Midwife Salome ( Greek Σαλωμη ; Solomonida, Solomonia ) - a midwife mentioned in the Christian Apocrypha , who was present at the birth of Jesus Christ , who through a miracle witnessed the preservation of the virginity of the Virgin . The image of Salome was included in the iconography of the Nativity of Christ and folk customs associated with childbirth .
Apocryphal literature
( Vyshebrodsky altar , mid- 14th century )
The story of the presence at birth of Christ of the midwife of Salome is present in two apocryphal sources: “The Proto- Gospels of Jacob ” and “The Gospels of Pseudo-Matthew ” (other apocrypha mention the midwife, but do not mention her name and do not report her miraculous witness to her virginity of Mary) . They both mention two midwives brought by Joseph to the cave where the birth of the Virgin Mary took place. None of them directly helped Mary during childbirth: both sources report that the baby came out of the womb itself, and the bright light that was in the meantime did not allow anyone to approach the Virgin.
According to Cyprian of Carthage , Mary " did not need any services from the side of the grandmother, but she herself was both a parent and a minister, and therefore she pays reverential care to her infant ." He writes that the birth of Jesus Christ occurred before Joseph brought the midwife. In this case, Salome is called the elder and a relative of Mary, that is, descending from the family of King David . [one]
The Gospel of Jacob
The Proto-Gospel of Jacob is the main and most ancient (the earliest versions date back to the second half of the 2nd century ) source of the story of Salome. According to this apocrypha, Joseph, setting off in search of a midwife, meets a woman whom she tells that she gives birth in the cave “ Mary, who grew up in the temple of the Lord , and I received her by wife by lot, but she conceived from the Holy Spirit ". The midwife, whose name is not disclosed, agrees to help Joseph, and he takes her to the cave. She does not have time to provide any help to Mary during childbirth, because " such a light shone in the cave that they could not bear it, and a little time later the light disappeared and the baby appeared, went out and took the breast of her mother Mary ."
This woman, leaving the cave, meets Salome and tells her about the Virgin Mary and her birth. Salome doubted the birth of a virgin baby: " until I reach out my finger and check her virginity, I do not believe that the virgin gave birth ." She goes to Mary and enters the cave:
And only Salome extended a finger, she cried out and said: “ Woe to my unbelief, for I dared to tempt God. And now my hand is taken away in a fire . " And she fell on her knees before the Lord, saying: “ Lord God of my fathers, remember that I am from the seed of Abraham , Isaac and Jacob , do not shame me before the sons of Israel, but show me mercy for the poor: for You know that I served You in Thy name also wanted to receive recompense from You . ” And then the angel of the Lord appeared before her, and said to her: " Salome, Salome, the Lord heeded you, bring your hand to the baby and hold it, and salvation and joy will come for you ." And Salome came up and took the baby in her arms, saying: "I will bow to him, for the great king of Israel was born ." And immediately Salome was healed and left the cave of salvation. [2]
The prayer of Salome is a later addition to the text of the apocrypha, however, the very mention of it refers to the original text written at the end of the II century . [3]
On Heloma (depicted with his back) on the tape is inscribed: “Virgo peperit filium” (lat .: “Virgin gave birth to a son”), at Salome - her name and words: “Credam qum probavero” (lat .: “I believe when I can clearly imagine! "), In an angel speaking to Salome," Ta, puerumet sanaberis "(lat .:" Touch the Baby and be healed ").
The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew
Tells a similar story, adding the following details to it:
- Joseph leads to a cave of two midwives: Gelom and Salome .
- By the time he arrived, Mary had already given birth to Jesus , and a bright light prevented women from entering the cave.
- When Geloma nevertheless entered the cave, after examining the Virgin, she said: “ ... She has a male Child, although She is a virgin. There was nothing unclean at conception, and no disease at birth. She conceived a virgin, She gave birth to a virgin, and She remains a virgin! ". [four]
- Salome, did not believe her friend and asked Mary for permission to verify her virginity. Having received permission, she touched the Virgin and her hand immediately withered. Salome turns to God with a repentant prayer, in response to which there is an angel who announces that the baby is “the Savior of the world and all who trust in Him ” [4] and commands her to touch the edge of Christ’s diapers. By doing this, Salome receives healing.
The gospel of pseudo-Matthew also reports that Salome went to preach about the Savior who was born, and after telling about her healing, “ many believed her sermons .”
