fell out Egypt.

You will ask why? After all, this country does not have a National Plant, and also does not have images of representatives of the Plant Kingdom on the country’s coins...

Why did Egypt have the honor of being the FIRST???
- Yes, everything is very simple!!!
It is on the territory of this country, or to be more precise, on the territory of the Sinai Peninsula, that THIS WORLD FAMOUS PLANT is located, for which we came.

So: BURNING BUSH(Dictamnus albus). Family Rutaceae.

What is interesting about this plant??? What is it famous for???

The Bible (“Exodus”, chapter 3, verse 4) says that one day Moses, wandering with his herds along the Sinai plateau, came across Mount Horeb. And suddenly he saw a miracle: a roadside thorn bush flashed in front of him, and “the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of the thorn bush. And he saw that the thorn bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed.” Moses stood shocked. According to the Bible, this bush that burns and does not burn was called Burning bush.
For a long time it was not possible to find the burning bush. When many botanists already believed that this was pure fiction, science fiction, this biblical plant was discovered on the Sinai Peninsula.

Mosaic on the grounds of St. Catherine's Monastery, next to the Well of Moses. The burning bush is a bush in the flames of which, according to the Old Testament, God first appeared to the prophet Moses.

Torah: “And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a thorn bush. And he saw that, behold, the thorn bush was burning with fire, but the thorn bush was not consumed. And Moses said: I will go and see this great phenomenon, why the thorn bushes are not burned. And the Lord saw that he was coming to look, and God called to him from among the thorns, and said: Moshe! Moshe! And he said: here I am. And He said: Do not come here; take off your sandals from off your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground.” (Shemot 3, 2:5)

Burning bush grows on the territory of the monastery of St. Catherine.

The monastery is located three hours by bus from Sharm al-Sheikh, an hour from the city of Dahab.

Before “meeting the Burning Bush” on the territory of St. Catherine’s Monastery, we had to climb Mount Moses and watch the sunrise.

And only after descending from the mountain, at about 8:30 in the morning, the long-awaited acquaintance with this plant took place.

This plant has several names: - “ Diptam" or " Moses bush» — Dictamnus albus- Latin name. — Dittany- Russian version of the name of this plant. The most famous and most common name: BURNING BUSH.

The ash tree received its Russian name due to the similarity of its large odd-pinnate leaves with the leaves of ash.
Its leaves and inflorescences release so many essential oils in hot, windless weather that if you bring a lit match to the bush, a blue flame will flash. By enveloping the plant like a blanket, ether vapors prevent the evaporation of moisture and protect the plant from sunburn (it was essential oils that caused the spontaneous combustion of the Moses bush).

Ash inflorescences are quite attractive and emit a strong, intoxicating aroma. Woe to anyone who tries to pick them for a bouquet - he will receive severe burns on his hands, which then turn into long-lasting ulcers. As it turned out recently, skin burns are caused not by the essential oils themselves, but by the substance dictamnotok-sin. Most likely, because of the ability to cause burns, the plant was given its Latin name dictamnus - punishing bush.

Chemists have found that this peculiar plant secretes volatile essential oils, which in calm, windless weather accumulate in the form of a cloud, both inside and around the bush.
Oil vapors reaching the maximum permissible concentration,
capable of self-ignition. But combustion occurs quickly, and little heat is released, so the bush remains unharmed!

More recently, it was possible to approach the bush... many pilgrims placed notes with prayers and requests at the foot of the bush. But today, Alas... The bush is accessible for observation from a distance of 10 meters because a meter-long fence was built on the way to it. This measure was caused by the fact that every visitor to the monastery strove to tear off and dry at least one leaf from this Sacred Bush as a souvenir.

So we didn’t get closer than 10 meters to the bush.
We haven't had any luck with the Sun yet... Because it was morning and it was shining from the east directly into our lens, not allowing us to take full-fledged high-quality photographs.
Nevertheless, I am glad that this acquaintance biblical plant IT HAD HAPPENED!!!

Biblical-exegetical and ecclesiastical-archaeological essay

Reading proposed at a meeting of the Church-Historical and Archaeological Society at the Imperial Kyiv Theological Academy on November 27, 1913.

The Old Testament economy of salvation of the human race, which repeatedly and diversely () prepared or led people to Christ (), included in the system of this preparation, among other things, numerous prototypes, which, with all their historical reality, in the light of the New Testament, turn out to have only a shadow of the future good, and not the very image of things (). One of these prototypes is the bush seen by the Old Testament legislator and the great prophet Moses, which burned in fire, but was not consumed. Among numerous other Old Testament prototypes, the “Burning Bush” stands out for its special closeness to the Christian consciousness and the Christian heart due to the representative relationship of this image to the mystery of the incarnation of the Son of God and to the face of the Mother of God, the vigilant Intercessor of the Christian race. We will first dwell on the biblical-historical side of the subject, and then move on to the church-symbolic understanding of the biblical event. According to the book of Exodus 3, 2–4, Jehovah or the Angel of Jehovah appeared in the desert at the mountain of God Horeb to Moses when he was called to deliver the Jewish people from the slavery of Egypt and to form from the Jews the society of Jehovah or the Old Testament Church of God: “And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from the midst of the thorn bush ( וַיֵּרָא מַלְאַךְ יְהוָה אֵלָיו בְּלַבַּת־אֵשׁ מִתּוֹךְ הַסְּנֶה , LXX: ὤ ϕθη δὲ αὐτῷ ἄγγελος Κυρ ί ου ἐν πυρὶ ϕλογὸς ἐκ τοῦ βάτου , glory “The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from a bush”). And he saw that the thorn bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed, ( הַסְּנֶה בּעֵר בָּאֵשׁ וְהַסְּנֶה אֵינֶנּוּ אֻכָּל , ὁ βάτος κα ίεται πυρ ί, ὁ δὲ βάτος οὐ κατεκα ίετο , “The bush burns with fire, but the bush does not burn”). Moses said: I will go and look at this great phenomenon, why the bush is not burned up. The Lord saw that he was coming to see, and called to him from the midst of the bush ( מִתּוֹךְ הַסְּנֶה , ἐκ τοῦ βάτου, “from the bush”), and said: Moses, Moses! He said: here I am!” (vv. 2–4). The image of this Epiphany was so imprinted in the consciousness and memory of the prophet Moses that in his dying blessing to the twelve tribes of Israel (precisely in the blessing to the offspring of Joseph) he calls God “who appeared in the bush” (LXX: τῷ ὀϕθέντι ἐν τῷ βάτ ῳ), closer to the Hebrew text: שׂכְנִי סְנֶה – those who live in the bush (). In the same way, the ancient Hebrew tradition always paid special attention and carefully to the given narrative of the book of Exodus, sought to understand its meaning and meaning, and in the end the name “Kupina” began to designate the entire department (parasha) in which the narrative in question was placed (cf. : οὐκ ἀνέγνωτε ἐν τ ῇ β ίβλ ῳ Μωυσέως , ἐπὶ τῆς βάτου , ῶς ε ἶ πεν αὐτῷ ὁ Θεὸς ... “Did you read in the books of Moses, by the bush, as God spoke to him?”... Wed ; ). What is the true meaning of the “great vision” of Moses the Seer of God - the appearance of God in the bush? Jehovah or the Angel of Jehovah appeared here to Moses in fire - a very common symbol of the appearance of God in the Old Testament (; ; ; ; ; ). In this case, the object of the fire's action was the thorn bush - "sene" (oxycantha arabica or cassia obovata), which abounded in Horeb and Sinai, and from which the latter, according to some, received its name; The thorn bush burned and was not consumed. The fire that scorched the thorns must be recognized as a real fire: otherwise there would have been an optical illusion, and there would have been no miracle here in the biblical sense. At the same time, this fire undoubtedly did not have the usual signs of combustion: smoke and stench, in a word, it was a supernatural fire that did not scorch or destroy the bushes it scorched. “The thorn bush,” notes Josephus, “stood entirely on fire, and the flame did not touch either the grass or flowers surrounding it; also the green branches of the bush remained unharmed, although the flame was very strong and large.” According to Philo’s remark, “it was not so much that the fire embraced and burned the bush - the substance being burned, but rather that the bush itself embraced and seemed to contain the fire,” and, according to Philo, in the middle of the bush there was something similar to the image of Existence. The Jewish rabbis answered the question: why did Jehovah appear in the bush? gave different answers. So Rabbi Jesus ben Karkha, when asked by a pagan, answered: “This shows you that there is no place where the Shekinah (Revelation of the glory of God) does not exist - it appears even in a thorn bush.” Another rabbi, Nachman, saw the reason for the appearance of God to Moses in a thorn bush in God’s intention to foretell to Moses that he would live 120 years (this is the numerical value of the letters of the Hebrew הסנה).

No matter how imperfect these and similar explanations of the circumstances of the appearance of God to Moses were, the very diversity of these explanations testifies to the fact that later Judaism recognized the essential significance of the first Epiphany to Moses, during which not only his calling to prophecy took place, but also the great and sacred was revealed to him. the name Jehovah (v. 14).

