Nave and Altar are all common features of pre-Roman annihilation Jewish Synagogues. Ancient Jewish Christians knew that the New Covenant did not come to destroy, but to fulfill, all of the Law and the Prophets. When St. Paul talks about the “works of the law”, he was not talking about “good works” (which he commands us to do), and when he talked about all being accepted, he did not destroy or make invalid the priesthood (which he commands Timothy and Titus to keep, through washing, anointing and the laying on of hands with the invocation of the Name of God, just as it had been in the Temple with the sons of Levi). They knew that, just as in the Old Testament, when blood was offered to God and then sprinkled upon the people, to unite Life with life, Christ’s Body and Blood are given through the work of the Spirit and are bequeathed to true believers through Christ’s Words of Institution, linking their lives to the Immortal Life of God Almighty. The picture were kept, not overthrown and trodden upon, the veil was opened after Christ’s Life has been commemorated and actualized in the Sacrament, and placed in the open for all to see. To this day, in many of the world’s ancient churches, this is exactly what happens in their liturgies. Then the sacrifice is taken, broken, and distributed to the people, as the Living Sacrifice and Heavenly Reality of Christ’s constant sacrifice, offering Himself to His Father, for the sins of the whole world. 

St. Nicolas Church, Dixmude, Belgium

The ancient Christians, wise as they were and connected with the Biblical context, knew that the new came to fulfill and to widen the old, and that, whereas in the first covenant only sons of Abraham were accepted, now the Promise of the Messiah and His Kingdom were for the whole world. Now, women are a part of the covenant, our hearts are circumcised by the Holy Spirit, our sins are cleansed by the waters of baptism and made new in the Nature of Christ, and we are filled and sealed with the oil of anointing, receiving that common priesthood which all Christian believers, like the Jews before them, shared in and made manifest. Then, for those men who have been “called out” by the Holy Spirit and who are active participants in the Covenant of the Baptized Communion, there is a three-fold order of unbroken priesthood, which stretches back to Moses and Aaron, and was received by Christ at His Baptism by John, who was a priest in the lineage of the High Priests. This priesthood Christ imposed upon His Disciples and commanded them to keep at His Ascension. When He said, “All power is given unto me, in heaven an in earth, go ye therefore and teach all nations whatsoever I have commanded you…” this was a command to his baptized, communed, ordained and anointed priesthood, a priesthood that, like Christ Himself, Who forever offers a full, sufficient and acceptable sacrifice to the Father, is in the Order of Melchizedek and is a testament to the Truth of God’s Word in every culture and in every age. (Num 8:5-13, 27:18-23, Heb 6:1-3, 7:17, I Tim 4:14, and II Tim 1:6)

Rood Screen with Curtain, Used in the ROCOR Western Rite Mission in Great Britain