By Rev. Dr. Frank Marangos
Rather than offer his assistance to the others, one child named Eustace sets off by himself in search of personal fortune. During his exploration, the selfish boy discovers a large cave filled with magnificent gems and costly artifacts. He quickly realizes that he has located the secret lair of a dragon. While fearful of the monster’s return, the boy is unable to resist the lure of the cave’s treasure and, unfortunately, falls asleep atop the jewelry.
A few hours later Eustace awakens to find the dragon sleeping beside him. Frightened, he carefully lifts his leg to escape but notices the creature imitating his every movement. Fearful that the foul-smelling serpent may rouse at any moment, the lad dashes from the cave to the valley below. It is here, while gazing at his image in the waters of a small pound, that the boy realizes the horrible truth. A dragon had not been sleeping next to him! Rather, he had been looking at his own beastly reflection in a mirror. Try as he will, however, Eustace is unable to peal away his newly formed scaly skin. Exhausted and discouraged he weeps. He has become what he fears the most . . . an ugly dragon!
Pascha, the liturgical celebration of our Lord’s glorious Resurrection, centers on the defeat of dragons. In fact, it concerns creation’s opportunity to have the scaly skin of its monstrous distortions successfully pealed away. “With his hissing,” insists a hymn of the Triodion, “the hateful serpent deceived us, and stripped us of the blessings we had received.” While Satan insists that humanity was and remains all to willing to replace “skin for skin,” (Job 2:4), good for evil, the Feast of the Resurrection exchanges the dark ugly robe of death with the bright complexion of Christ’s holiness.
Numerous prayers and hymns of the Orthodox Church describe Pascha as God’s victory over a dragon-like serpent that lies, steals, and constantly seeks to disfigure all of creation. It should, therefore, come as no surprise that an important prayer of the Presanctified Liturgy requested that God grant the faithful the strength to successfully complete the course of the Great Fast by “crushing the heads” of our respective “invisible dragons” through the cultivation of selfless virtues.
Great Lent was, therefore, our opportunity to evaluate the condition of our spiritual image in the clear liturgical mirror of the Church wherein Scriptural stories are masterfully woven to teach important spiritual lessons gleaned from the lives of Old Testament personalities. Some, like the self-centered Eustace in Lewis’ parable, were tragically transformed into detestable individuals. Advocating self-centered agendas, the sinful exchanged “skin for skin” and become “dragonesque.” Fortunately, through fasting, almsgiving, repentance, and prayer, the faithful are portrayed as those who “put on” Christ much like the prodigal son was clothed with his father’s royal robes. Individuals such as these are portrayed as the true heirs of Christ’s victory over the serpent’s dangerous craftiness.
Long before the development of the Pentateuch and the hymnology of Christian Orthodoxy, the fearful image of the mischievous dragon-serpent was employed in the oral legends of Greek Mythology. The ancient Greeks frequently introduced the beast as the personification of diverse qualities of self-centeredness and evil. In fact, four specific types of dragon-serpents can be delineated, each with their respective characteristics: (a) serpentine Dracones, (b) marine Cetea, (c) fire-breathing Chimaera, and (d) the she-monster Dracaenae.
The first type of dragon, the serpentine Dracones, was understood as a beast that pilfered physical resources. Once it had them in its monstrous possession, the Dracones horded its stolen treasure in a secret lair. Stories such as the “Golden Apples” retrieved by Hercules, and the “Golden Fleece” obtained by Jason and his Argonauts are prime examples of Greek myths that convey the inner desire of humanity to re-obtain an elusive treasure that has somehow been stolen from it in the past.
Holy Scripture completes this partial truth of Greek Mythology by portraying Satan as the culprit that stole the physical resources and gifts that God had actually granted to humanity. While originally intended to be utilized for divine purposes the serpentine dragon deceived Adam and Eve into bartering creation for a piece of fruit, and thereby, replacing the priestly act of stewardship with the unsatisfying urge of selfishness.
The second type of dragon found in Greek Mythology is the marine-based Cetea. Regulated by Poseidon, the Olympian god of the sea, the marine-based Cetea is primarily interested in distorting Truth. A most popular myth of Homer’s Odyssey describes how two serpents emerged from the sea and swallowed a priest named Laocoon and his sons who were frantically attempting to warn the citizens of Troy against dragging a wooden horse into their city. Without the guiding ruder of his truth, the Trojans were ultimately destroyed from the inside.