In clarifying the meaning of this “great vision,” Jewish exegesis consistently pointed to the symbolic side of the vision. The vision pointed to the sad situation of the people of Israel, symbolized by the thorn tree (cf. ; ; ) in Egypt. Weak, small in number, trampled upon by the Egyptians, the people, burned in the “iron furnace” () of Egyptian slavery, seemed close to final destruction, the fire of torment engulfed it from all sides, but it still could not completely destroy the Jews. On the contrary, the weak people eventually triumphed over their oppressors. It is in this sense that Philo understands this vision when he says: “the burning bush is a symbol of the oppressed, and the scorching fire is a symbol of the oppressors” (σ ὗ μβολον ὁ μὲν καιόμενος βάτος τῶν ἀδικουμένων , τό δὲ ϕλέγον πῦρ τῶν ἀδικούντων ), and Philo finds it beautiful and godly that the voice of God from the midst of the fire calls to Moses, forbidding him to approach ( παγκάλως μὲν και θεοπρεπῶς ἐκ τοῦ πυρὸς ἡ ϕωνὴ λέγεται μὴ προσέρχεσθαι ) . We read something similar in the Midrash: “Why did you show Moses such a vision? Because Moses precisely thought and said in his heart: “perhaps the Egyptians will destroy the Jews”; That’s why God showed him a burning but unscorched bush.”

At the same time, the Jewish interpretation rightly points out the dual meaning of fire in this vision: on the one hand, its destroying action, since it symbolized the action of the formidable wrath of God (cf.), on the other hand, the cleansing and prototypical effect of the fire of trials or suffering (cf.; etc.), sent by God both to individuals and to entire societies called to higher activity. This understanding of fire is justified by biblical parallels, especially those describing theophanies (; ; ). Symbols of fire accompanied, as is known, the very conclusion of the Sinai Covenant with Israel by God (). Thus, Jewish exegesis only had a presentiment of the highest meaning in the miraculous phenomenon under consideration. But by her very attachment to the letter, she could not rise to a typological and mystical understanding of this miracle. The latter was given only to the Christian patristic interpretation, as well as to the mystical-dogmatic consciousness of the Church of Christ in general.

Of the ancient Christian interpreters and teachers of the Church, St. , saying in general that the Son of God is scattered everywhere in the writings of Moses, lists examples of His appearance and, among other things, notes: “either He appears and shows the way to Jacob, then He speaks to Moses from the Bush.” Thus St. Irenaeus sees bushes in the vision - one of the appearances of the Son of God in the Old Testament. Blessed Theodoret combines the symbolic-historical explanation of the Burning Bush with a mystical-typological understanding of it. “What,” asks the blessed one. Theodoret, is depicted by the fact that the bush burns and is not consumed?”, and answers: “God’s power and God’s love for mankind are proclaimed, because the unquenchable fire did not destroy the dry bush. But I think that this also depicted something else, namely, that Israel, against whom the Egyptians are plotting, will not be destroyed, but will defeat its enemies, and also that the Only Begotten, having become man and inhabiting a virgin’s womb, will preserve virginity inviolable. Others say that God appeared in a bush, and not in another plant, because it is impossible to remove the image of God from a bush. For, probably, the Jews would have dared to do this if God had appeared in another plant.” If the last consideration given by Blessed. Theodoret, has only presumptive reliability, then the comparison of the historical and symbolic meaning of the phenomenon (the invincibility of Israel by the Egyptians) and the representative or typological (predepiction of the seedless Nativity of Christ the Savior and the Ever-Virginity of the Mother of God) in the above words is expressed definitely and accurately. St. reveals this idea even more clearly and in more detail. Cyril of Alexandria. “The purpose of nurturing,” says St. Kirill, there was a sacrament of Christ, which was very clearly indicated in the vision. For the bush is a bushy plant, barren and little different from the thorn bush. A great flame engulfed her. The Holy Angel appeared in the form of fire. And the flame rose very high, but did not in the least harm the bush in which it appeared. The matter was truly extraordinary and beyond all reason. The fire embraces the thorns and only warms them with its quiet touch, as if forgetting its natural strength and completely calmly hugging what it could destroy. That is why the Divine Moses was struck by the vision. What is the meaning of this vision? The Holy Scripture likens the Divine nature to fire for the reason that it is omnipotent and can easily overcome everything; He likens man to the trees and grass of the field, who came from the earth. That's why he says, in one case: “Our God is a consuming fire”(, n. ); and in another case: “A man is like grass, his days are like a field flower, so he will blossom”(). But just as fire is unbearable for thorns, so is the Divine for humanity. However, in Christ it became bearable: “For in Him dwells all the fulfillment of the physical Divinity”, as the wise Paul testified ()... that is, he dwelt in the temple of the Virgin, descending to the point of wondrous meekness and, as it were, softening the invincible power of his nature, in order to be accessible to us, just as fire became accessible to thorns. But that which by its nature is susceptible to damage, that is, the flesh, He showed the highest corruption, destruction; This is symbolically indicated by the fire in the bush, which preserved the tree completely intact... So the fire spared the thorns, and the flame was tolerable for the small and very weak tree; because the Divinity has become accessible to humanity. And this was a sacrament in Christ."

Unfortunately, we do not have any information about the veneration of the “Burning Bush” icon at the site of the miracle itself Ex. Ch. 3, 2–3, - on the Divine Mount Sinai and in the monastery of St. Great Martyr Catherine. On Mount Athos, the monastery of Vatopedi ( ἡ σκήτη Βατοπεδίου ), as the name itself shows, is dedicated to the memory of the Burning Bush and celebrates Her on September 4th. But the revered icon of this monastery is another Mother of God icon of “Consolation” or “Consolation”. On the contrary, the honoring of this holy icon throughout Holy Rus' is very widespread. The celebration of the icon in our Church takes place on September 4, the day of remembrance of the Seer of God, the prophet and lawgiver Moses, as well as in the 6th week of Easter.

In addition to the pious belief of our people about the deliverance of believers by the grace-filled power of this icon of the Mother of God from the burning of fire, the dogmatic idea expressed by this icon, according to its patristic interpretation, is worthy of everyone’s reverent attention. This idea touches the very foundations of Christianity.

The modern English theologian David Smith rightly discusses the mystery of the Incarnation: “Christ the Eternal Son of God, the Prototype of humanity, in whose image man was created, was the Second... There was a need for the Second Adam to stand in the place of the first Adam, and enter into the struggle on the terms first Adam. This would have been impossible if He had been born into humanity through an ordinary birth. Then He would have been a child of the first Adam, and would have had a nature that the sin of the first Adam had infected and perverted. He could not be a new root of humanity, but simply a shoot from the old trunk; He could not be a new beginning, but simply another link in the chain... This is the raison d'etre of the Virgin Birth. This was a new creation - Jesus (by humanity) came directly from the hands of God, as the first Adam came out, and the law of heredity did not extend to Him. He had no original sin." This idea, as we have seen, is inherent in the miracle of the Burning Bush.

Thus, the idea of ​​the seedless conception and unspeakable birth of our Lord in the vision of the burning bush we examined appears in the Bible for the first time with the calling of Moses, the future lawgiver of the Old Testament, several centuries preceding a clearer expression of the same idea in the great prophet Isaiah in his prediction about the birth of Emmanuel from the Virgin () and a reflection of the same idea in the prophet Micah ().

“Who in the fires of the burning bush, seen in ancient times by Moses, prefigured the mystery of His incarnation from the unartificed Virgin Mary, Who even now, as the Creator of miracles and the Creator of all creation, has glorified Her holy icon with many miracles, bestowing it on the faithful for healing from illness and for protection from fiery burning..." (Troparion of the miraculous icon of the Mother of God "Burning Bush").

Archpriest Oleg Stenyaev talks about why Moses tended his flocks in... the desert, how the holy fathers explained the phenomenon of the Burning Bush, about the “sacred curiosity” of Moses and what “shoes” every Christian should take off.

What can be called the spiritual preparation of Moses is described in both the 2nd and 3rd chapters of the Book of Exodus. These chapters tell how the Lord shaped the character of Moses, developing and revealing in him precisely the feeling of a heightened desire for justice: first Moses tries to protect a fellow Jew and kills the Egyptian oppressor (cf. Ex. 2: 11-12), then Moses already separates his brothers (cf. Exod. 2: 13–14), and after that Moses stands up for the daughters of the Midian priest, who were driven away from the well (cf. Exod. 2: 16–17).

Shepherd

But, from the point of view of the interpretation of the holy fathers, Moses acquired the main qualities necessary for a spiritual leader when he spent decades tending sheep for his father-in-law, the priest of Midian.

“Moses was tending the sheep of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. One day he led his flock far into the desert and came to the mountain of God, Horeb” (Ex. 3: 1 ).

It would be more accurate to translate that Moses tends his father-in-law's sheep, leading them far away behind desert. And really, how can you herd sheep? V desert? There may be two reasons for this.

The first reason may be that Moses is sensitive to other people's property and does not want to cause any damage to other people's possessions, other people's meadows and plots of land for grazing sheep. Careful in detail, he could actually be exalted by God for his strict desire to fulfill all the subtleties of God's Law.

The second reason for Moses’ departure from this world with his flock is the awareness, or, rather, even the intuitive foreknowledge of God’s great mission that awaits him: he must lead God’s people among aggressive tribes and peoples and for 40 years lead them through the desert, “as sheep among wolves" (cf. Matthew 10:16).

The very relationship of the Creator with His creations is considered in the Bible as the relationship of a shepherd-shepherd with his sheep: “As a shepherd inspects his flock on the day when he is among his scattered flock, so I will look over My sheep and free them from all the places to which they were scattered on a cloudy and gloomy day. And I will bring them out from the nations, and gather them from the countries, and bring them into their own land, and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, and by the streams, and in all the inhabited places of the land” (Ezek. 34: 12-13).

