The ideas of Christianity in the mirror of the "poem" by Fr. Messiaen "St. Francis of Assisi. Franciscan scenes"

Azarova Valentina Vladimirovna ORCID: 0000-0003-1049-2259 Doctor of Art History Professor; Department of Organ, Harpsichord, and Carillon; Saint-Petersburg State University 199034, Russia, Saint Petersburg, Universitetskaya nab., 7-9 azarova_v.v@inbox.ru Other publications by this author

Franciscan Hagiography in the Mirror of Messiaen's Libretto

The fate of St. Francis of Assisi (1181 or 1182-1226) is so peculiar, unique and exceptional in its own way that the chronology of his spiritual and creative life alone could become the starting point for a new modern biography. The original lives of St. Francis include the texts of Thomas of Celan "Vita Prima" (1229) and "Vita Secunda" (1247). The first life, compiled in Latin on behalf of Pope Gregory IX, is written chronologically; in the second life, the presentation of the text is systematized according to the virtues of the saint.

A separate biography of St. Francis of Assisi, also compiled according to the virtues, is called "The Mirror of Perfection" (1318). "There is a point of view that the "Mirror of Perfection" is based on the memoirs of Brother Leo (Leone) and, thus, is the oldest source of information about the life of St. Francis," researcher Y. Kulishenko noted [Flowers, 474-475]. The Mirror of Perfection contains many examples of how St. Francis of Assisi, the bearer of revelation, could speak with Christ and convey the words of the Savior to the minority monks. Desiring everyone to sing the praises of the Lord "as God's song-makers," Father Francis added: "Who are God's servants but his song-makers, encouraging the hearts of people and arousing spiritual joy in them?" ^{[1, 376-377]}. This is how the "Mirror of Perfection" conveys the idea of St. Francis of Assisi about serving God in the language of music and poetry.

Along with the mentioned examples of biographies, the Franciscan hagiography contains such sources as The Legend of the Three Comrades and The Perugian Anonymous ^{[2, 301]}. The most famous biography of a Poor man from Assisi, telling about his deeds, for 800 years is the work "The Flowers of Francis of Assisi" — a collection of translations into Italian of the Latin text of Gugolin from Montegeorgio, compiled in the first half of the XIV century; this book conveys the atmosphere of Franciscan spirituality — kindness, simplicity, humility and love.

The author of the biography of St. Francis of Assisi is his younger contemporary and follower, the light of Franciscan spirituality, the "seraphic doctor" (doctor seraphicus) St. Bonaventure (1217-1274). His honorary nickname indicates the symbol of mystical gorenje (seraphim). The biography of St. Francis of Assisi was compiled by St. Bonaventure in the period 1261-1263. "The Life of St. Francis", written after the treatise "The Guide of the Soul to God", includes two versions: Legenda major and Legenda minor, of which the first is an expanded, and the second is a short text of the Life. This book was characterized by the outstanding Russian historian P. M. Bicilli, who noted: "In St. Bonaventure, the "spiritual man" imperceptibly and gradually, in the process of "exercising the spirit" in love with the "visible images" of the deity, grows out of the "carnal", moving forward with each step, "making a ladder for himself" out of everything, until finally he reaches, by way of "perfect love" for To Christ, the ability to contemplate the pure truth, and thus, identifying with it, ends his earthly life as a completed path to the highest goal" ^{[3, 64-65]}.

Having begun work commissioned by the director of the Paris Opéra, Ralph Lieberman, in the summer of 1975, Messiaen developed a multifaceted theological concept of the literary text of the libretto and the corresponding musical dramaturgy of the opera St. Francis of Assisi. Franciscan scenes". "In all my compositions with text, I always wrote poems myself," the composer clarified ^{[4, 67]}. Messiaen called the libretto of the Franciscan Scenes a "poem", as did the great playwright and poet Paul Claudel, who composed the musical poem "Jeanne d'Ark at the stake" (1935-1943).

