I continue this week with my North Macedonian odyssey travelling from one end of the country to the other to see the wonderful Byzantine churches and the stunning wall art.

One of the puzzles of this wall art that surprised us was the defacing, or more specifically, the removal of the eyes from some of the saints that adorn the lower parts of the wall, and within easy reach of anyone with a knife.

We assumed it must be the work of the Ottomans, whose Empire engulfed Serbia and Greece and brought to an end the Byzantine Empire. Many churches were destroyed, and in some cases, wall art was whitewashed over. However, our guide told us, it is more likely that the eyes were removed, not by the Muslim faithful but by the Christian faithful!

Why would Christians remove the eyes of the saints? The answer appears to be that the faithful believed that the saint's eyes had special powers, powers of spiritual insight, and physical vision.

This was not then the work of idle vandals but deeply religious if misled, Orthodox Christians.

The Orthodox Church understood that all light and vision emanated from God who created it, thus sight and spiritual vision was a gift of God. The eyes of the saints are always painted a deep black to make the point that the light came not from them but from God.

It is also true to say that knowledge of God was impossible without ‘revelation’, that is, God himself who is unknowable, must reveal himself to us, he cannot be found by reason or science. He can however be found through faith and it is by faith we ‘see’ God, or more accurately, the God who reveals himself in Jesus Christ. We might call this ‘spiritual sight’ and it is this spiritual sight the Orthodox Church valued above physical sight. It was the sight with which the faithful interpreted the mysteries contained within the Icon or in this case the wall paintings.

The significance of ‘Blind Bartimaeus’

The wall paintings of the Byzantine churches are arranged in tiers, with the saints at the bottom and above them the stories of the saint to whom the church is dedicated. Above that are the gospel stories, starting with the Nativity and culminating in the Resurrection above the Altar. Amongst the stories most often depicted is the story of ‘Blind Bartimaeus’. It is a story that speaks powerfully to an Orthodox understanding of ‘Sight’.

Blind Bartimaeus is ignored, and Mark tells us ‘Rebuked’. The disciples see him as a nuisance and are angered because they believe that he is distracting Jesus from his path, and yet it is Bartimaeus who, despite their blindness and stupidity, ‘sees’ his real identity:

“Jesus Son of David”, have mercy on me” Mark 10: 47

This is the messianic title of Jesus that is revealed only to Peter. Mark makes the point that though Bartimaeus is blind, he is given the gift of spiritual sight. Not only does he recognise who Jesus is but he understands what Jesus has come to do – “Have mercy on me” Unlike the disciples, he is not clamoring for status and power but for mercy and grace.

Mark shows Bartimaeus to be the one person who truly sees though he is blind! He is not the victim in this story but the one who teaches us.

When we look back at this chapter we begin to see what Mark is saying:

When Jesus explains to them what it will mean to be ‘Messiah’ they do not understand his mission of sacrificial service.

When Jesus asks them what they want him to do for them James and John respond by asking for power and glory, but as Orthodox doctrine emphasised the authority of the saints came not for them to exercise power, but to serve others.

The disciples follow Jesus on the road to Jerusalem because they believe he is about to be crowned King. Along the way they push aside the weak and the lame, the children and the disadvantaged the very people Jesus says show us what his kingdom is about. The disciples clearly had not understood Jesus!

Clearly, they have not understood anything, but Bartimaeus does and so do the children.

It is these ‘little people’ who Jesus calls to him because they model for us what faith looks like as it reaches out to Jesus. The Church over the centuries has, at times, just like the disciples, failed to recognise in the weak and powerless its own need for mercy and grace.

If we are to follow Jesus in the Way we must recognise our need:

First then our blindness to others. As Bartimaeus shows us, faith in the Messiah is seen most clearly in the suffering and weak rather than in the powerful. It is suggested in the Acts of Apostles that Paul himself had weak sight, and it is this very weakness that Paul says is the source of his strength

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” 2 Corinthians 12:9

The gift of the Messiah is not power and glory as James and John thought, but restoration and healing of body and soul so that we can serve others.

If we are to follow Jesus in the Way we must respond to his call:

Secondly our blindness to God. As soon as Bartimaeus responds to Jesus’ call he receives his sight. It appears that the gift of faith depends not on intellect but on our response to God’s call on us to recognise our need for grace and mercy. Paul recognised this need in his struggles, and indeed through his loss of sight.

“ We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be revealed in you” 2 Corinthians 4:11

The light by which we see.

It appears so counterintuitive to see the world in this way, clearly, the disciples didn’t understand Jesus and it is arguable that the church too, over its history, has failed to understand Jesus.

We still overlook our own need for mercy and grace, our own blindness to God and others, and fail to ‘See’, in the Jesus we follow with Bartimaeus and Paul, the help we need to see the world in a new way.

CS Lewis put it like this:

“I believe in Christianity as I believe the sun has risen, not because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”

We do not need to remove the eyes of the saints to see the light but we do need the light of God to open our own eyes!

A prayer for peace in the Holy Land.

O God of all justice and peace we cry out to you in the midst of the pain and trauma
of violence and fear which prevails in the Holy Land.
Be with those who need you in these days of suffering; we pray for people of all faiths – Jews, Muslims, and Christians and for all people of the land.
While we pray to you, O Lord, for an end to violence and the establishment of peace,
we also call for you to bring justice and equity to the peoples.
Guide us into your kingdom where all people are treated with dignity and honour as your children for, to all of us, you are our Heavenly Father.
In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.