The Arabian Gospel of the Savior's Childhood
The Arab gospel of the Savior’s childhood gives a story about the birth of Christ, in which Joseph, setting off in search of a midwife, meets an unnamed " old Jewish woman from Jerusalem ." [5] When Joseph brings her to Mary, he sees that she has already given birth to Jesus and swaddled him. The astonished old woman asks Mary “ you are not at all like the daughters of Eve, ” to which he hears the answer: “ As there are no children equal to my Son, so none of the wives can compare with his mother .” The following is the story that the old woman complains of paralysis, which she suffers for a long time (it does not say that this concerns her hand), and Mary suggests that she lay her hands on the baby Christ:
| And barely did the old woman, at once became healthy. Then she came out of the cave, saying: “From now on, I will be the maidservant and slave of this baby every day of my life.” [five] |
Salome in the arts
The image of Salome was included in the iconography of the Nativity of Christ ( “Two Servants,” “The Bath of Christ” ). Salome is portrayed as helping the Virgin to swaddle the baby of Christ or bathing him (the plot of washing the baby of Christ is usually located at the bottom of the composition). Salome may have a halo [6] , although it does not appear on the list of Christian saints.
The earliest images of healing Salome are from the 5th - 6th centuries ( Maximian 's Cathedral in Ravenna , 550 ; 5th-century civorium from the Cathedral of San Marco in Venice ), which coincides with the completion of the formation of the text of the Proto-Gospel of James. Only a few images of the ablution of Christ, which arose in Christian art under Syrian influence, have been preserved from the pre - anti - atonement period. [7]
The image of Salome was very popular in Byzantine art and has been preserved to this day in the traditional Orthodox iconography of the Nativity of Christ. In Western European painting, the images of Salome disappear already in the late Renaissance after condemning this interpretation of the plot by the Council of Trent (1545-1563). [eight]
When portraying Salome bathing the baby of Christ, there may be a servant helping her (or another midwife mentioned in the apocrypha), usually pouring water into the font. According to researchers, the image in the Nativity scene of the bathing (ablution) of the baby Christ is a hint of the future Baptism of the Lord . [9] The first examples of the ablution scene of Christ include miniatures of the 8th – 9th centuries: the Armenian manuscript of San Lazaro in Venice and the Khludov Psalter . [ten]
There are no written sources mentioning the baby bathing by Salome, and which would serve as an impetus for the creation of such a plot. Perhaps the artists conceived this scene based on the fact of the presence of midwives during childbirth. [8] They also suggest the influence of antique iconographic schemes of the birth of Dionysus , where a similar character was present - a bathing maid at the bed of a woman in labor.
The canonicity of the image in Orthodoxy
In Herminia, Dionysius Furnoagrafiot , the guide to writing the icons of the Nativity of Christ does not say anything about the need to depict midwives (only mandatory elements of the composition that are directly described in the New Testament are indicated). [11] At the same time, the icon-painting original gives clear instructions on the writing of the icons of the holidays, known exclusively from the Christian apocrypha ( Conception of the Virgin , the Nativity of the Virgin , etc.) Supporters of the purity of the icon-painting canon, relying on the 60th apostolic rule (prohibits the publication of false books in the church) , consider it necessary to remove from the icons of Christmas images of midwives based on apocrypha.
One of the arguments for removing midwives from the icons of Christmas is the argument that the presence of a midwife, traditionally designed to ease the birth of flour, rejects the Church’s teaching about the painlessness of the birth of the Virgin Mary, and also raises blasphemy for her birthing. [12] In support of this statement, the 79th rule of the Sixth Ecumenical Council is given : “ Earlier, some, after the holy Christmas of Christ our God, are seen cooking bread and transmitting to each other, so that, in honor of the birth diseases, the all-blaming Virgin Mothers: then we we determine: let the faithful do nothing of this ” [13] .
It should be noted that the early Christian Apocrypha, on which the iconography of Salome is based, does not contain anything about the participation of the midwife in the birth itself (she comes to the cave after the birth of Christ), and her participation, on the contrary, confirms the preservation of the virginity of Mary through a miracle. The rule of the Sixth Ecumenical Council, cited in support of the removal of its image, does not prohibit icon-painting based on Holy Tradition , but only folk customs unrelated to church doctrine. [12]
Salome in folklore
The midwife of Salome among the Russian peasants became the main patroness and assistant of the clans . On the second day of Christmas, Russian peasants held a feast for midwives (“ baboons ” or “ woman’s cereals ”), which recalled Salome the midwife, who did not have her memorial day in the Orthodox month.
It was believed that Salome performed with the infant Christ all the same actions that a village midwife should perform during childbirth [14] . Folk art created a number of legends emphasizing the special role of the midwives of Salome at the birth of Christ (the authority of village midwives was partially based on these legends). For example, in the Oryol province, among the midwives, the following legend was distributed:
To help women in childbirth, as the Lord himself indicated: the Mother of God gave birth to the Holy Spirit, and Grandmother Solomonida was with her and helped her in agony, therefore she is also on the icons next to the Virgin and read her a prayer: “Remember, Lord, Tsar David and grandmother Solomonides. " So that. The Lord God Himself indicated that we, grandmothers, women in childbirth can help, because only cattle weakens itself, and a baptized person cannot do this [14] .
