The St. John's Bible- Seven Pillars of Wisdom

 Seven Pillars of Wisdom

Proverbs 9:13-11:5

 Donald Jackson

Scribes: poetry, Brian Simpson; 
Text, Angela Swan

Vellum, with ink, paint, silver and gold

Seven is a symbolic number
 in the Old Testament,
 signifying completions or fullness. 
There is a perfection and fullness
to the created order of Wisdom's world. 
On each of the pillars is an orb, a pearl,
 a precious article of beauty reminiscent 
of that heavenly body addicted
 with feminine forces, the moon.

Growing from one of these pillars
 is a complex 
of interlaced building, each constructed 
with a series of arches 

supported by more columns.
On the upper left hand of the page,
 among the interlaced buildings,
 is a monochromatic, 
green drawing of the chapel
 at Saint Benedict's Monastery,
 the Benedictine sisters' community
 just five miles down from Saint John's 
and home to the College of Saint Benedict.
A table is set with wine and bread 
on the right-hand page of the illumination. 
This image advances the connection 
between Wisdom and Christ. 
The invitation to "Come, eat of my bread
 and drink of the wine I have mixed" 
resonates deeply with the invitation
 of the Eucharistic prayer.