There is a legend about how Moses once lost a little sheep, searched for a long time and finally found it near a stormy river. The lamb was thirsty, but did not dare to approach such a furiously noisy stream. In emotion, Moses exclaimed: “Poor lamb! I didn’t think that you were just thirsty, so I ran to the water! You are tired, and now I will help you.” Having watered the lamb, Moses carried it on his own shoulders to the flock. And then the Lord God said: “You have compassion for the flock that belonged to an ordinary mortal man of flesh and blood! From now on you will shepherd Israel, My flock.”

The expression “and came to the mountain of God, Horeb,” on the one hand, seems to anticipate the glorious events associated with this place, on the other hand, it may indicate that miraculous events began immediately as soon as Moses and the herd “came to the mountain” .

There is such a legend: when Moses passed by Mount Horeb, he noticed that the birds were afraid to approach the mountain and were circling in the distance. When Moses headed towards the mountain, it seemed to him that the mountain “in response” itself began to move in his direction. As soon as Moses retreated, the mountain also returned to its original place. And only when Moses approached and stepped on the foot of Mount Horeb, it settled and froze in one place. Those of you who have somehow visited the desert will not consider such a legend unreliable: the well-known mirages of the great deserts actually either bring extremely distant objects or landscapes closer or move them away.

“A step away from love for this world”

“And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a thorn bush. And he saw that the thorn bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed" (Ref. 3:2 ).

The expression from the Synodal translation: “in the flame of fire” seems too vague, like the phrase “butter.” It would be more correct to translate: from the core of the fire. And the “thorn bush,” on the one hand, indicates the material that is most susceptible to fire, on the other hand, it indicates the most inconspicuous tree of the local flora, inconvenient and clumsy.

This is exactly how the children of God are perceived in this world. It is said: “Look, brethren, who you are who are called: not many of you are wise according to the flesh, not many of you are strong, not many of you are noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the strong things; God has chosen the base things of the world and the things that are despised, and the things that are not, to bring to nothing the things that are.” 1 Cor. 1:26–28).

Clement of Alexandria Christocentrically perceived the vision of the Burning Bush, covered with thorns:

Just as the Logos appeared in a bush of thorns, so later, in a crown of thorns, he showed: these are works of the same Divine omnipotence

“When the omnipotent Lord of the universe undertook the publication of the Law through the Logos and wanted to demonstrate His power to Moses, a Divine vision appeared to him in the form of light in a burning thorn bush. The thorn bush is a prickly plant; and when the Logos has finished legislation and life among men, in a mysterious way He is again crowned with thorns. Returning to where he came from, He finished the work of His ancient parish. Just as before the Logos appeared in a bush of thorns, so later, captured, He showed in a crown of thorns that all of this is the work of one and the same Divine omnipotence, that He is the one Son of the one Father, the beginning and the end of world time.”

Liturgical theology contemplates in the Burning Bush the Most Holy Virgin Mary Herself, Who unburntly received into Herself the One about Whom it is said: “Oh that You would rend the heavens and come down! the mountains would melt at Your presence, like melting fire..." ( Is. 64:1–2).

In any prophetic phenomenon, both the word of God itself and the images with which it is accompanied are equivalent. Moreover, sometimes the word of God is the revelation of a vision, and sometimes vice versa: prophetic visions in reality are more clear, vivid and better remembered than dream visions or prophetic visions in a state of fainting (cf.: Number 24:4). Sometimes a miraculous (unusual) phenomenon can prepare a person for the prophetic dialogue itself, as if gradually accustoming him, introducing him into it.

“Moses said: I will go and see this great phenomenon, why the bush is not burned” ( Ref. 3:3 ).

“When Moses saw that the bush was burning and not being burned, he marveled at the vision and said: “I’ll go and look at this phenomenon.” But it’s not that he himself meant that he would go through some space, cross mountains or overcome rocks and valleys. The appearance was right there, before his face and before his eyes. But he said: “I will go,” to show that the heavenly phenomenon reminded him that he must enter into a higher life and move on from what he lived among to something better.”

The words translated here as “I’ll go and look” are more correctly translated as “I’ll probably turn around and look.”

This is exactly how Saint Gregory the Great, Pope of Rome, understands them, he writes:

“Therefore Moses, who sought the glory of the highest contemplation, said: “I will go and see the vision.” If he had not taken a step in his heart away from love for this world, he would never have been able to comprehend the higher things.”

“I’ll go” - from Latin: “I’ll turn”! And “to take a step aside” means to turn away from the previous path.

A person who is able to pay attention to an unusual phenomenon and not pass it by is a person with heightened inner intuition. It is precisely such people, capable of leaving their “herds” of human problems and thinking about the miraculous, who are called “mystics,” for whom the supermundane is much more real and much more important than the everyday and everyday.

In the Orthodox tradition, mystical theology is revealed to people of the contemplative type, less active, perhaps, but more contemplative.

Here another reason is revealed to us why Moses “led ... the flock far into the wilderness”: he could seek solitude from the noisy pagans of Midian.

After all, the Son of God Himself, at the crucial moments of His earthly ministry, sought solitude and silence, without which it is impossible for true humanity to hear the true Divinity. It is said: “Jesus went away from there in a boat to a deserted place alone” ( Matt. 14:13). And again: “Jesus, having learned that they wanted to come and accidentally take him and make him king, again withdrew to the mountain alone” ( In. 6:15).

So is Moses! And even more so, each of us, deafened by the screams and squeals of the so-called “civilized” world, needs to reflect on silence and unfussy loneliness. At least for a while, for a year or a month, even if just for one day or one hour...

The pace of the modern world, offensive information flows absorb consciousness and return it to us distorted, torn and half-decayed. We miss thoughtful advice and quiet instructions that can only be heard with the heart. The world of politics, and even religion, shouts, agitates, is engaged in its own marketing, but we need to stop and stop the thoughts that are not ours, other people’s, rushing through our consciousness, to hear the voice of antiquity, a voice that is not hysterical, but judiciously calm, with the quiet joy of personal communication with the past . It is said: “Thus says the Lord: Stand still in your ways and consider, and ask about the ancient ways, where is the good way, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls” ( Jer. 6:16).

On the other hand, the question: “a great phenomenon, why the bush does not burn up” is an ecclesiological, that is, church, question. It is rationally impossible to explain the existence of the people of God in its two historical dimensions: Old Testament and New Testament times.

The sacred history of the Old Testament Church shows us how many times the existence of the people of God approached the tragic point of the “final solution to the Jewish question”: this happened in Egypt, Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome! But the sacred history of the New Testament Church, which continues to this day, has revealed tragic pages of attempts to “completely resolve the church issue” - both in ancient times and during the Islamic wars.

In essence, in the USSR most of the 20th century took place. These are, in particular, the “godless five-year plans” and Nikita Khrushchev’s promise to show the last Russian priest on TV.

But the worst persecution is yet to come. And in the prophet Daniel we find the words: “...and a difficult time will come, such as has not happened since people existed until this time; But at that time all of your people who are found written in the book will be saved." Dan. 12:1).

The guarantee that the burning bush of the Holy Church will never go out and will illuminate the darkness of the last times with the fiery tongues of the grace-filled gifts of the Holy Spirit without burning for its bearers themselves are the words of the Creator of the law and the Church of the New Testament, spoken in Caesarea Philippi: “I will create My Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it" ( Matt. 16:18).

Take off your shoes - a symbol of death

“The Lord saw that he was coming to look, and God called to him from the midst of the bush, and said: Moses! Moses! He said: Here am I [Lord]!” (Ref. 3:4 ).

The Angel of the Lord - that is, the Divine Logos Himself, about Whom it is said: “The research and research of the prophets, who foretold about the grace appointed for you, related to this salvation, exploring to which and at what time the Spirit of Christ who was in them pointed when He foretold » ( 1 Pet. 1:10–11) - now foreshadows Moses, calling him by name twice: “Moses! Moses!"

Repeating a name twice always indicates special Divine approval or calling. It is said: “But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said: Abraham! Abraham! He (that is, Abraham. - Prot. O.S.) said: here I am" ( Life 22:11). And again: “And God said to Israel in a vision at night: Jacob! Jacob! He (that is, Jacob. - Prot. O.S.) said: here I am" ( Life 46:2).

In this case, God seems to say: “He who takes it out! Taking out! When will you take out your own people and justify the name given to you?”

We have already said that it is a mistake to understand the name Moses (Hebrew Moshe) as “taken out”, in which case it would be pronounced as wave- “pulled out”, “extracted”. However, he is given the name “Moses” (Moshe), which means “pulling out,” “draws out.”

Moses responds with the same prophetic determination to the call of God as Abraham and Jacob: “Here am I,” thereby showing his not only carnal, but also spiritual affinity with the ancient prophets.

Of course, Moses might not have obeyed the Divine call; he could have remained a happy shepherd of a large flock and a happy father of his family. But the true happiness of human life is to recognize God’s command regarding oneself and live in accordance with this plan of the Creator.

The misfortune of many people lies precisely in the fact that, having not recognized God’s commandment regarding themselves, they mind their own business.

“And God said: Do not come here; take off your shoes from your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground" (Ref. 3:5 ).

Any matter through which the Lord manifests His presence is sanctified and perceived as holy, as shrine and dedicated. Both the earth, as we read, and the whole people can be considered holy and, therefore, sanctified (cf.: Dan. 7:27), and mountain (cf.: Dan. 9:16), and the city (cf.: Dan. 9:24), and the clothes of a saint (cf.: Acts 19:11–12), and his relics (cf.: 2 Kings 13:21) etc.