Without resorting in the libretto of the Franciscan Scenes to the principle of mirroring episodes of the spiritual life of the main character, peculiar to Claudel's "musical poem", Messiaen created and applied a different dramatic strategy for the musical and theatrical display of the spiritual path of St. Francis of Assisi. The composer refused to cover in the libretto a number of significant events in the life of St. Francis. The poem does not tell about the mystical mystery of revelation that occurred in the youth of the main character (February 24, 1209), when Francis realized his vocation to become a preacher, a missionary and literally follow the Gospel. In the Franciscan Scenes, there is no mention of Father Francis's acceptance into obedience of the future Saint Clara of Assisi, who came from the aristocratic Favarone di Offreduccio family and became the founder of the convent of the Clarisse nuns (Lesser Sisters). The poem contains no information about the missionary trips of St. Francis to the East and his sermons to the Sultan of Egypt Melek el Kamel (1219). Messiaen also did not mention the fact that St. Francis of Assisi presented the liturgical action of the Mother of God (1223).

The plot basis of the libretto "St. Francis of Assisi. Franciscan scenes" made up the events of the life and work of the main character in the period 1224-1226 (the last two years of the spiritual feat of the saint). The composer conveyed in the poem the meaning of the events noted in hagiographic sources. The period of the plot narrative chosen by Messiaen begins with the fact that St. Francis of Assisi performed a forty-day fast in honor of the Archangel Michael (from August 13 to September 29, 1224), when the main character of the poem was in the vicinity of Assisi, in a monastic monastery on Mount Vernet. Father Francis spent his days of fasting in continuous prayer ("contemplation"), living as a hermit in a narrow dark cave at the foot of a forested rocky mountain. One day Saint Francis turned out to be the bearer of the mystery of revelation. According to the testimonies of the authors of the biographies of St. Francis of Assisi, during the mystical sacrament of revelation, stigmata — signs of the mortal wounds of Christ - opened on the body of the holy ascetic. These wounds bled for the rest of the saint's life. As it is said in the Second "Life of St. Francis" by Thomas of Chelan, during the stigmatization of the holy ascetic, there was a constant companion and confessor of St. Francis on Verna — a monk, Brother Leone. Leonard of Assisi "left a simple and clear description of how this [event] happened" ^{[1, 460]}. Saint Francis thanked the Creator for the benevolence shown to him by composing the beginning of the poem "A Song of Praise to God in Creation."

Upon his return to the monastery of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Assisi (1225), Father Francis visited the monastery of St. Damian, where he continued to create a "Song of Praise to God in Creation" and composed hymns (lauds) for Poor Ladies (Clarisse nuns). In 1226, St. Francis of Assisi completed the final stanza of the "Songs of Praise to God in Creation", and also dictated a concise "Testament". The Chronology of the Life of St. Francis of Assisi contains the entry: "On the evening of October 3, after sunset, Francis dies lying on the bare ground near the church of the Blessed Virgin Mary" ^{[2, 294]}.

In chapter XIV of the Life of St. Francis, entitled "On his Sufferings and Death," St. Bonaventure wrote: "Finally, when <...> his holy spirit was freed from the flesh and plunged into the immeasurable depths of Divine glory, the blessed one fell asleep in the Lord. One of his brothers and disciples saw a blissful soul like a bright star, rushing on a dazzling cloud over the waters straight to Paradise. The soul shone with the dazzling whiteness of his sublime holiness and was filled with the wealth of divine wisdom and grace, according to which the saint was recognized worthy to enter the abode of light and peace, where he rests with Christ until the end of time" (our translation — V. A.) ^{[5, 152-153]}.

Without adhering to the chronological sequence in the presentation of events, Messiaen captured in the poem the meaning of the events of the last years of the life and death of St. Francis of Assisi. The presentation of the events of the life and death of St. Francis of Assisi in Messiaen's poem is systematized "according to the virtues", in the spirit of the era of high scholasticism. The author has included a detailed commentary in the text of the poem, the semantic formulas of which interact with the meaning of paraphrased fragments of the text of the Holy Scriptures (both Testaments). By presenting a series of eight paintings as elements of a semantically layered composition, Messiaen completed the form of the poem.

