Whenever we attend any liturgical service of the Church we are not just ‘attending’ church, or just ‘satisfying an obligation.’ From the art and architecture itself, to the liturgical texts, chants, gestures and movements, liturgy is an encounter with God’s blueprint for His entire created order, for the very meaning of life itself. It is liturgy, therefore, that provides the context, the model for a true understanding of pro-life issues. Liturgy teaches us to see things “Sacramentally” or “Mystically”, in other words, to see the ultimate “why” and value behind everything in creation.
In one way or the other, pro-life issues have a common beginning and foundation in what does or does not go on in the womb of womanhood. It is therefore the womb of womanhood that must be seen in its liturgical, mystical context.
Historically, classic church design, in both the Western and Eastern Churches, had a separation of the sanctuary from the nave. This is preserved in Byzantine Churches with the use of the icon screen. Like the Old Testament temple symbolism, the Christian sanctuary became the mystical nuptial chamber in which a mystical marriage between Christ the Bridegroom and his Bride the Church, would be consummated upon the nuptial bed of the Altar in the Eucharist. In Byzantine Church design the tabernacle is always on the Altar and in it is the presence of Christ in the form of consecrated bread. On the back wall of the sanctuary in Byzantine churches hovering above the tabernacle is to be painted the icon of the Theotokos. This icon is called the “Platytera” which means “more spacious than the Heavens.” The Blessed Mother presents Christ to us as though we were looking into her very womb. She therefore becomes the “Mystical Tabernacle.” The Byzantine liturgy has many beautiful references to the womb of the Virgin Mary including, “Mystical Paradise.”
The priest is, so to speak, the ‘steward’ of the tabernacle, the protector of it. Like the Old Testament High priest, the Byzantine priest (or bishop) is the only one authorized to approach the tabernacle but only for the loftiest of reasons.
Women are configured to the Theotokos. Therefore, by extension all women have a sacred space in their body as well, a one authorized to approach the tabernacle but only for the loftiest of reasons.
Every woman is configured to the Blessed Virgin Mary which means by extension every woman has a ‘sacred space’ within her own body, a ‘tabernacle’ of sorts where Heaven and earth meet in the miracle of a new life. If the sanctity of the tabernacle on the altar were to be corrupted by something foreign to its character and purpose, the whole Church would become corrupted. So, too if the womb of womanhood is corrupted, seen and approached for other than what it is, the whole moral order of humanity, especially of human sexuality, would become disordered and corrupted.
The marital bedroom is the sanctuary of the human race and woman’s womb is its ‘tabernacle.’ Like the priest to the tabernacle, it is the role of manhood to protect the intrinsic holiness of the body and womb of womanhood. What goes on in the “bedroom” does not “stay there.” Rather, it determines the rise and fall of civilization. All of the sexual disorders and offenses against the sanctity of life in our times ultimately have their origin in the non-sacramental, non-liturgical view of the womb of womanhood. The restoration of the sanctity of human life in all of its forms will not fully happen without a restoration of a liturgical worldview of the human person which begins with the liturgical view of the womb. From art to architecture to liturgical text and gesture that restorative view is found and experienced in the liturgical life of the Byzantine Catholic Church.
Office of Marriage, Family, and Pro-Life Ministry
—Eparchy of Parma