Tuesday, April 22, 2025

I love this icon of St Anne (via Emanuel Burke). Her finger is raised to her lips as a sign that she is a contemplative.

An ancient fresco fragment depicting a figure with large eyes and a headdress, holding a finger to their lips in a gesture of silence. The artwork is surrounded by Greek inscriptions on a worn, plaster-like surface. The style is reminiscent of early Christian iconography.

It is better to keep silence and to be than to talk and not to be. It is good to teach, if the speaker act. Now there was One Teacher, Who spake and it came to pass (Ps. 32/33.9). And the deeds which He has done in silence are worthy of the Father. He who is truly master of the spoken word of Jesus is able also to listen to His silence, that he may be perfect, and so may act by his speech, and be understood by his silence. Nothing is hidden from the Lord, but even our secrets are brought nigh unto Him. Let us therefore do all things in the assurance that He dwells within us, that we may be His shrines and He Himself may dwell in us as God. For this is indeed true and will be made manifest before our eyes by the services of love which as our bounden duty we render unto Him.

St Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to the Ephesians