The composer's method of working on the text of the libretto of the Franciscan Scenes is not to compose a new content, but to present the meaning of the primary sources of the era of high Scholasticism, primarily Saints Bonaventure and Thomas Aquinas. Analysis of the theological concept of Messiaen's opera "St. Francis of Assisi. Franciscan scenes" through the prism of the ideas of St. Thomas Aquinas was carried out by researcher V. P. Benitez (2019) ^[6]. At the same time, the author of "Franciscan Scenes" discovered in the poem the relevance of the ideas of Christianity for the twentieth century. The ideas of the poem correspond to the ideas of authoritative theological thinkers of our time.

H. Halbreich, the author of the first scientific monograph published during the composer's lifetime, The Work of Olivier Messiaen (1980), expressed a general idea of the process of creating the opera St. Francis of Assisi in the following way. Franciscan Scenes": "Inspired by the medieval biographies of Thomas of Chelan and St. Bonaventure, and especially "Flowers", "Reflections on Stigmata" and the writings of Francis himself (first of all, the famous "Song of Praise to God in Creation"), he [Messiaen] wrote his own libretto during the summer of 1975 and immediately began to the composition of eight paintings of the work (distributed over three acts)" ^{[7, 483]}.

Creating the "Franciscan Scenes", Messiaen was in dialogue with canonical hagiographic sources and canonical spiritual texts. He got acquainted with a number of modern theological studies on the history of religion. In an interview in 1986, Messiaen noted: "... I spent a lot of time reading the Bible and psalms. I have read both the Testaments and the Apocalypse many times. In addition, I have read many theological works — medieval and modern. In particular, the "Sum of theology" by Thomas Aquinas. I have read the most important parts of this book many times. I have also read modern theologians, in particular the works of the German theologian with the Italian name Romano Guardini, the Belgian theologian Marmion, the American Merton living in France and the greatest of them, the German theologian Hans Urs Balthazar living in Switzerland" ^{[8, p. 188,189]}.

As can be assumed, the realization of images, symbols and musical and poetic ideas of St. Francis of Assisi, as well as the theological ideas of other representatives of the era of high Scholasticism, allowed Messiaen to express the meaning of Franciscan spirituality in the poem. A special study deserves the problem of reflecting in the "Franciscan Scenes" the Christian ideas fundamental to St. Francis of Assisi and relevant to the contemporary composer of the era.

The ideas of High Scholasticism in the mirror of the Franciscan Scenes

In the era of high scholasticism, against the background of a comprehensive subordination to the dogmas of theology, European universities were opened, promoting the development of pious scholarship and art. The formation of the mendicant orders of the Franciscans and Dominicans contributed to the spread of religious and philosophical ideas that arose from the study, commentary and interpretation of texts by ancient thinkers (Ptolemy, Plato, Plotinus, Aristotle and his Arab and Jewish commentators). The intellectual experience of antiquity, the search and development of natural scientific knowledge about the world allow us to characterize the scholasticism of the XIII-XIV centuries as a dynamic, creatively productive stage in the evolution of scientific thought. Dualism is discernible in the ideas of authoritative researchers of this era: if the metaphysical truth of existence was revealed by Christian revelation, then natural scientific knowledge was formed by human intelligence. In the era of Scholasticism, the attempt to reconcile faith and reason while subordinating to the dogma of theology determines the direction of interpretation of authoritative primary sources. "In a certain sense, all scholasticism is philosophizing in the forms of interpretation of the text," S. S. noted. Averintsev ^{[9, 414]}.

The text of Messiaen's poem, representing the "scenes" of the spiritual life and death of St. Francis of Assisi, conveys the meaning of the teachings of the era of high Scholasticism. At the same time, the complex of Christian ideas belonging to the thinkers of the XIII–XIV centuries in Messiaen's poem corresponds with the ideas of modern religious and philosophical thinkers. The author of the Franciscan Scenes interpreted the tests of Holy Scripture; the Christian ideas of the poem were developed by Messiaen using the methods of paraphrasing and philosophical transposition.

