Christ the Catholic Farmer

Or Good Shepherd rather...

Hi Everyone

Recently I completed this icon…

Commonly known as “Christ the Good Shepherd”, with obvious reference to Jesus’ own words, “I am the good shepherd.” (John 10:11). Of course, as expected, it’s attracted some comments from the “diehard” protectors of everything Orthodox (which mostly means fiery adult male converts), about how it is “unorthodox” or “Catholic”, in other words, heretical. I confess my initial reaction is just to sigh, and frustratedly exclaim, “come on people!” But actually, this kind of thing is a great opportunity for teaching. So let’s unpack this a little…

When people say it’s Catholic, what they should actually be saying is that it appears far more often in Catholic devotion than it does in Orthodox devotion. Indeed, aside from the very early Church’s association with Christ as a shepherd as seen in these 1st to 3rd century catacomb frescoes…

and this 5th century mosaic from Galla Placidia…

and some others like it, I don’t think there really is too much more to show. (Although, bishops and priests have always been likened to shepherds of their flocks/congregations, as shown in numerous iconography, especially in Ravenna. And then it seems to drop out of popularity, and resurfaces around the 19th century, becoming more popular amongst the Orthodox as they are more influenced by western sources of art. And now it’s not too uncommon to find it in most Orthodox jurisdictions.

So, what’s the big deal? It’s “heretical” because it came from the West, and everything in the West is automatically heretical? That’s basically the unspoken presumption. But we need to really take note here, especially in our contemporary globalized world, that not everything foreign is evil or wrong. In fact that kind of outlook is not Orthodox at all. The Orthodox Church has always welcomed and assimilated whatever is good and beneficial from the world around it, including things pagan and, God forbid, Catholic and even Protestant. The Church has a wonderful and natural ability to “baptize” the world around it, taking what is good and leaving what is bad. I mean, have to ever read the writings of St Dimitri of Rostov? Talk about Western influence! woah, even I was taken back. And yet here we have a wonderworking Orthodox saint. Explain that to me. Could it be that our “standard” Orthodox spirituality, very influenced by the great monastic traditions, is not the only Orthodox spirituality? Not the one and only way to live our Orthodox lives? I think the world is a lot more diverse than many of today’s Orthodox would make it out to be. My challenge then, would be to ask those who oppose the image of Christ the Good Shepherd to state just why exactly it is “wrong”, not Orthodox, on a spiritual/theological level. And don’t tell me it’s because Jesus wasn’t a farmer or may never have carried a sheep, because I can likewise say he certainly was never a Byzantine bishop…

My take on the matter as to why it fell out of popularity in the Orthodox Church…? Personally, I think it has a tendency towards sentimentalism, which does not tie in well with monastic influenced Orthodox spirituality. Generally, Orthodox spiritualty is pretty sober and wary of inciting emotions, and so this image which often makes people go “Aaaawwww that sheep is so cute!”, has not been a common motif. And I mean, let’s face it, this is a totally romanticized notion - the clean little cooperative sheep being gently carried and cared for. In reality it’s probably more like this…

Sobriety of emotion is a virtue of monastic spiritualty no doubt, but it has been my pastoral experience that your average parishioner out here in the world is in desperate need of some comfort, and the more the Orthodox Church portrays itself as “hard” and “hardcore”, the more unbalanced it will become. Maybe, we need to use some of our Catholic brothers and sisters’ softness (but not too much), to attract those who feel like the Orthodox Jesus is too difficult for them to follow. Thoughts… ?

In ICXC

Fr Justin

@studiosanctus

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