The Fiery Furnace
As WELL AS BEING THE SCENE of a theophany, the fiery furnace is persistently referred to as a type of the Virgin Birth:
The furnace moist with dew was the image and figure of a wonder beyond nature. For it burnt not the Children whom it had received, even as the fire of the Godhead consumed not the Virgins womb into which it had descended. Therefore let us sing in praise: Let all creation bless the Lord and exalt Him above all throughout the ages. (Eighth Ode of the Katavasias of the Nativity)
Fire that does not burn is always compared to the Mother of God giving birth and yet remaining a virgin. This comparison is made not only with the fiery furnace, but also with the burning bush (Ex. 3:1-4):
Prefigured by the bush unburned, a hallowed womb has borne the Word, God mingled with a mortal form, who now frees the unhappy womb of Eve from the bitter curse of old. He is the One we mortals now glorify. (First Ode of the Canon of the Nativity)
In many of the Old Testament theophanies, the Angel of the Lord is accompanied by a miraculous fire, which is a manifestation of the Holy Spirit. The theophanies are not only Christological but also Trinitarian: the Angel of the Lord (the Son of God) testifies to the Father, having been sent by Him, and is revealed in the Holy Spirit.
THE PRAYER AND THE SONG of the Three Holy Youths (1) in the Fiery Furnace have inspired many hymns of the Church, particularly those of Advent, and their song is the theme of the seventh ode of the katavasias:
Scorning the impious decree, the Youths brought up together in godliness feared not the threat of fire, but, standing in the midst of the flames, they sang: “Blessed are You, O God of our fathers.”
Throughout Advent, we are called to make their song our own. The Church invites us to go beyond studying Scripture, beyond reflection on past events, and to identify ourselves with the saints of the Old Testament, to share in their wonder and adoration. The Orthodox understanding of the Church is that we are one Church with the saints of the Old Testament, and just as they awaited the coming of the Son of God in the flesh, so too during Advent do we Christians anticipate the fulfillment of that promise in the Birth of Jesus. Thus the hymns of the Church exhort us to sing with the three holy youths, “Blessed are You, O God of our Fathers.”
Jonah and the Sea Beast
The sea beast spat out Jonah as it received him, like a baby from the womb; and the Word, having dwelt in the Virgin and taken flesh, came forth from her yet kept her uncorrupt. For He, being not subject to decay, preserved His Mother unspoiled. (Sixth Ode of the Katavasias of the Nativity)
JONAH’S THREE DAYS in the belly of the sea beast—popularly considered a whale (Jon. 2)—are frequently referred to in the hymns of the Orthodox Church as a precursor of Christ’s three-day burial. This is an exegesis given to us by Christ Himself:
“An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” (Matt. 12:39-40)
The prayer of Jonah within the belly of the beast is a prophecy of the burial and Resurrection:
“I cried out in my affliction to the Lord, my God,
And He heard my voice;
Out of the belly of Hades, You heard the cry of my voice.
You cast me into the depths of the heart of the sea,
And rivers encompassed me;
All Your surging waters and Your waves passed over me.
And I said, ‘I have been driven away from Your sight;
Shall I again look with favor toward Your holy temple?
Water is poured over me to my soul;
The lowest depth encircled me;
My head plunged into the clefts of the mountains.
I descended into the earth,
The bars of which are everlasting barriers;
Yet let my life ascend from corruption, O Lord, my God.” (Jon. 2:3-7)
Notwithstanding the above, the Church reinterprets Jonah coming forth from this sea creature as a type of Christ’s Birth. Just as Jonah remained whole in the belly of the beast and came forth in one piece and unharmed, so too is Christ born from a human womb with His divinity undiminished: fully God and fully man—not half God and half man, nor with one nature absorbing the other. Jesus is not merely a divine person residing in a human body, but has two complete and distinct (though neither separate nor mingled) natures. He is Theanthropos (God-man).
~Vassilios Papavassiliou, Meditations for Advent: Preparing for Christ’s Birth
1 Daniel 3:26- 56, 57-88. In most English Bibles, which follow the Masoretic text, the Prayer of the Three Youths and the Song of the Three Youths are considered apocryphal and are not part of the Book of Daniel.
