{"id":5933,"date":"2022-05-07T09:03:29","date_gmt":"2022-05-07T09:03:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.terciariascapuchinas.org\/en\/?p=5933"},"modified":"2022-05-07T09:05:01","modified_gmt":"2022-05-07T09:05:01","slug":"accompaniment-after-the-icon-of-abad-menas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.terciariascapuchinas.org\/en\/accompaniment-after-the-icon-of-abad-menas\/","title":{"rendered":"Accompaniment after the icon of Abad Menas"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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The desire and interest in icons aroused in me, some time ago, when I came close to the explanation and the profundity of the icon of San Damiano and discovered another way of approaching a biblical text, because of the theological meaning that they contain and I have liked the richness of this art and the implications it has on our spirituality.<\/span><\/p>

When our sisters from the Communication Team asked me to share my experience of accompaniment after this icon, I felt happy and, with pleasure and simplicity, I share it because in some moments of this journey in formation it has been a motivation for my prayer and inspiration in the delicate task of accompanying.<\/span><\/p>

THE WORK AS A WHOLE:<\/b><\/p>

We are dealing with a Coptic icon (Egyptian Church) from the 4th-7th century, from an Egyptian monastery and which is currently in the Louvre Museum in Paris. The icon measures approximately 57x57cm and is 2cm thick.<\/span><\/p>

When Coptic art got converted to Christianity (from the 5th century), it began to incorporate religious themes into its works. This is how the icon arose there. For the Orthodox Christian, the icon is a portable sacred image object of veneration and worship, in the same way as the relics of saints and martyrs.<\/span><\/p>

In the 5th century, an innovative style was created based on the alteration of anthropophysical proportions and measurements, there came, the features of the square. The Friendship Icon (as it is known) incorporates that style. The work of Christ and Abbot Menas is framed in a square support of hardwood, which was the typical material of the time to make icons (pray with icons.com Granada).<\/span><\/p>

I want to highlight four aspects of this work and its relationship with the accompaniment.<\/span><\/p>

  1. FRAMED IN A CONCRETE ENVIRONMENT<\/b><\/li><\/ol>

    Although it is not easy because they seem static, it could be said that they are in a natural area, on the way, because of the kind of golden color that resembles the dust of the feet; furthermore, the position in front indicates movement.<\/span><\/p>

    Formation is carried out from a specific context and environment, it is to accompany a person located historically and geographically in a society, a human group, a culture, a family.<\/span><\/p>

    The text of the disciples of Emmaus, which has become a paradigm of accompaniment, can be applied to this icon: \u00abJesus in person approached and began to walk by their side\u00bb (Lk 24:15). In addition, another text that expresses familiarity, affection and involvement is Jn 15:15: \u00abI call you friends because I have made known to you everything I learned from my Father\u00bb. There is a comment by Carlos Mesters that can help us deepen and act on his gestures and words in our formative processes and environments. This is how he describes it: \u201cJesus is the Friend who lives with and forms for life: he ate with them, walked with them, suffered with them. It was through this coexistence that they were formed\u201d (3rd week of Catechesis Brazil X\/2009).<\/span><\/p>

    It is the vital experience of someone who accompanies us always feeling on the way, discovering how the life of Jesus and his following transforms and fills our own life and that of the one accompanied with meaning. It also expresses the pedagogy of Jesus in accompaniment, closeness, proximity without attachments.<\/span><\/p>

    1. THE FRIENDLY GESTURE OF JESUS \u200b\u200b WITH ABBOT MENAS<\/b><\/li><\/ol>

      One of the most significant gestures of Jesus is the human warmth expressed in trust, welcome, kindness, acceptance, freedom, essential elements for accompaniment. The one who accompanies is an open person, available, willing to accompany whoever comes, with responsibility and awareness of their limits. It doesn’t matter if they are healthy people or with more complex biographies; the unconditional acceptance of the person and what they express, sincere openness without moralism or confusion, acceptance of their own rhythms – the basic qualities to walk together with others who have been entrusted to us.<\/span><\/p>

      1. THE FACE, THE LOOK OF THE ABBOT IS OF A CERTAIN FEAR, AMAZEMENT, CONFLICT, SURPRISE OR ILLUSION<\/b><\/li><\/ol>

        Attitudes that contrast and are manifested in many of whom we accompany, expressing humility, openness, strangeness or perhaps an \u00abI love you\u00bb just as you are. Ways of being that we find and that invite us to cultivate minority and to put aside the superficial, appearances, prejudices. Always have an appreciative look in front of each sister and person that comes our way along the way.<\/span><\/p>

        It invites us to exercise in the art of learning to listen, to widen the heart so that proximity occurs and the true encounter that helps in on many occasions heals and restores.<\/span><\/p>

        The very experience of letting ourselves to be accompanied, the ability to express our life in front of those who accompany us, teaches us to be patient, understanding and compassionate with others and enables us to find the paths that make us grow and advance.<\/span><\/p>

        1. JESUS \u200b\u200bHOLDS \u201cTHE BOOK OF THE GOSPELS\u201d, ABBOT MENAS THE PAPYRUS SCROLL<\/b><\/li><\/ol>

          Like Abbot Menas who wrote down what he wants to learn from Christ, or what Christ teaches him. It expresses an attitude of receptivity and welcome towards the learning process, a process that occurs along the way in the events of life.<\/span><\/p>

          The gesture can also be applied at the recognition of the formandee, as a formation tool for the formator; we form ourselves, we grow, forming and accompanying others. It shows that in the dynamics of formation there is a mutual enrichment and encouragement of a lifestyle.<\/span><\/p>

          Let us allow ourselves to be gazed by this Good Friend who has called us to follow Him. That in our mission we feel the closeness, the affection, the dedication that Jesus offers with a certainty that despite the fact we give our best, we are weak instruments in his hands because\u2026.<\/span><\/p>

          Nobody went yesterday,<\/span><\/i>
          <\/span>nor goes today,<\/span><\/i>
          <\/span>nor will go<\/span><\/i>
          <\/span>towards God<\/span><\/i>
          <\/span>by this same path<\/span><\/i>
          <\/span>that I am going.<\/span><\/i><\/p>

          The sun keeps<\/span><\/i>
          <\/span>a new ray of light for each man… and\u00a0God<\/span><\/i>
          <\/span>a virgin path<\/span><\/i> (Le\u00f3n Felipe)<\/span><\/p>

          HERLINDA IN\u00c9S MAESTRE G\u00c1MEZ, TC<\/strong><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          The desire and interest in icons aroused in me, some time ago, when I came close to the explanation and the profundity of the icon of San Damiano and discovered another way of approaching a biblical text, because of the theological meaning that they contain and I have liked the richness of this art and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5912,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[49],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.terciariascapuchinas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5933"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.terciariascapuchinas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.terciariascapuchinas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.terciariascapuchinas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.terciariascapuchinas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5933"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.terciariascapuchinas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5933\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5937,"href":"https:\/\/www.terciariascapuchinas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5933\/revisions\/5937"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.terciariascapuchinas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.terciariascapuchinas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.terciariascapuchinas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.terciariascapuchinas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}