Most conspiracies used during childbirth, as the professional secret of midwives, were not included in the records of researchers. However, a number of interesting conspiracies still reached us in which the midwives act on the estate of Salome:
I didn’t accept you, baby, I didn’t wash you, but Granny Solomonida. I didn’t soar you, I didn’t rule you, - the grandmother of Salamanidushka soared you, she sentenced you: “Rosti, my child, by the hour, by the minute” [14] .
In popular beliefs, the painless birth of Christ could be projected by conspiracy on any birth. At the beginning of the fights, the midwives read the conspiracy : “ Mother Solomonia, take the golden keys, open the bony clans to the servant of God Mary ” and sprinkled the woman in labor with water from a stream or river [15] . And when the baby was born, the midwife, washing the newborn, also read the corresponding conspiracy: “ Grandmother Solomony washed and soared and left us the bainka in the heat-park, for God's great mercy, for the great health of Imenyak, amen ” [16] .
It should be noted that the Russian peasantry had a tradition of transferring magic means used in childbirth to a similar situation with cattle . So during calving, the following conspiracy was read, calling for help to Salome: “ Solomonidushka grandmother, help our sweet little cow, disperse the blood in it and give the calf to the light of day ” [16] .
After the adoption of Christianity, the Mordovians Salome began to be identified with the goddess Ange-Patai (mother goddess), the patroness of fertility of the earth and childbirth [17] . She was considered the patroness of midwives and in some places was called Bulaman-Patyai (midwife goddess). Prayers were addressed to this goddess the day after Christmas, the former day of her winter festival (a total of 8 holidays were dedicated to her in the year), which took place in the house of the midwife's grandmother.
After the appearance of Orthodox missionaries among the Yakuts , legends appeared on gospel stories. Describing the events of the Nativity of Christ, they report that during the birth of the Virgin there was a midwife Sabyannya, who distributed her birth pains to forty-four different women [18] .
In the literature
The 1998 Nobel Laureate in Literature , Jose Saramagu , Portuguese in his novel “The Gospel of Jesus ” described the touching meeting of the 14-year-old Jesus, who came for the first time after his birth in Bethlehem , and the midwives of Salome:
The old woman, groaning, began to sit down on a stone ... and, having perched herself at last, said: I know you. I recognized myself, Jesus answered, I am here for the first time, but I have never met you in Nazareth. The first hands that touched you were not your mother's, but mine. How can this be? My name is Salome, I am a midwife, and it was I who accepted you. ... Jesus knelt before the old slave, insensitively prompted to this either by curiosity, bordering on joyful amazement, or by the duty of ordinary courtesy, and how not to express gratitude to the one who, having shown the highest responsibility in those circumstances, takes us from where we feel being, not yet weighed down by consciousness and memory, and it releases into life, without which it is unthinkable. [nineteen]
- Jose Saramago. The Gospel of Jesus
Notes
- ↑ The Tale of the Nativity of the Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ
- ↑ The Gospel of James
- ↑ About the gospel of James
- ↑ 1 2 The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew. Chapter 13
- ↑ 1 2 The Arabian Gospel of the Savior’s childhood
- ↑ Christmas (An Example of Early Byzantine Palestinian Iconography)
- ↑ E. Kirschbaum. Lexikon der christlichen Ikonographie, SS. 96, 99.
- ↑ 1 2 Maykapar A. New Testament subjects in painting. Christmas (Two servants and the ablution of Christ)
- ↑ Lukovnikova E. Iconography of the Nativity of Christ
- ↑ Lipatova S. N. Iconography of the Nativity of Christ in the art of Byzantium and Ancient Russia
- ↑ Herminius Dionysius Furnoagraphiot
- ↑ 1 2 Athos book “On the New Iconoclasm”
- ↑ 79th rule of the Sixth Ecumenical Council (Unavailable link) . Date of treatment February 16, 2016. Archived August 11, 2013.
- ↑ 1 2 3 Listova T. A. Russian ceremonies, customs and beliefs associated with the midwife (second half of the 19th - 20th years of the 20th century) (inaccessible link) . Date of treatment December 10, 2007. Archived June 22, 2008.
- ↑ Frost B. Pregnancy and childbirth. Folk ways to facilitate childbirth
- ↑ 1 2 Calving and Homeland (Laboratory of Folklore, Russian State Humanitarian University)
- ↑ Melnikov-Pechersky P.I. Essays on Mordovians
- ↑ Yakut tales / Compiled by Sivtsev - Suorun Omolloon, P.E. Efremov. Translation by S. I. Shurtakov . - Yakutsk, 1990.S. 316
- ↑ Jose Saramago. The Gospel of Jesus
Links
- Wikimedia Commons has media related to Midwife Salome
- Lukovnikova E. Iconography of the Nativity of Christ . Date of treatment October 16, 2008. Archived January 29, 2012.
- Listova T. A. Russian ceremonies, customs and beliefs associated with the midwife (second half of the 19th - 20th years of the 20th century) (Inaccessible link) . Date of treatment October 16, 2008. Archived April 20, 2008.