In the call to take off the shoes from your feet, St. Ephraim the Syrian also sees a call to vengeance:

“Take off your shoes and go and trample on the Egyptians, because for 30 years now the time has come for them to be gathered like bunches of grapes. Moses went (to look) because he was not afraid, but when a vision appeared to him that was unbearable for his eyes, he covered his face because he was afraid to look at God, although he had previously looked at the angel.”

It is said in the Book of Genesis: “And the chief butler told Joseph his dream and said to him: I dreamed, and behold a vine before me; there are three branches on the vine; it developed, color appeared on it, berries grew and ripened on it; and Pharaoh's cup is in my hand; I took the berries, squeezed them into Pharaoh's cup, and gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand" ( Life 40:9–11).

Everyone knows the meaning of this prophetic dream in relation to the cupbearer (cf.: Life 40:12–13), but it also has a hidden meaning in relation to the whole of Egypt, this evil empire. The three branches-clusters are three prophets of God who will have to overthrow all of Egypt into the winepress of God’s wrath. These are the prophets Moses and Aaron and the prophetess Miriam. All of them fulfilled their mission in the great destruction of the occult civilization of Egypt.

The fact that the cup is placed in the hand of Pharaoh contains a prophecy that the ruler of Egypt himself will suffer from the cup of God's wrath. The Monk Ephraim the Syrian sees the mission of Moses in this too.

In Moses taking off his shoes, there is a call to remove the barriers of “the flesh and step on the bare feet of the spirit and mind.”

Saint Ambrose of Milan shows in Moses taking off his shoes a call for every believer to remove the barriers of “the flesh and walk with the bare feet of the spirit and mind.” The meaning of this instruction is obvious: what a person is accustomed to relying on in ordinary life is not always acceptable when fulfilling the will of the Lord.

Saint Gregory of Nazianzus sees in these actions of Moses a call for the clergy to turn away, when presenting themselves before God, from everything corruptible, “so as not to bring anything dead between God and people.”

The call to “take off your shoes from your feet” in the original language sounds even more radical: here the word “take off” is more correctly translated as the word “throw off.” The sound of this word in Hebrew (shin, lamed) is close to the words “will throw off” (Hebrew ishal) and “break down” (Hebrew venashal). That is, we are talking about what needs to be parted with in the most decisive way, especially in the current situation. A similar thing happened with Isaiah: “The Lord spoke to Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying: Go, take off the sackcloth from around your waist, and throw off your sandals from off your feet. He did just that: he walked naked and barefoot" ( Is. 20:2).

And at the same time, we find in the New Testament the following call: “Stand therefore, having your loins girded with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace” ( Eph. 6:14–15).

The apparent contradiction of these two verses - from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah and from the Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Ephesians - we resolve with the following words of the Son of God, who instructed His disciples before the start of the sermon: “Take not with you gold, nor silver, nor copper in your belts, no bag for the journey, no two clothes, no shoes..." ( Matt. 10:9-10). That is, one must gird oneself not with a tightly stuffed purse, but with truth and righteousness, and not put on sandals, as a symbol of death, but put on “your feet in readiness to preach the gospel of peace.”

About the deadness of ordinary sandals, St. Augustine wrote:

“What kind of shoes do we use? These are belts made from the skin of dead animals. The leather thongs of dead animals serve as coverings for our feet. What is required of us? Give up dead affairs. This is shown to glory in the example of Moses, when the Lord says to him: “Take off your shoes, for the place on which you stand is holy ground.” What is holy land if not the Church of God? Standing on it, let's take off our shoes and give up dead affairs."

We can understand what “dead works” are and where they come from from the words of the Son of God: “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, blasphemy - this defiles a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile a person" ( Matt. 15:19–20).

The only deadness we must carry within us is the deadness of Christ to all sin.

About the means that can deliver us from these dead works, it is clearly said: “Then how much more (that is, even more so. - Prot. O.S.) Moreover, the Blood of Christ, Who through the Holy Spirit offered Himself blameless to God, will cleanse our conscience from dead works, to serve the living and true God!” ( Heb. 9:14).

The only deadness we must carry within us is the deadness of the Lord Jesus Christ to all sin. The Apostle Paul instructs us: “We always bear in our body the deadness of the Lord Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body” ( 2 Cor. 4:10).

(To be continued.)

The life of Moses consists of three periods, forty years each.
He spent the first forty years in Egypt. He was adopted by the pharaoh's daughter at the age of three months. When he had to flee Egypt to save his life, he went to the land of Midian. God appeared to Moses in the form of a burning bush and commanded him to return to Egypt and lead Israel out of slavery. He spent the last forty years of his life leading the children of Israel through the wilderness.

In fact, the Bible does not say that the burning bush (or the so-called burning bush) was a type of the church. However, considering the burning bush and the church, we can note enough correspondences between them that are worthy of our attention.

When God appeared to Moses in the form of a burning bush, God commanded him to take off his shoes, for the place where Moses stood was holy ground (Ex. 3:2-5).

4 The Lord saw that he was coming to see, and God called to him from the midst of the bush, and said: Moses! Moses! He said: here I am!
5 And God said, Do not come hither; take off your shoes from your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground.

(Ex.3:2-5)

It was from that bush that God announced His will to Moses - to lead Israel out of Egyptian slavery (Isa. chapters 3 and 4).

Church is a holy place

(Heb. 10:19-22; 1 Cor. 11:17-34; Matt. 26:26-29).

19 Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter into the sanctuary through the blood of Jesus Christ, in a new and living way,
20 which He revealed to us again through the veil, that is, His flesh,

(Heb. 10:19,20)

17 But in offering this, I do not praise [you], because you intend not for the best, but for the worst.
18 For, first of all, I hear that when you come together to church, there are divisions among you, which I partly believe.
19 For there must also be differences of opinion among you, so that the wise may be revealed among you.
20 Further, you gather [so that it] does not mean to eat the Lord's supper;
21 For everyone hastens before [others] to eat his food, [so] [that] some are hungry, and others are drunk.
22 Don’t you have houses to eat and drink? Or do you neglect the church of God and humiliate the poor? What should I tell you? Should I praise you for this? I won't praise you.
23 For I received from the Lord [Himself] what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus took bread on the night in which he was betrayed
24 And having given thanks, he broke it and said: Take, eat, this is My Body, broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.
25 He also took the cup after supper, and said, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; Do this whenever you drink, in remembrance of Me.
26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until He comes.
27 Therefore, whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily will be guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord.
28 Let a man examine himself, and in this way let him eat of this bread and drink of this cup.
29 For whoever eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks condemnation for himself, not considering the Body of the Lord.
30 For this reason many of you are weak and sick, and many die.
31 For if we judged ourselves, we would not be judged.
32 But being judged, we are punished by the Lord, lest we be condemned with the world.
33 Therefore, my brethren, when you gather together to supper, wait for one another.
34 But if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, so that you do not gather together for condemnation. I'll arrange the rest when I come.

(1 Cor. 11:17-34)

26 And while they were eating, Jesus took bread and blessed it, broke it, and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take, eat: this is My body.”
27 And he took the cup and gave thanks, and gave it to them and said, “Drink from it, all of you,
28 For this is My Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
29 But I tell you, from now on I will not drink of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink new [wine] with you in the kingdom of My Father.

(Matt. 26:26-29)

It is the church that is sacred, not the building.

The church must proclaim the word of God to free sinners from the bondage of sin (Matt. 28:18-20; Eph. 3:10,11; 1 Tim. 3:15).

18 And Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.”
19 Go therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
20 Teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen.

(Matt. 28:18-20)

10 so that the manifold wisdom of God may now be made known through the church to the rulers and powers in heaven,
11 according to the eternal purpose, which He fulfilled in Christ Jesus our Lord,

(Eph.3:10,11)

15 so that if I delay, you will know how you ought to act in the house of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.

(1 Timothy 3:15)

From the same passages we learn that the church is to disciple the saints. The church is to help those in need (Gal. 6:10; 2 Cor. 9:12,13).

10 So, as long as we have time, let us do good to everyone, but especially to those who belong to the family of faith.

(Gal.6:10)

12 For the work of this ministry not only fills the poverty of the saints, but also produces abundant thanksgiving to God in many;
13 For, seeing the experience of this service, they glorify God for your obedience to the gospel of Christ that you profess and for your sincere communication with them and with everyone,

(2 Cor. 9:12,13)

The church must also worship (John 4:24; Heb. 10:25).

24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.

(John 4:24)

The work of the church can also be perverted, just as the church at Corinth perverted the essence of the Lord's Supper, turning it into only a love feast (charity dinners) (1 Cor. 11:17-34). There was nothing wrong with charitable feasts given by wealthy members of the community as long as they did not lead to a corruption of worship (1 Cor. 11:17-34; Jude 1:12).

1 Cor. 11:17-34 - read the excerpt above
12 Such are the temptations at your love suppers; feasting with you, they fatten themselves without fear. These are waterless clouds carried by the wind; autumn trees, barren, twice dead, uprooted;

(Jude 1:12)

burning bush

The burning bush was in the desert and it seemed to be worthless and almost dead. However, it was from this bush that God spoke to Moses. The church is in the world around it, the wilderness of sin (1 John 5:19).

9 If we accept the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God, with which God testified concerning His Son.

(1 John 5:9)

To many people, the church seems useless and insignificant. But Jesus would not have given His life and purchased the church with His blood if it had been worthless (Acts 20:28; Eph. 5:25).

