Irish High Crosses (5)

The crosses’ masons did not abandon their Celtic decorations…but instead blended panels of the scriptural figurative carvings amongst panels of filigree and interlacing, creating a harmonious whole—and, indeed, creating something unique in the field of Christian art. The proportion of figurative art to Celtic interlacing patterns ranges from crosses with single biblical representations amid a profusion of Celtic art to crosses where the Old and New Testament stories predominate over the interlacing.

 - Elinor D. U. Powell, The High Crosses of Ireland[1]

Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good.

 - Genesis 1.31

Emily Dickinson offered a valuable recommendation for poets:
Tell all the Truth but tell it slant—
Success in Circuit lies
Too bright for our infirm Delight 
The Truth’s superb surprise
As Lightning to the Children eased
With explanation kind
The Truth must dazzle gradually
Or every man be blind—

All art wants to “tell it slant”, to convey deep truths by a combination of images and symbols designed to engage and enrich the imagination and produce an overall effect of beauty. To accomplish this, artists put into their paintings, sculptures, poems, plays, novels, and more only what contributes to the overall effect. Characters, images, plots, themes, settings, and symbols are woven together into a harmonious whole, and it is that overall harmony and balance that achieves the artist’s purpose.

In much the same way, God accomplished His “very good” purpose in the creation by calling into being a wide variety of creatures assembled onto a cosmic canvas as a glorious and harmonious whole. Something in the work of every artist—all of whom are made in the image of God—strives to achieve that wholeness, and to leave the artists satisfied that his work is “very good” indeed.

The high crosses of Ireland tell the story of Jesus. Not all the story, and not by appealing only to the four gospels. The story of Jesus is intimated—told slant—both by reference to the Scripture, Old Testament and New, and by the skillful use of decorative symbolism. All the carved panels on a high cross point in some way to Jesus in “very good” art that, once understood, can bring “Truth’s superb surprise” to a delighted viewer.

The primary story line of these poems in stone is the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. On the Cross of Muiredach, Jesus is portrayed as the center of the cosmos, symbolized by the ring, and on the east face of the cross as the suffering servant who died for our sins. He faces east because He is the new day which, by His death, drives away the darkness of sin and by His resurrection brings in the dawning of the new Kingdom. On the west face, on the other hand, Jesus is shown reigning and judging the world. He faces west to where the sun sets on history before the dawning of the new and eternal day.

This theme appears on all the high crosses, albeit not with the same clarity, beauty, and fullness as on the Cross of Muiredach.

All the imagery of a stone cross, symbolic and representational, fills out and enlarges on the work of Jesus. The roping that runs around the panels of the high cross at Drumcliff ties and gathers all the other artwork together beneath Jesus, creating a single message and emphasizing the role of each panel in telling His story.

In a more abstract example, the Ahenny north cross, Christ is represented as the sun, an image that goes all the way back to Patrick’s visions. He is the center of the cosmos, around Whom orbit the various heavenly spheres. Note how the knotwork serves as a symbol of divine providence, intricately wound and faultlessly upholding the whole, like the Word of Christ, holding the cosmos together (Heb. 1.3).

The effect of studying a single cross or several crosses together is to have the truth of Jesus “dazzle gradually” from every panel as it lifts the sight and the mind of the viewer upwards to the glory of Christ and the heavenly Kingdom. Everything on a high cross works together to exalt Jesus and to draw the viewer to see Him as the center of creation and Savior and King of mankind. The effect of contemplating such a harmonious whole can be refreshing and renewing, a source of delight, surprise, and of deepening in the truth which is in Jesus.

And that can be very good, indeed.

For Reflection
1. Would you say that the parables of Jesus “tell it slant”? Explain.

2. How has the truth in Jesus “dazzled” you lately?

Psalm 24.1-4 (Foundation: How Firm a Foundation)
The earth is the LORD’s, as is all it contains;
all the world and its peoples He daily sustains.
He founded it fast on the seas long ago,
and bid gentle rivers throughout it to flow.

O who may ascend to the LORD’s holy place?
And who may appear to His glorious face?
All they who are clean in their hearts and their hands
and true in their souls with the Savior shall stand.

Dazzle me with Your Truth today, Lord, and I will…

T. M. Moore

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All Psalms for singing from The Ailbe Psalter. Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

[1] Powell, p. 82.