Stichera, Scents, Stitches, and Self-Emptying

On 14 October, O.S., coinciding with several feasts, the Church celebrates the Life-Giving Pillar and the Lord's Robe in Georgia. The hymnography for this feast (Svet'itskhovloba) includes rich descriptions of Christ nourishing and cherishing His Bride the Church, and of the universal Church sustaining her children, by various spiritual and material means. While references to sacraments occur, the texts emphasise experience and perception in other contexts, such as that of the chanters as they sing the stichera, of monastics at prayer, and of all as they celebrate the myrrh-streaming Pillar. Supported by other Georgian devotional practices and patristic discussions of chant and prayer, an exploration of the Life-Giving Pillar and its feast shows how Christ cares for His flock in concrete ways, how members of the Church likewise help to nourish each other, and how Christ is fed by the salvation of all. After a brief explanation of the Feast, its texts, and related literature, this paper will interpret key passages from several stichera, with commentary from monastic writings. Folk traditions and musical characteristics will feature at relevant points. We will see how, through such means as participation in chant, sharing in commemoration, and offering foods and textiles, Christ and the Church are perceived and treated as one Body, breathing and spreading the same aroma; how Christ empties Himself to fill, clothe, and shelter us; how we do the same for Christ andeach other; and how such occurs, in the whole Church and in each of its members, engaging, sweetening, unifying, and transcending all faculties and senses.