One of the readings last week was from Acts 12. Peter has just been released from prison in the middle of the night by an angel. Verse 12 reads ‘… he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together praying.’ In his Homilies on Luke, John Chrysostom comments on this verse:
Let us imitate these, … the Church of God rising up in the midst of the night. Rise thou up also, and behold the quire of the stars, the deep silence, the profound repose: contemplate with awe the order (οἰκονομίαν) of thy Master’s household. Then is thy soul purer: it is lighter, and subtler, and soaring disengaged: the darkness itself, the profound silence, are sufficient to lead thee to compunction. (Homily XXVI in NPNF 1-11)
It is striking how different Chrysostom’s assumptions are from our own. Modern Christians (particularly those from a Protestant evangelical background) read of people praying in the middle of night and envisage a group of people huddled together, perhaps on their knees, praying with their heads bowed and their eyes firmly shut. But Chrysostom assumes that they have their eyes wide open and their gaze directed towards the heavens. He takes it as perfectly normal for Christians to contemplate the heavens as an aid to worship in much the same way as we use icons.
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