28 Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of the Lord and God, which He purchased with His own blood.

(Acts 20:28)

25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her,

(Eph.5:25)

The church consists of the saved, because the Lord Himself adds those who are saved to the church (Acts 2:47).

47 praising God and being favored by all the people. The Lord daily added those who were being saved to the Church.

(Acts 2:47)

The flames could not consume the bush.

This caused Moses to turn and look at him (Ex. 3:2,3).

2 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a thorn bush. And he saw that the thorn bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed.
3 Moses said, “I will go and see this great phenomenon, why the bush is not burned.”

(Ex.3:2,3)

The church is subject to intense persecution, even in our days, but the church is not and will not be subject to destruction (Dan. 2:44; Matt. 16:18; Acts 14:21,22; 1 Pet. 1:7; 4: 12).

44 And in the days of those kingdoms the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, and this kingdom will not be given to another nation; it will crush and destroy all kingdoms, and itself will stand forever,

(Dan.2:44)

18 And I say to you: you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it;

(Matt. 16:18)

21 Having preached the gospel to this city and having acquired enough disciples, they returned through Lystra, Iconium and Antioch,
22 confirming the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith and [teaching] that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.

(Acts 14:21,22)

7 So that the tested faith of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and honor and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ,

(1 Peter 1:7)

12 Beloved! do not shy away from the fiery temptation sent to you to test it as a strange adventure for you,

(1 Peter 4:12)

God was in the midst of the burning bush (Ex. 3:4).

4 The Lord saw that he was coming to see, and God called to him from the midst of the bush, and said: Moses! Moses! He said: here I am!

(Ex.3:4)

God is in the church today (Eph. 2:20-22; Col. 1:27).

20 Having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone,
21 in which the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord,
22 in which you also are being built into a habitation of God through the Spirit.

(Eph.2:20-22)

27 To whom God has been pleased to show what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory,

(Col. 1:27)

The church is the temple of God (1 Cor. 3:16,17).

16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you?
17 If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will punish him: for the temple of God is holy; and this [temple] is you.

(1 Cor. 3:16,17)

We should realize that God dwells in His holy temple (Ps. 10:4; Hab. 2:20; Heb. 12:22-24).

4 The Lord is in His holy temple, the Lord is His throne in heaven, His eyes can see; His eyelids try the sons of men.

(Ps. 10:4)

20 But the Lord is in His holy temple: let all the earth be silent before Him!

(Hab.2:20)

22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, to the heavenly Jerusalem and to ten thousand angels,
23 to the triumphant council and church of the firstborn, who are written in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,
24 and to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaketh better than Abel.

(Heb. 12:22-24)

Church meetings, therefore, should be held in an atmosphere of reverence.

Burning bush (burning bush)

1. From this bush, God announced to Moses His commission - to lead Israel out of Egyptian slavery (Ex. chapters 3 and 4)
2. That place was holy ground (Exodus 3:2-5)
3. The bush was useless and dead
4. The burning bush was in the desert
5. The bush was not destroyed by fire (Ex. 3:2)
6. God was among the bush (Exodus 3:4)

Church

1. From the church, God's commission to free man from the bondage of sin is proclaimed (Matt. 28:1820; 2 Cor. 4:7; Eph. 3:10,11; 1 Tim. 3:15)
2. The church is a holy place (1 Tim. 3:15; Eph. 3:10,21; Heb. 10:19-22; 1 Cor. 11:17-34; Matt. 26:26-29)
3. The church is of great value, but is considered by many to be useless and insignificant (Acts 2:47; 8:34; 20:28; Eph. 3:21; 5:25)
4. Church in the Wilderness of Sin (1 John 5:19)
5. The Church cannot be destroyed by burning persecution (Dan. 2:44; Acts 14:21,22; 1 Pet. 1:7; 4:12,13; Matt. 16:18)
6. God dwells in the church (1 Cor. 3:16,17; Eph. 2:2022; Col. 1:27)

A.V. Lakirev

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The beginning of the third chapter of the Book of Exodus contains the story of God's appearance to Moses on Mount Sinai. By its nature and content, this phenomenon can be called one of the most striking revelations of God about Himself in the Old Testament. Here, in a few laconic verses, the essence of the Old Testament teaching about God and His relationship to the world and people is concentrated. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself, according to the evangelists, repeatedly turned to this Revelation and applied to Himself the name revealed by God to Moses at the Burning Bush. The significance of the appearance of God at the Burning Bush is such that its content does not lose relevance for New Testament theology. In addition, the vivid image of this phenomenon left an indelible mark on Christian liturgical poetry.

Origin of the text

The final canonization of the text in question, as well as the entire Pentateuch, took place after the return of the Jews from Babylonian captivity at the end of the 5th century BC. The renewal of the Covenant, accomplished by Ezra and Nehemiah in 429 BC, included the reading of the Pentateuch as a generally accepted sacred text. Through the process of rewriting and translation, this text served as the source for different linguistic versions: Masoretic (through the Babylonian Jews), Greek (through the Alexandrian translators who created the Septuagint), Qumran and Samaritan (through the scribes of Judea).

Historical Context of the Revelation of God and the Calling of Moses

The appearance of God at the Burning Bush most likely took place in the first half - mid-13th century BC. During this period, the situation in the Eastern Mediterranean was determined by the recently concluded peace treaty between Ramesses II and the Hittite king Hattusili III. Egypt and the Hittite state represented two “superpowers” ​​in the era of interest to us, and smaller states and individual tribes of the Middle East were in one way or another in the orbit of their influence. The border between the spheres of influence between the Hittites and the Egyptians passed through the Holy Land. There were many small Canaanite states here, and individual groups of the “Sea Peoples” gradually strengthened. In the eastern part of the Holy Land lived Semitic tribes, including the so-called “Ibri” (“those who came from beyond the river”). The “Sea Peoples,” the Canaanites and the Ibri tribes did not constitute a single whole either spiritually, culturally, or politically, but retained relative independence as “buffer states” between the Egyptians and the Hittites History of the East. T. 1: The East in ancient times. - M., RAS, 2000.
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The Jewish tribes (Ibri) were part of the pre-exile Jewish tribal union. During the campaigns of the Egyptian troops under Seti I and other pharaohs of the 19th dynasty, they were scattered in the territory of modern Jordan and in the north of the Sinai Peninsula. Like the part of the Jews who settled in Egypt before these wars, the Ibri tribes retained faith in the One God and spoke a language close (if not identical) to the language of the Egyptian captives. It is very likely that Moses’ father-in-law Jethro (Raguel) also belonged to one of these tribes. An argument in favor of this can be considered that the Bible does not consider Moses' marriage to Zipporah as a union with the daughter of a foreigner.

Thus, the chosen people in this era were divided into two parts. A significant number of Jews lived in Egypt and were subjected to increasing oppression under the pharaohs of the 19th dynasty. Led by the hand of God, they were destined to become the core of the Israeli people during the Exodus. At the same time, scattered groups of Ibri lived in Transjordan and northern Sinai, maintaining relative independence. It is very likely that these co-religionists and fellow Israelites were then involved in the process of settling the Holy Land.

Almost the only source for characterizing the spiritual and religious life of both the Egyptian Jews and the Ibri tribes is the Holy Scripture. Based on this, we can conclude that they believed in One God, who created heaven and earth and called Abraham. The book of Genesis often calls God by name יהוה (Yahweh), revealed to Moses at the Burning Bush, but most likely this fact is an anachronism and is explained by the fact that this name was closest to the Yahwist who recorded part of the Mosaic tradition (see above). The Lord Himself, as the so-called. The priestly record of the Mosaic tradition says to Moses: “I appeared to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob with the name “God Almighty” ( אל שדי , El Shaddai), and with My name “Lord” ( יהוה , Yahweh), did not reveal himself to them" Exodus 6:3.
. Consequently, Jewish worship before Moses used the name "El Shaddai", which was probably carried over from Mesopotamia by Abraham and may have been a very ancient Semitic formula. This name could be perceived as an ancient personal name of the Deity, consonant with the names of pagan deities (both Mesopotamian and Syro-Semitic, and Egyptian).

Fundamental knowledge about the Divine, a unique identification of Him against the background of the polytheism of neighboring peoples, was based on the appearance of God to Abraham and the promises given to him. It was as the God of Abraham that the Almighty was perceived by the Jews as the God to whom they were subject. Pagan monuments even in later times speak of Him as the “God of the Jews.”

The basis of the hope of the Jews was the covenant concluded with Abraham and the promise that the descendants of Abraham would be multiplied “more than the number of the sand of the sea” and would live in Palestine. In the era preceding the Exodus, such hope required considerable spiritual effort, especially for the Egyptian Jews. The oppressed position of the Jews gave reason to doubt the omnipotence of the God of the Jews not only to Pharaoh, but also to themselves. This was manifested, in particular, in the response to Moses from the Jew he denounced (Exodus 2:13-14), and in repeated cases of murmuring against Moses during the wanderings of the chosen people in the Sinai desert.

Against this background, the personality of the prophet Moses is of particular significance. Undoubtedly, Moses' upbringing as the daughter of Pharaoh and his life in the tribe of Jethro, free from Egyptian slavery, served as God-given protection from the poison of slave psychology. The knowledge Moses received in Egypt and perhaps from Jethro enabled him to see the stark contrast between the Jewish tradition of the God of Abraham and paganism. Perhaps these external circumstances were important in the mystery of the meeting between God and Moses in his solitude in the Sinai desert.