Interpretation of the idea of revelation in the poem

In Messiaen's poem, the concept of revelation contains two interrelated aspects, the boundaries between which are conditional. If one aspect of revelation reveals the connection between Saint Francis of Assisi and God, then the other reflects man's participation in the sacrament of revelation, the connection between man, the world and God. In the XIII century, Saint Bonaventure attempted to interpret the interacting aspects of revelation: "This is what was revealed to St. Francis when, in the rapture of contemplation on the top of the mountain (exactly where the idea of writing this book came into my soul), a six-winged seraphim appeared with wings folded in the form of a Crucifix. I and many others heard this story from one of his comrades who was with him when he passed into God through the rapture of contemplation. St. Francis became an example of perfect contemplation, just as before he gave an example of action and, like a new Jacob, became the new Israel, because God through this invites all truly spiritual people to such a transition and spiritual admiration more by example than by word" ^{[10, 155]}. Pointing to the "example of action" of St. Francis of Assisi, the "seraphic doctor" meant both prayer service and the mystical experience of "contemplation" of the holy ascetic, which required the exertion of all his forces.

The tragic climax of the "Franciscan Scenes" (painting 7 "Stigmata") reveals the aspect of revelation as a spiritual connection between God and St. Francis of Assisi. The main character of the poem strives to "see the truth in ecstatic contemplation" ^{[9, 414]}. The content of the 7th painting is the prayer of the saint and the dialogue between Francis of Assisi and Christ. An episode of revelation is included in this dialogue. Saint Francis of Assisi prayed to Christ to grant him the opportunity to experience the sufferings that the Savior suffered during the death penalty: "Oh, Jesus Christ! Grant me two graces before I die! The first thing is for me to feel in my body all the pain that You suffered at the moment of Passion! And secondly, let me feel in my heart the love with which You accepted these sufferings for the sake of us sinners" ^{[11, 90]}. The author of the poem conveyed the desire of the holy ascetic to bear the sufferings of Christ in his own body. Deciding to sacrifice his life to the Savior, he lamented: "Oh weakness!.. A despicable soul! O my unworthy body!.." ^{[11, 92]}. In the text of the prayer, we can distinguish a semantic motif about the interaction of soul and body, relevant to the evolution of philosophical ideas since the time of the Stagirite.

The prayer of Francis of Assisi is followed by an episode of revelation. The saint came closer to comprehending the mystery of revelation in the process of "contemplation" or "transcendence", that is, "the transition from finite existence to infinite being" ^{[12, 125]}. The idea of revelation reveals the root cause and meaning of existence. According to the definition of C. C. Averintseva, "for Christianity, the highest Revelation is Christ Himself, in whose personality both the absolute being and the absolute truth of this being are directly revealed, as if its semantic formula, the logos (see John 14:6: "I am ... the truth")" ^{[9, 337-338]}.

The tragic climax of the poem reveals the mystical mystery of revelation as a spiritual continuum, a transcendent reality. The metaphysical space of the meaning of revelation characterizes the Divine Omnipresence. The French Catholic thinker P. Teilhard de Chardin noted: "The Divine Omnipresence is a consequence of the ultimate spirituality" ^{[13, 86]}. Considering the question of the soul's reaction to the influence of the Divine environment, which is "by grace the most suitable for its [soul's] life and development," the theological thinker characterized St. Francis of Assisi's perception of the semantic overtones of revelation. "Just as in the depths of the Divine environment all the sounds produced merge, without mixing, into a single Note that dominates all the others, supporting them (this is undoubtedly the angelic note that fascinated St. Francis), so all the forces of the soul begin to resonate, responding to this call, and their [sounds the numerous tones, in turn, add up to an inexpressibly simple sound, in which all the spiritual shades of love and prudence, ardor and calmness, balance and delight, passion and indifference, possession and detachment, peace and movement arise, disappear, shimmer according to time and circumstances — countless possibilities of unique and inexpressible inner states" [13, 92].

In the text of the episode of revelation, Messiaen found the dominance of such distinctive signs of revelation as "self-characterization" and "personality" (both definitions belong to the researcher S. S. Averintsev) ^{[9, 337]}. It is noteworthy, however, that the Messiaen entrusted the words of Christ addressed to St. Francis of Assisi to the choir. The "collective character" chants: "It's Me! <...> I am Alpha and Omega. I have been and will be forever <...> Everything was created by Me <...> I am the Truth from which all things come <...> The One who gives, whose spirit died and rose again! <...> Man is a God Who comes from the depths of time, from the future to the past, to judge the world" ^{[11, 92]}. By paraphrasing the semantic formulas of the Holy Scriptures, the author of the poem conveyed the meaning of Christ's statements expressing the idea of revelation. The primary source of the paraphrase created by Messiaen is the appeal of Christ to the disciples: "It is I, do not be afraid" (Matthew 14:27).

