Lisa Harrow as Creusa and Keith Eric Chappelle as Ion in the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s production of Ion, directed by Ethan McSweeny. Photo by Carol Rosegg.
Ion, by Euripides at the Shakespeare Theatre Company.
Ion is called a Greek tragedy with a happy ending. It is the story of a woman who was separated from her son at birth and thought he was dead, but who found him again. Written by Euripides and performed about 412 BCE at the theatre of Dionysus in Athens. The play was written as a spiritual play about Greek Gods, as was expected of plays in that time. The Athenians knew the Ion myth well. Creusa was a teen-aged virgin who was impregnated by a Greek God, Apollo, and bore a son. Apollo warned her not to reveal that she was pregnant, and not to reveal the birth of the boy until he, Apollo, determined that the time was right for the son to be revealed.
The play is set at Delphi, at the temple of Apollo, where Ion was taken as a baby and raised by the priestess of the temple, and where Ion served happily as an acolyte of Apollo at the temple. Creusa, thinking her son was dead, comes to the temple to ask the oracle whether she will have other children. After almost 20 years, she is still in pain from the loss of her baby, and still angry at Apollo, questioning his motive and his treatment of her, not knowing that the time and place had come for Ion to be revealed and for him to take his rightful place as the son of a God, Apollo. Ion’s descendants established cities throughout the Aegean world, and those who settled in western Asia Minor were known as Ionians. Apollo's intent for Cerusa and Ion was not revealed by Apollo, but by an "angel", Athena, the Goddess of Athens, who comes to reveal the divine plan.
Although different in some ways, the play, Ion, has remarkable parallels with the Biblical story of Mary and Jesus. The Ion myth was well known throughout the region, and must have been known by those who wrote the books of the Bible, including Paul.
Note these similarities between the play and Biblical verses:
o At the temple, Ion says, "I will serve my master, Apollo, and never cease to worship the one through whom I live." And note the similarity in Acts 17:28 when Paul says, "For in Him we live and move and have our being."
o Ion tells Cerusa, "Dearest mother, here you see me in your arms, your son who was dead and yet was alive." And note the similarity in Ephesians 2:5, when Paul tells the Epesians, "Even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)."
o Note that Apollo's plan for Cerusa was revealed by an "angel", Athena, and God's plan for Mary was revealed by an angel.
o Note also the prayer of Creusa to Leto: "O blessed Lady, mother of Apollo," which is similar to the prayer by many to Mary, the mother of Jesus.
o And finally, note that we are taught in the Bible, although we may not understand the "ways of the Lord", and at times we may in fact feel angry at Him, we must trust that He knows best. Similarly, Athena told Cerusa and Ion in the play that they were forgiven for their lack of faith in Apollo and even their anger toward him, "This I approve, thy former wayward thoughts resigned, with honour that thou name the god. Slow are the gifts of Heaven, but found at length not void of power."
Thus, the play was about not knowing what Spirit has in mind for us, but eventually learning after some time and hardship that events in our lives are for the best after all. Life is not random, not chance, but planned for our joy. I am reminded of this thought from "A Course in Miracles":
"What could you not accept if you but knew that every step you take, all events, past, present and to come, were gently planned by One whose only purpose is your good. While you made plans for death, He led you gently to eternal life."
"A Course in Miracles"
I am not a religious person in the sense of organized religion, but I am spiritual in the sense of letting Spirit guide my life. This thought often guides me, and it gives me peace of mind when things do not seem to be going the way I think I want.
Note the words of the play (as translated by Robert Potter, and the similarities to the Bible.
MINERVA (ATHENA)
Fly not; in me no enemy you fly;
At Athens friendly to you, and no less
Here. From that land I come, so named from me,
By Phoebus (Apollo) sent with speed: unmeet he deems it
To show himself before you, lest with blame
The past be mention'd; this he gave in charge,
To tell thee that she bore thee, and to him,
Phoebus thy father; he to whom he gave thee,
Not as to the author of thy being gives thee,
But to the inheritance of a noble house.
This declaration made, lest thou shouldst die,
Kill'd by thy mother's wily trains, or she
By thee, these means to save you he devised.
These things in silence long conceal'd, at Athens
The royal Phoebus would have made it known
That thou art sprung from her, thy father he:
But to discharge my office, and unfold
The oracle of the god, for which you yoked
Your chariots, hear: Creusa, take thy son,
Go to the land of Cecrops: let him mount
The royal throne; for, from Erechtheus sprung,
That honour is his due, the sovereignty
Over my country: through the states of Greece
Wide his renown shall spread;
For from his root
Four sons shall spring, that to the land, the tribes,
The dwellers on my rock, shall give their names.
Geleon the first, Hopletes, Argades,
And from my aegis named Aegicores:
Their sons in fate's appointed time shall fix
Their seats along the coast, or in the isles
Girt by the Aegean sea, and to my land
Give strength; extending thence the opposite plains
Of either continent shall make their own,
Europe and Asia, and shall boast their name
Ionians, from the honour'd Ion call'd.
To thee by Xuthus shall a son be born,
Dorus, from whom the Dorian state shall rise
To high renown; in the Pelopian land,
Another near the Rhian cliffs, along
The sea-wash'd coast, his potent monarchy
Shall stretch, Achaeus; and his subject realms
Shall glory in their chief's illustrious name.
Well hath Apollo quitted him in all:
First, without pain he caused thee bear a son.
That from thy friends thou mightst conceal his birth;
After the birth, soon as his infant limbs
Thy hands had clothed, to Mercury he gave
The charge to take the babe, and in his arms
Convey him hither; here with tenderness
He nurtured him, nor suffer'd him to perish.
Guard now the secret that he is thy son,
That his opinion Xuthus may enjoy
Delighted: thou too hast thy blessings, lady.
And now, farewell: from this relief from ills
A prosperous fortune I to both announce.
ION
O Pallas, daughter of all-powerful Jove!
Not with distrust shall we receive thy words:
I am convinced that Phoebus is my father,
My mother she, not unassured before.
CREUSA
Hear me too, now: Phoebus I praise, before
Unpraised; my son he now restores, of whom
Till now I deem'd him heedless. Now these gates
Are beauteous to mine eyes; his oracles
Now grateful to my soul, unpleasant late.
With rapture on these sounding rings my hands
Now hang; with rapture I address the gates.
MINERVA
This I approve, thy former wayward thoughts
Resign'd, with honour that thou name the god.
Slow are the gifts of Heaven, but found at length
Not void of power.
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