God's dialogue with Moses begins with the calling of Moses by name. For what follows, it is important that this meeting takes place on the initiative of God himself. Moses sees the flame engulfing the bush and the light emanating from it. Scripture emphasizes Moses' surprise: "Moses said, 'I will go and see this great sight.' St. Gregory of Nyssa says about this flame: God “shone not from a light located somewhere among the stars, so that no one would consider its radiance material, but from an earthly bush that eclipsed the heavenly bodies with its rays.” St. Gregory of Nyssa, On the Life of Moses the Lawgiver, trans. A.S. Desnitsky, Publishing House of the Church of St. Cosmas and Damian on Maroseyka, M., 1999, § 20.
. Thus, the light Moses saw was both immaterial and earthly. St. Gregory interprets this manifestation of the Divine presence in the created world as a symbol of the Incarnation: “This is how we understand the miracle that happened to the Virgin: the Light of the Divine was born through Her and shone in human life, but He preserved the bush with which it was united unharmed: the flower of virginity did not fade and during childbirth" Ibid., § 21.
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From the moment Moses responds to God's call with the words “here am I,” Revelation proper begins. Its main content is as follows. In the beginning, God speaks of His holiness and calls Moses to a reverent attitude. Then follows the revelation that God hears the cry of the people, has mercy on them and “goes to deliver them,” that is, intervenes in the history of mankind. God goes on to say that His will for the salvation of Israel will be carried out through Moses. Thus, Moses becomes a prototype of the Messiah. The text under consideration concludes with the revelation of the name of God. It highlights several aspects. Firstly, for the historical and religious context, the very fact of the revelation of the name of God is important, which tells people about the essence of God, makes it possible to communicate with Him and sanctifies people. Secondly, the name of God revealed to Moses is a meaningful dogmatic statement about the existence, unconditionality of existence and immutability of God. Third, God reveals Himself as the God of the living, an aspect emphasized by Christ Himself in the New Testament. Finally, the appearance and revelation at the Burning Bush in the general biblical context becomes a prototype of the Incarnation. We will look at these aspects of revelation below.

Revelation of the Holiness of God

In the few words of Exodus 3:1-15, God reveals a number of fundamentally important things about Himself. The first in this series is the revelation of the holiness of God. Rev. Cosmas of Mayum ( after 776) writes about Moses’ attitude to the miracle he saw: “Moses showed his inherent divine reverence as he approached You, for, recognizing You speaking from the flame of a bush, he turned away his face.” Rev. Cosmas Mayumsky, Canon for Epiphany, canto 4, troparion 2.
. It is the reverence of Moses that, according to the thought of St. Cosmas, for the reader of the Bible the fact of the manifestation of God's holiness.

The prohibition to approach the burning bush and the command to remove shoes reflect the holiness of God, near whom no sinful person can be. St. Gregory of Nyssa points out: “Shod feet cannot ascend to the height from which the light of Truth can be seen until the tread of our soul is freed from the dead and earthly shell of skin that covers our nature, since we, having disobeyed the Divine command, found ourselves naked » Op. cit., § 22.
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The manifestation of God's holiness on earth transforms it itself. The words of the Lord “the place on which you stand is holy ground” mean that the presence of the Invisible sanctifies creation. Undoubtedly, the story of the prophet Isaiah about the vision in the Temple of Jerusalem is close in content to the text under consideration. In both cases, the flame of God’s presence scorches sinful man, and God’s will for dialogue sanctifies and protects him. The experience of the truth of the revelation of the holiness of God given to Moses and the sanctification of the place of His presence appears among people later, when special places arise for the worship of the One God. The reverence with which a person treats such places is largely based on the words of God at the Burning Bush.

Since the requirement of reverence is repeated more than once in the narrative of the book of Exodus and later in the historical and prophetic books, it can be considered an essential component of Revelation. Indeed, in pagan religions, fear of the deity often coexists with amazing familiarity towards him. Therefore, the requirement of reverence simultaneously contains a denial of God’s humanity, a prohibition to treat Him the way pagans treat their deities.

At the same time, the revelation of God's holiness and the associated demand for reverence meet some fundamental need of the human soul. Pagans turn the inherent desire in man for reverence for the Supreme to fictitious or, in any case, unworthy objects. In the dialogue with Moses, the One true God emphasizes the reality of His existence, saying: “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” Thus, the call to reverence before the shrine of the Divine turns a person to God, who has already revealed Himself in history.

Revelation that God Hears

In the next verse, the Lord continues to reveal the truth about Himself to Moses, saying, “I have seen the affliction of My people in Egypt, and I have heard their cry from their taskmasters.” The significance of this revelation cannot be overstated. The fact that God hears the cry of suffering coming from the depths of human hearts immediately reveals to the reader the image of a merciful Creator, for whom our suffering is not indifferent. In the spiritual life of humanity in general and the chosen people in particular, the question of God’s attitude to our suffering is one of the most profound and painful. The most common “claim” of non-believers against the Creator is precisely that He does not hear the cry of human suffering.

And here on Mount Sinai the Almighty reveals to us that His ears are open to the prayer of suffering people. Infinitely superior to every creature, God, the very place of whose touch becomes holy ground, reveals His mercy and compassion. In ancient Eastern religiosity, full of deified kings, whose ears reach nothing but denunciations, these words sound like a completely unique, incomparable truth. Mesopotamian myths, quite well known among Semitic tribes, including among the descendants of the Chaldean Abraham who emerged from Ur, claim that the gods created people to work for them and feed them, and they do not care about human suffering. This is not the God of Abraham and Moses.

God’s words that He heard the cry of the people and saw the suffering imply two more very important things. The somewhat anthropomorphic mention of vision along with hearing is intended to make us understand that what is happening on earth is not hidden from God. Strictly speaking, the words of God do not give us the opportunity to say whether this cry was a prayer directly addressed to the God of the fathers, or whether it was simply a cry full of pain and sorrow. But the expression of the sacred writer shows us that God sees what is happening to people, sees our suffering, even if for one reason or another we do not directly turn to Him in prayer. In other words, the fact that God sees the suffering and hears the cry means that He is looking at the earth and what is happening here is not indifferent to Him.

And the second thing that the writer's expression implies in verse 7 is the implicit revelation that God is a person. If for the ancient Near East this fact was not so new and unexpected, then in the context of the religiosity of Greece and the Middle and Far East it begins to resonate with all its significance. The faceless Supreme Power of Eastern religions or ἀνάγκη Greeks, blind fate, ruling people and gods, cannot hear or see anything for the simple reason that they are not a person.

Revelation of God's Mercy

The next verse, verse eight, contains an even greater revelation. Following the words that He saw the suffering and heard the cry of His people, God says: “And I go to deliver them.” This means that God does not remain indifferent at the sight of human suffering and intervenes in history as the Deliverer. In the spiritual history of the chosen people, the word “Deliverer” will forever merge with the promise of the coming of the Messiah. The sovereign intervention of God Himself in history, which will bring salvation and deliverance to the faithful, is typified by the coming for deliverance of which God speaks to Moses on Mount Sinai. Yes, Rev. John of Damascus (c. 675 - c. 780) in the canon of the Feast of Epiphany written in iambic says:

We see in the bush what was revealed to Moses
Now accomplished according to wondrous laws:
So the fiery Virgin was saved,
Having given birth to the Benefactor, the Light Bringer,
In the Jordanian streams revealed Rev. John of Damascus, Canon for the Epiphany, Canto 9, Troparion 1, trans. from Greek
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According to the saint, it is the coming of Christ, the Savior of our race, as he often calls Him, that fulfills Greek ἐξεργάζομαί to perform, fulfill, create, build.
) what was revealed to Moses.

Moses as a prototype of the Savior

Continuing to reveal His plan for the deliverance of the people, the Lord commands Moses to go and fulfill this will of His. When Moses, like many other chosen ones of God, in the consciousness of his human weakness asks: “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh,” God again emphasizes that deliverance will be accomplished through His presence: “I will be with you.” In this service, Moses is assisted by the power of God, and before Israel marching through the desert we see the mysterious presence of God Himself in the pillar of fire and cloud. Thus, Moses becomes a prototype of the Son of Man, the coming Savior of the world. Moses himself speaks about this: “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from among your brothers.” Deut 18:15.
. Rev. John of Damascus, in the dogmatics of the 2nd tone, speaks of this prototype as follows: “Instead of a pillar of fire, the Sun of righteousness shone, instead of Moses, Christ, the salvation of our souls.”

Revelation of the name

The central and, perhaps, most significant in the phenomenon at the Burning Bush was the revelation of the name of God, which expressed a new and exceptional degree of closeness of the Creator to His creation. The significance of this revelation is confirmed by the fact that over the past three millennia, human thought has constantly returned to its comprehension.

First of all, it is important that God reveals His name as personal, inherent in the individual. This is not the name of an object or object (such as, for example, the word God). Therefore, the very fact that God has a name implies that He is a Person. Along with the existence of God, this revelation should be ranked among the most important both in its place in the context of Holy Scripture and in its significance for every person.

