“The Temptation of Jesus”, Book of Kells. folio 202v, late Eight Century Trinity College Dublin.
Satisfactory images of Christ’s temptations are very few. How do you convincingly depict the devil? This illustration of Christ and the devil attempts to explore the temptation to sin which Christ overcame but with which the monk (and we) must live. At the top Jesus appears in glory with angels, clothed in fine robes. On his sleeves there are clusters of dots arranged in threes. These are symbols of the Trinity and his divinity. Symbols of eternal life such as snakes, peacocks and angels can be found in the decoration. Jesus holds a glass vessel filled with red liquid, which must be the chalice of his outpoured blood which the devil cannot overcome. The devil is radically different from all the other figures on the page. He is small and weak by comparison with Christ in majesty. He is shown just by some long streaks of black ink almost as if the ink had dripped unto the vellum by mistake. With cloven feet, a twisting tongue, dark wings and stick-like limbs, the devil resembles a shrivelled and dried up version of the beautiful angels above. Just compare the hands of Christ with the stick-like claws of the devil. Notice how Christ firmly grips the chalice with one hand and holds the other open. The lower half of the page has puzzled the scholars because it doesn’t correspond to Luke’s account of the temptation. But a Columban monk of the late eighth Century might have visualised the Temple in Jerusalem as a larger version of the kind of chapels he knew with a steeply pitched roof. Significantly, this building is shown adorned with the blue purple and scarlet of the Ark of the Covenant (Ex 26:1). For me, there is something very beautiful about Jesus who triumphs over sin and death being shown sitting high upon its roof. There is a line in the Confession of St Patrick where he writes that he was like a stone lying in the mud and Christ raised him up and placed him on top of the wall. I grew up in a thatched house and the straw roof had that same steep pitch. I can remember as a child looking up with amazement and delight at the thatcher sitting high on the ridge of the thatch. Here we see love’s triumph over evil, perhaps, as that monk would have seen it. On the upper left behind Christ and his chalice are the gathered community of believers. Christ blocks the devil’s access to them. Below the same Jesus appears again in a door-like nimbus and in the pose characteristic of his return in glory to judge the living and the dead, with the multitude to his right and to his left. There is a clue is in their eyes. Those on Christ’s right keep the devil in their sights. Those on his left don’t see the devil at all. So it may be that this lower section is about our temptation rather than those of Christ. The Columban monk understood his life of prayer and penance as an ongoing battle with the devil and his temptation. Analysis shows that at some stage, someone actually stabbed the dark steaks of ink that form this image of the devil! In Luke’s account for which this page is the illustration, the devil cites verses from Psalm 90 (91). But the monk would have known by heart also the opening verse from Psalm 90 (91): “He who abides in the shade of the Almighty, says to the Lord: ‘My refuge, my stronghold, my God in whom I trust.’” and “under his wings you will find refuge”. Here the people are gathered below the angels’ wings above. The monk knew only too well that devil departed, but only until “an opportune time” (Lk 4:13). He’d have known also the text “Be calm but vigilant because your enemy the devil is prowling round like a roaring lion, looking for someone to eat. Stand up to him, strong in faith.” (1 Pt 5:8-9). This image and these texts are worth pondering as we begin the holy season of Lent. You can view this page and the whole Book of Kells online in detail at digitalcollections.tcd.ie
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