Society is replete with examples of contemporary Ceteas who desire to “swallow” the Truth of Christ and replace it with rudderless views and godless opinions. As a result, like the Trojans, the unsuspecting tragically drag dangerous distortions into their minds only to one day wake to spiritual occupation and death. The question posed to Jesus by Pilate on Holy and Great Friday concerning he existence of Truth is therefore, quite instructive (John 18:38). In the end, however, like Jonah surfacing from the belly of a whale, Christ as Truth emerges from the Cetea’s lair of lies!
The third type of mythological dragon is the fire-breathing Chimaera. Portrayed as a frightening composite of various animal body parts, the Chimaera seeks to create disunity. This particular monster is thus fond of tormenting nations, villages, families and couples with attitudes of dissension. The dragon-slaying myth of Perseus and Andromeda best illustrate the importance of liberating those that are so enslaved through the re-establishment of harmonious relationships.
Pascha is the Great Feast of the Eucharistic community whose Agape Meal replaces the rupture of betrayal with the bond of peace and forgiveness! The Resurrection introduces an Eternal Perseus who liberates the Andromedas of history by slaying the Chimaeras of discord with love. “Let us love all that have wronged us,” exhorts Saint John Chrysostom in his Paschal message, “for Forgiveness has Risen from the grave!”
The fourth and final category of the dragon found in Greek Mythology is the she-monster Dracaenae. Unlike the Chimaera, the Dracaenae is a revolting hybrid of animal and human limbs. The ancient Greeks considered it an image of the deformity of “Self.” The nine-headed hydra destroyed by Hercules exemplifies the chaos-creating vices of the Dracaenae’s nature: (a) sexual promiscuity, (b) comfort, (c) avarice, (d) fear, (e) hatred, (f) power, (g) pride, (h) arrogance, and (i) cruelty.
Satan is intent on using such vises to deform the image and likeness of God in man. From the very beginning of creation, evil relentlessly pursues the embezzlement of personhood – the most valuable of birthrights. “Long ago,” insists a hymn of the Lenten season, “the crafty serpent envied my honor and whispered deceit in the ear of Eve.” Apart from His victory over death, Christ is therefore described as the One who “reclothes” humanity in the nobility of His “garments of light and incorruption.” Described as one of Hercules’ Twelve Labors, the severing of each of the hydra’s heads has long been understood as a harbinger of Christ’s actual liberation of humanity’s spiritual personhood. As such, the Resurrection releases “prisoners” and heals “every part” of mankind’s inner disfigurement.
The icon of the Holy Resurrection masterfully portrays the destruction of each of the four types of dragons described in the parables of Greek Mythology. The icon portrays the Risen Lord emerging from the cave of death while standing on the back of a shackled image of satan. Reminiscent of God’s proto-evangelical promise to Eve (Genesis 3:15) the Apolytikion of the Resurrection specifies that the Risen Lord has defeated Satan, by “trampling” upon him as upon a poisonous serpent. Through this victory over death four critical liberations are commemorated. First, the physical stewardship of creation is returned to mankind as sacrament. Second, Truth as Person is released from the belly of falsehood. Third, relationships are re-established through love and forgiveness. And finally, the Holy Resurrection eliminates the sinful skin of the dragon from humanity’s body and in its place, re-establishes mankind’s God-created image.
In his parable about children for adults, Lewis describes the painful yet futile attempts of Eustace to desperately remove the skin of the dragon from his youthful limbs. In the end, he must submit to a Lion named Aslan who, as an image of Christ, removes the serpentine skin with his sharp claws. “The very first tare was so deep,” the boy exclaims, “that I thought that it had gone right into my heart! It hurt more than anything I had ever felt. The only thing that made it bearable was the pleasure of feeling like a boy again!” Unable to shed his dragon skin himself, Eustace submits to the fierce claws of Aslan and is reborn!
Pascha, the celebration of the holy Resurrection, commemorates the Lordship of a Lion who came to defeat the dragons of death so that we may be released from the bondage of sin! Indeed, by faithfully submitting to Jesus’ loving authority we are healed, liberated, re-imaged, and restored to our comrades! We are, in a word . . . reborn!
Rev. Dr. Frank Marangos is the Dean of the Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in New York City. He is also an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Saint John’s University (NY). Please visit http://www.thecathedral.goarch.org to view the on-line sermon that inspired this article.