The connection between name and essence in the ideas of the ancients

In ancient times, there were several disagreeing opinions about the nature of the name. According to one of them, a name is nothing more than a sound (and alphabetic when written) identifier, acquired by an object by agreement of people. Such a name has nothing to do with the nature of the designated object, or with its personality, if we are talking about a personal name. Plato puts this view into the mouth of Hermogenes in the dialogue “Cratylus”: “... I have never been convinced that the correctness of a name is something other than a contract and an agreement. After all, it seems to me that whatever name anyone gives to something, that will be the correct one.” Plato, Cratylus, 384d, Coll. Op. in 4 vols., vol. 1, M., “Mysl”, 1990, p. 614-615.
, and “... I can call one thing by any name that I have established, but you can call it by another name that you have given” Ibid., 385e.
. Cratylus expresses the opposite view in the same Platonic dialogue: “... he who knows names also knows things.” Ibid., 435d.
. This point of view is that the name is somehow connected with the essence, with the nature of the object and carries important (perhaps all) meaningful information about it.

The idea of ​​the connection between name and essence, and specifically in relation to the name of God, is defended by Origen. Polemicizing with Celsus, who believes that God can be called anything (it is surprising how unoriginal modern syncretic movements turn out to be in this), Origen writes: “...we can safely say that Hosts, Adonai and other names that Jewish tradition preserves with with great respect, are based not on random and created things, but on some mysterious theology that elevates the human spirit to the Creator of the Universe.” Origen, Against Celsus, I, 24, Center ap. Pavla, M., 1996, p. 49-50.
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Along with other ancient Eastern peoples, the ancient Jews also adhered to similar ideas. Confirmation of this can be easily found in the Holy Scriptures. In particular, it is precisely this attitude towards names that permeates the story of how Adam names all creatures. Gen 2:20.
, and, of course, the many times repeated commandment about reverence for the name of God Exodus 20:7, cf. also Matthew 6:9.
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According to biblical (and generally ancient Eastern) ideas, knowledge of a name is associated with some mysterious power over its bearer. This is expressed not only in Adam’s naming of all creatures, but also in numerous cases when God Himself manifests His power over man by changing his name.

From this point of view, a name revealed (known) to someone contains some important information about who bears this name. Consequently, the revelation of the name of God given to Moses lays the foundation for that knowledge of God, about which He Himself says: “I want mercy, not sacrifice, and knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.” Hos 6:6.
. This content aspect of revelation will be discussed in more detail below.

The name opens the possibility of communication

The open name of God makes direct appeal to God possible. This is no longer a comparative name or title expressing the position of the addressee in relation to the Divine. Such comparative names or titles are, for example, the words “Adonai” (Lord) and “Baali” (Lord). The latter, attached to many pagan deities, could also be a form of appeal to the kings of the earth. This is not the name of the category of phenomena to which the named one belongs, which are the words “Elohim” (God or God of gods, since this is the plural form) and “El Shaddai” (God Almighty). In a world where there are many pagan pantheons and no capital letters, it is not so easy to distinguish which God a person is addressing in prayer. Even such a specific name as “the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob” is also categorical because it distinguishes this God from the god of the Canaanites or the gods of the Egyptians. When applied to a person, examples of titular names can be the expressions “your eminence” or “your excellency”, and categorical names can be “citizen”, “man” or “countryman”.

In contrast, the name revealed to Moses is the personal name of God. It makes it possible to address directly the personality of the Divine, without resorting to comparisons offensive to the Creator of all things. The possibility of addressing God by His personal name is thus a fundamentally necessary aspect of faith in the One God: “those who know Your name will trust in You, because You do not abandon those who seek You, O Lord.” Ps 9:11.
, says the psalmist. The revelation of the name of God makes direct communication and personal relationships with God possible, and the closeness and spontaneity of these relationships is unthinkable outside of monotheism and comparable to the relationship of fatherhood. For the chosen people, such a personal relationship with the Creator is rather a distant prospect. In the prophecy about the restoration of the righteous Branch of David, Jeremiah describes this relationship with the words: “and this is His (Branch of David’s) name by which they will call Him: “The Lord is our justification.” Jer 23:6.
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The name as a source of sanctification

The Prophet Jeremiah, speaking in the 7th chapter about the Temple of the Lord (this place is quoted by the Lord Jesus Christ during the cleansing of the Jerusalem Temple), expresses the holiness of the Temple with the words: “this house, upon which is called My name” Jeremiah 7:10-14.
. The personal name of God, revealed to His people, is the source of sanctification for the one upon whom or what it is named. Moreover, appealing to God for mercy, the prophet says: “You, Lord, are among us and Your name is called upon us; don't leave us" Jer 14:9.
. For Jeremiah, therefore, the naming of the name of God over a people is associated with the presence of God among this people. The Prophet Daniel, praying for mercy, says: “Open Thy eyes... unto the city upon which Thy name is called.” Dan 9:18-19.
. The point is that the people to whom the name of God is revealed and over whom it is named belongs to God in a special way, not like the rest of creation. This is such belonging to God, about which He Himself says: “you will be My inheritance from all nations.” Exodus 19:5.
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A personal name, as a possibility of direct appeal to God and a means of sanctifying the people, establishes a special connection between God and His people, impossible outside of faith in the One God. The Lord Himself speaks of this mystical connection: “This is My name forever, and the remembrance of Me to generation and generation.” Exodus 3:15.
. The words “forever” and “forever and generation” emphasize the timeless, eternity-related nature of this connection.

The name is "Yahweh". Interpretation and translation

Strictly speaking, to Moses’ question about the name of God, the Lord gives several related, but not identical, answers. The Septuagint distinguishes two such answers; translations from Hebrew independent of it distinguish three.

According to the Septuagint, the first answer is contained in the words “I am who I am.” Jewish expression אהיה אשר אהיה (ehyeh asher ehyeh, in the Septuagint ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ών , in the Slavic Bible "I Am Who I Am") can literally be translated with the words "I am He Who I Am" Less common translations of these words are: “I exist as I exist” and “I will be as I will be.”
. It uses the same verb form twice היה (hayah), meaning “to be, to exist.” From the point of view of phrase structure, we can consider the first occurrence of this verb as grammatically auxiliary, and the second as substantive. In this case, we come to this interpretation of the phrase: “I am He Who Exists.” This is exactly how the authors of the Septuagint interpret these words, using the verb in the present tense in the first occurrence ( εἰμι ), and in the second - also the present participle with an article, i.e. in the meaning of a masculine noun ( ὁ ών ).

However, this is not the only possible understanding of the Lord’s words. After all, it is permissible to consider both occurrences of a verb as meaningful. Then we get an interpretation that is more difficult to express, which we can try to denote by the formulas “I exist as I exist” or even “I am I.” This is precisely the possibility that Bishop points to. Hilarion (Alfeev): “This can be perceived as a formula indicating the speaker’s reluctance to answer the question directly. In other words, the narrative can be understood not as God revealing His personal name, but as indicating that there is no word in human language that is the “name” of God in the Hebrew sense - i.e. a certain all-encompassing symbol that fully characterizes its bearer" Ep. Hilarion (Alfeev), The Sacred Secret of the Church, “Aletheia”, St. Petersburg, 2002, vol. 1, p. 26.
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However, possible shades of interpretation do not fundamentally change the essence of the revelation, which is finally revealed in God’s unconditionally positive answer to Moses’ question: “Thus say to the children of Israel: Jehovah ( יהוה , YHWH, Yahweh) has sent me to you." This name is also a verb form היה (hayah, to be). The Septuagint, as in the previous phrase, translates this word as ὁ ών , "Existing".

This is how verse 14 is conveyed in versions that in one way or another follow the Septuagint. The Vulgate, for example, also suggests the reading "dixit Deus ad Mosen Ego Sum Qui Sum (literally "I am who is") ait sic dices filiis Israhel Qui Est ("[he] who is" or existing) misit me ad vos."

A number of translations from Hebrew into modern languages ​​distinguish not two, but three answers to the question about the name of God. In particular, in the translation by M. G. Seleznev and S. V. Tishchenko, the 14th and 15th verses read: “And God said to Moses: I am Who I Am. So answer the children of Israel: “He who sent me to you is called ‘I Am’.” And God also said to Moses: Answer the children of Israel, that the Lord [Yahweh], the God of their fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, has sent you." Book of Exodus, trans. from ancient Hebrew and comm. M.G. Selezneva and S.V. Tishchenko, publishing house of the Russian State University for the Humanities, M., 2000.
. In their commentary on these verses, the authors point out that the first answer to Moses' question is the words "I Am Who I Am" ( אהיה אשר אהיה , ehyeh asher ehyeh); the second answer is the repetition of the word “I Am” ( אהיה , ehyeh); and only in the 15th verse do they indicate the Tetragram itself - the name of Yahweh ( יהוה , YHWH). These words are conveyed in the same way in a number of translations into European languages ​​(for example, the English King James Version, Revised Version and Revised Standard Version and the French La Bible de Jerusalem and the translation of the Alliance Biblique Universelle).

If we include the distinction of God's three responses to Moses in the Synodal text following the Septuagint here, then verses 14-15 would read:

“14 God said to Moses: I am who I am ( אהיה אשר אהיה , ehyeh asher ehyeh, ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ών ). And he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel: Jehovah ( אהיה , ehyeh, “I Am”) sent me to you.

15 And God said again to Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, Lord יהוה , YHWH, ὁ ών , “He who is”), the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and I will be remembered from generation to generation.”

Revelation of the existence of God

Regardless of the details of the translation, this extremely profound text contains a very definite revelation of the existence and essence of God. In speaking of this, it must certainly be remembered that human language is unable to express the fullness of the Divinity and any interpretation will necessarily be limited.

