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The Imagery of the Spiritual Mirror in Syriac Literature

A quick glance in the mirror is something everyone is likely to do at least once a day. It is not surprising that Syriac writers, who delight in employing everyday imagery such as putting on and taking off one's clothes, as a vehicle for their spiritual teaching, should pick up and develop this particular image. As their starting point, however, they generally prefer to take two passages in Paul's Letters to the Corinthians, since there the mirror takes on a more positive role. In 1 Corinthians 13:12 Paul contrasts seeing in the mirror now ‘in a parable’ (thus the Peshitta) with seeing face to face ‘then’, that is, at the eschaton. Here the mirror is presented as a temporary means of spiritual vision. More positive still is 2 Corinthians 3:18, where Paul contrasts those who do not ‘turn to the Lord’ as having a veil over their face when the Old Testament is read, whereas ‘we all with uncovered faces see the glory of the Lord as in a mirror’. As will be seen, the idea of the Scriptures as a ‘mirror’ was to prove particularly popular. The mirror used as a metaphor in spiritual teaching is a feature of many different faith traditions, perhaps especially among the Sufis and in certain Buddhist schools. What all writers of the pre-modern period have in mind is not the glass mirrors with which we are familiar today, but metal mirrors which needed to be kept in a high state of polish in order to function properly. Often such mirrors in antiquity were works of art in themselves, particularly fine examples being produced by the Etruscans. The imagery of the mirror can be used in a number of different ways. Basically, Syriac writers make use of two different approaches. Earlier writers tend to use the first model, while later ones prefer the second. (1) The mirror may be identified as anything that can reflect divine reality; the eye that beholds the mirror is not, of course, the physical eye, but the interior eye of the heart, the spiritual centre of the human being. In order to see the mirror properly, the eye has to be ‘clear’. According to an understanding of optics that was current in antiquity, in order to function properly, the physical eye needed to be filled with light; in the case of the interior eye it is faith, rather than THE IMAGERY OF THE SPIRITUAL MIRROR IN SYRIAC LITERATURE