In Saturday’s DM, I shared —not for the first time—the powerful painting by Hildegard of Bingen on the Anti-Christ. I first shared it in my book on Hildegard’s Illuminations (her word for her paintings) and more recently in my book on Trump & MAGA as Antichrist.
It is important to employ art in our efforts to name evil as Hildegard did in her painting and as Luca Signorelli did in his fresco on the antichrist painted in 1501.
Picasso’s Guernica did the same, as have many movies over the years. I have never gotten into vampire movies myself, but surely their naming of evil at work appeals to many, and especially the young these days.
Hildegard’s painting is so amazingly prescient to the daily horror show we are living through at this chaotic time in human history. She very much emphasizes cosmic chaos in her depiction of evil.
The gospels do the same of course. At Jesus’ death on the cross, Matthew says that “the veil of the Temple was torn in two from top to bottom.” Since we now know on the veil of the Temple was a painting of creation, we are being told that creation was broken asunder and chaos descended. Sure enough, Matthew goes on to say “the earth quaked; the rocks were split; the tombs opened and the bodies of many holy men rose from the dead….”
And human hearts were changed. “Meanwhile the centurion, together with the others guarding Jesus, had seen the earthquake and all that was taking place, and they were terrified and said, ‘In truth this was a son of God.’” (27.51-54) In the Jewish tradition, anyone living a life of wisdom is called “a son of God.”
Mark also reports that “the veil of the Temple was torn in two from top to bottom” and also cites the centurion who “had seen how he had died,” and said, “In truth this was a son of God.” (15.38f)
Luke reports that “with the sun eclipsed, a darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour. The veil of the Temple was torn right down the middle” and the centurion “gave praise to God and said, ‘This was a great and good man.’” (23, 44, 45, 47.) Evil is a cosmic event therefore, a rupture in the cosmos which is built on order.
That is how Hildegard sees it also. Evil human deeds unravel the cosmic order. She paints them in the upper left-hand corner as “a fiery dog that was not burning; a lion that was reddish-brown; a pale horse; a black pig; and a grisly wolf.” Each was pulling hard on a piece of rope that symbolizes the binding that holds together an interdependent and compassionate universe. Each beast was bringing about chaos, the unraveling of cosmic order. How so?
The fiery dog stands for humans who “bite at their own condition” and do not burn with justice. The reddish lion stands for “warlike men” who wage wars without considering God’s judgment. The pale horse represents those who put luxury living and their own selfish pleasure before performing worthwhile acts. The black pig stands for rulers who create sadness in themselves and their subjects. The wolf stands for those who rob others. The black rope represents “the darkness that stretches out many injustices.”
How much in the current MAGA administration is tearing apart the political order of our democracy to replace it with something else? Rule by the powerful who are indifferent to justice; waging war (Iran?); living luxurious lives; creating sadness among citizens; robbing the poor and middle class through their corruption; and creating darkness of many injustices?
To read the transcript of Matthew Fox’s video meditation, click HERE.
Banner Image: San Francisco torn asunder by the great earthquake of 1906. Photo from the National Archives. Wikimedia Commons.
Due to copyright restrictions, we are not able to directly reproduce Picasso’s “Guernica” painting that Matthew references in this DM — but if you want to see the original, go HERE.
Queries for Contemplation
Do you see prescience in Hildegard’s painting that names the beasts of greed, indifference to injustice, war-making and the like, that turn creation into chaos and that dominate our news today? How can this motivate us to assist self and others to do better?
Related Readings by Matthew Fox
Illuminations of Hildegard of Bingen, pp. 122-126.
Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ, pp. 81-84.
Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul & Society.
Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth.
A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice.
Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality.
Christian Mystics: 365 Readings and Meditations.
The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine.
Charles Burack, ed., Matthew Fox: Essential Writings in Creation Spirituality.
Matthew Fox, Skylar Wilson and Jen Listug: Order of the Sacred Earth: An Intergenerational Vision of Love and Action.
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1 thought on “The Prescient Painting of Hildegard of Bingen on the Antichrist”
Today’s DM, with its underlying theme of “prescience” and its banner image showing “San Francisco torn asunder by the great earthquake of 1906” sent shivers through my spine. When I lived in the San Francisco Bay area (in the ’70s), earthquake preparedness was a fact of life and the specter of “the big one” was everywhere: inserts came through the mail with the phone and utility bills, explaining what to do if an earth tremor was felt, and that information was widely relayed through the media. On a few occasions, during a shared meal, someone (or several people at the same time) shouted, “earthquake!” and we did all rush to the nearest safer place, under a door-frame, a table or a desk, until the tremor was over.
Even if I now live on the eastern side of the continent, the current political landscape combined with the recent surge of major seismic events across the Pacific Ring of Fire has physically reactivated in me the specter of “the big one.” Beyond the regional tragedy it would trigger, such a catastrophic event would surely be seized by an amoral and unscrupulous administration as an excuse to declare a national state of emergency and suspend democratic activities like elections. Heaven forbid that such thoughts should be prescient. To the beast of fear unexpectedly awaken by today’s reading, I say: Vade retro, satana.