The statement “I Am He Who Exists” (in the interpretation of the Septuagint) or “I Am Who I Am”, and even more so the second (and third) answers of God to Moses’ question (“I Am” and “Yahweh the Existing”) in the first turn they talk about being, existence as the main characteristic of the Divine. Since the name, in the understanding of the sacred author, contains essential information about the One to whom it belongs, it tells us that God exists and has being. On the one hand, for religious people this sounds almost like a truism. But after the atheistic twentieth century, when thousands of Christians gave their lives for the belief that God exists, this fact does not look trivial.

A person’s life and his view of the world are to a great extent determined by his attitude towards this revelation.

It is equally important that the name of God revealed to Moses implies the unconditionality of His existence. Existence is, according to all translations and interpretations, a property of God Himself, not received by Him from anyone, but belonging to Himself. The significance of this fact is especially clearly perceived in contrast with people, whose existence is determined by the will of the Creator, as well as with pagan pseudo-gods, who are in intricate genealogical connections with each other.

St. Gregory of Nyssa writes that the revelation of the name “Jesus” gives us “the knowledge of the Truth, which itself will reveal itself to us. Cognition of the Existing becomes purification from incorrect ideas about the non-existent" Op. cit., § 22.
. Here is the "Existing One" ὁ ών , the name of God in the Septuagint, is associated with the fundamental concept of Greek philosophy “being”, τὸ όν , in contrast to the concept of “non-existent”, τὸ μὴ όν . Further, speaking about the truth of the existence of God, St. Gregory writes: “This is, in my opinion, the definition of truth: the absence of erroneous ideas about Being. Deception is a fiction that arises in the human mind about a non-existent that seems to really exist. Truth, on the contrary, is a firm understanding of what actually exists. And a person, immersed for a considerable time in reasoning about these sublime objects, will finally judge what truly exists and by its nature has existence, and what is non-existent and only seems to be, since by its nature it does not have independent existence.” Ibid., § 23.
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Next St. Gregory says the following about the unconditionality of God’s existence: “If the mind looks closely at anything else that exists, it will not find any thing that does not need another thing and could exist without being involved in what truly exists. And that which always remains exactly the same, does not increase or decrease, is equally not subject to change either for the better or for the worse (for it is alien to the worst, and there is no better for it), which does not need anything else at all, to which The only thing worth striving for is that which is involved in everything and does not become worse from this participation - this is what is essentially Existing, and its comprehension is the knowledge of the truth.” Ibid., § 25.
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Thus, St. Gregory sees in the biblical text under consideration not only a revelation about the unconditional hypostatic existence of God, but also about His immutability. The words of the saint “remains exactly the same” echo the word ὡσαύτως , (Greek “exactly as it is”) in the first prayer of the Anaphora of St. John Chrysostom, translated into Slavic as “Also Sy.”

St. Gregory of Nyssa, in the text quoted above, points out one important consequence of the unconditionality of the existence of God and His uniqueness. Since God, and only He, has an unconditional existence by nature, then everything else (the world and man) does not exist unconditionally. Thus, the revelation at the Burning Bush repeats and confirms what is said in the first chapters of the book of Genesis: everything exists according to the will of God, the Creator of heaven and earth.

Consequently, the continuing existence of the world and man is determined by the will of God. Among other things, it inevitably follows that violation of this will leads to non-existence, to death.

The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is the God of the living

In this regard, the interpretation that the Lord Jesus Christ gives to the words of the 15th verse, “Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you,” becomes fundamentally important. In Matthew 22:31-32, answering the question of the Sadducees about the wife of the seven brothers, He says: “And regarding the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God: I ( ἐγώ εἰμι , I Am) the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living." According to the Savior, the fact that the existence (life) of people is determined by the will of the Creator gives us firm hope in the possibility of salvation. After all, He Himself says: “As I live, says the Lord God, I do not want the death of the sinner, but that the sinner should turn from his way and live.” Eze 33:11.
and “it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.” Matthew 18:14.
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The revelation of the name of Yahweh as the God of the living, the God of salvation, is obviously connected with the name of Christ Himself. Ep. Hilarion (Alfeev) emphasizes: “In the era after the Babylonian captivity, the form will become more common ישוע (Yeshua - Yahweh saves): it is in this form that Christ will receive this name... According to Justin Those. St. Justin the Philosopher (“Dialogue with Tryphon the Jew”).
, the mysterious name of God revealed to Moses (i.e. the name Yahweh) was none other than the name “Jesus” ... " Op. cit., p. 63.
. St. Gregory of Nyssa says: “Then this happened to Moses, and now it happens to everyone who, like him, freed himself from the earthly shell and looked at the light from the thorns - that is, at the ray that shone for us in the flesh, as if in a thorn, which, according to the word of the Gospel, there is true Light and Truth itself" Op. cit., § 26.
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Quotation of Exodus 3:1-15 in the New Testament

The contents of the Revelation given by God at the Burning Bush are repeatedly quoted in the New Testament. The Lord Jesus Christ repeatedly spoke about Himself ἐγώ εἰμι (Slav. “I am”, Russian. “I am” and “this is I”), which are one of the forms of transferring the name of God “I exist”, revealed to Moses at the Burning Bush. First of all, we should point out here Christ’s response to the soldiers who came to arrest Him in the Garden of Gethsemane (John 18:3-8). “There is an assumption that in response to the question of the soldiers, Jesus uttered the very sacred name of Yahweh, literally meaning “I am,” which was strictly forbidden to pronounce: hearing this name from His lips, the Jewish ministers and soldiers fell on their faces in fear and trembling. Anyway, the Greek expression ἐγώ εἰμι , used three times by the evangelist, is fully consistent with the meaning of the Hebrew יהוה (Yahweh), and if we consider that this name was surrounded by a very special reverence, then there is nothing unusual in the behavior of the warriors ... " Ep. Hilarion (Alfeev), Op. cit., p. 45.
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A number of the most important statements of Christ about Himself also contain these words. This is “I am the bread of life” (John 6:48), and “I am the good Shepherd” (John 10:11), and “I am the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6). Of particular note are the words of Christ “before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58). Here the Lord declares His existence “before all ages” and also uses the expression ἐγώ εἰμι . It is characteristic that the Jews who listened to Him understood His words precisely as a proclamation of the name of God, which is confirmed by their immediate attempt to stone Christ.

The Burning Bush as a prototype of the Nativity of Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary

The burning bush has become one of the most common symbols in the liturgical poetry of the Eastern Church. In most cases, a burning but not consumed bush is perceived as a prototype of the Incarnation and the union of two natures in Christ, as well as a prototype (or icon) of the Most Holy Theotokos, who inexpressibly gave birth to the Son of God. Below we will give the most typical examples from the liturgy of the twelve feasts and Octoechos (the liturgical texts are given in our Russian translation, updated from the Greek original).

Thus, in the verses quoted above about the revelation to Moses at the Burning Bush, John of Damascus uses the perfect form of the verb δείκνυμι , meaning “show, explain, reveal, manifest” (thus denoting an already revealed, i.e. already accomplished Revelation) and states that we now see this revelation ἀξειργασμένα , carefully fulfilled in the Nativity and Appearance of Christ in the Jordan. Rev. John compares the light emanating from the Burning Bush with the luminous Benefactor [of our race], and the unburnt bush is for him a prototype of the ever-virginity of the Most Pure Theotokos.

John of Damascus repeatedly repeats this comparison of the unburnt bush with the Ever-Virgin in Octoechos. So, in the dogmatics (the Mother of God I cried out to the Lord) in the 2nd tone, he writes: “just as the flaming bush did not burn, so the Virgin gave birth and remained a Virgin,” and in the Irmos of the 9th canto, in the 1st tone: “The bush burning with fire and not scorched showed the image of Your pure Nativity.”

In the irmos of the 8th song of the 7th tone, it is emphasized that the appearance at the Burning Bush was the appearance of God Himself: “The bush engulfed in fire and not being burned in Sinai revealed God to tongue-tied Moses.” This irmos is used in the canon of St. Cosmas of Mayumsky on Pentecost and, perhaps, belongs to the pen of Rev. Cosmas.
. Rev. also talks about this. Cosmas Mayumsky in the troparion of the canon to the Epiphany quoted above.

John of Damascus expresses in detail his vision of this foreshadowing in the irmos of the 7th canon of his canon for the feast of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary: “The bush not scorched by fire on the mountain, and the dew-bearing Chaldean oven clearly represented You, Bride of God, for [You] are the divine immaterial Fire in the material womb accepted without burning; Therefore we sing to Him who was born from You: Blessed are You, God of our fathers.”

Refers to the phenomenon at the Burning Bush and St. Theophan the Inscribed ( 843). In the dialogical canon of the Feast of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos, he puts into the mouth of the Archangel Gabriel the words: “The bush, which burned in the fire and was not consumed, revealed how the sacrament would be accomplished in You, O All-Sung Joyful One: after the Nativity you too, Pure One, will remain Ever-Virgin.” St. Theophan the Inscribed, Canon of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos, Song 4, Troparion 2.
. St. Theophan also says that the revelation at the Burning Bush was a kind of prophecy about the coming of Christ, the Savior of the world: “The sanctified Moses was shown a miracle by a bush and fire, and he said: I seek to see the end of times, and in the Pure Maiden I will see.” Ibid., Canto 9, Troparion 4..

The Revelation at the Burning Bush thus contains truths about God and His plan for the salvation of the world that are fundamental to our faith. It is no coincidence that the visible miracle of a non-burning bush became for Eastern Christians one of the main symbols of the Incarnation of the Son of God from the Ever-Virgin Mary. The most important for us are the revelation of unconditional existence as one of the main properties of the Divine and the revelation of His uniqueness and mercy.