The meaning of the text of the poem from the episode of revelation (picture 7) corresponds to the statement of Romano Guardini, Doctor of Catholic Theology, that the word of Holy Scripture "is born from Revelation" ^{[14, 4]}. Christ's words about death and resurrection reveal the idea of the immortality of the soul: "I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die" (John 25-26).

Analyzing the meaning of revelation through the prism of the interaction between man, the world and God, R. Guardini noted: "These words encompass heaven and earth: "I am the resurrection and the life." They contain Jesus' revelation about Himself and about death. Not "I create the resurrection, I give life," but "I am the resurrection and the life." It's me and no one else. It all depends on whether this "I am" will happen in us" ^{[15, 80]}.

Researcher G. Halbreisch, who noted the "primary role" of the choir in the episode of revelation from the 7th painting "Stigmata", called the "magnificently reciting, speaking" choir "depicting the voice of Christ" and "imitation of Jesus Christ" ^{[11, 94]}. The idea of a connection between man, the world and God is further developed in the choral episode "I Cried out" from the 8th picture ("Death and a New Life").

The idea of a connection between man, the world and God. Philosophical transposition in the poem

7 The Stigmata painting, which conveys the meaning of revelation, is not the only scene that makes it possible to distinguish the idea of a connection between man and God in the space of the spiritual meaning of the poem. The named idea is moved by the method of philosophical transposition in the poem into a generalized semantic register of interaction between man, the world and God. P. Teilhard de Chardin addressed the interpretation of this idea: "The world is illuminated by God only in response to our impulse. When, through high ecstasy or death, God wants to finally conquer a Christian and unite with him, then He <...> will take possession of him when love and obedience prompt him to exert all his strength" ^{[13, 90-91]}.

In the choral episode "I called..." from the 8th painting "Death and a New Life", Messiaen expressed the fear and despair of a person involved in the revelation at the thought that God had abandoned him: "I called out, 'Ah!' and my voice: 'Ah!' I called out and my voice <...> shouts and says, "Ah!" To God! <...> to God, whom I pray!" ^{[11, 96]}. Having discovered man's complicity in the sacrament of revelation, Messiaen actualized the motive of man's indispensable desire to be heard by God. Let us note in the text of the named choral episode the semantic formulas of the first verse of the 141 psalm: "With my voice I cried to the Lord, with my voice I prayed to the Lord." The choral episode "I called ..." marks the moment of modulation in the development of the action: the party of the "collective character" (chorus) appears in the foreground of dramatic development. The choir, as an exponent of the idea of the connection between man, the world and God, becomes the protagonist of the mystical action of the "Franciscan Scenes".

By integrating the semantic formulas of the first verse of Psalm 141 and phrases from the New Testament into the text of the poem, Messiaen presented a theological interpretation of the idea of the connection between man, the world and God in the forms of paraphrasing. This idea seemed relevant to both the author of the poem and the Catholic thinker R. Guardini. The latter expressed a judgment on the role of man as the "addressee and partner" of revelation: "Revelation is not something absolutely correct that should be taken into account — no, truth grows out of it, making demands on a person as soon as he sees it. Revelation requires that it be accepted, that man renounce himself and surrender to what comes from God" ^{[15, 89]}.

In the 3rd– 5th and 8th paintings of the Franciscan Scenes, Messiaen showed participation in the action of the Angel messenger of God. The Angel, visible only to the main character, represents a "spiritual essence" ^{[16, 209]}. St. Augustine "recognizes their [angels'] significant influence on the life of the "City of the earth"" ^{[16, 170]}. In book IX of St. Augustine "On the City of God" it is said about the fulfillment by angels of the Divine will, with which the will of the good messengers of God coincides: "By the will of angels, I mean the will of both good angels, whom we call the angels of God, and evil angels, whom we call the angels of the devil or demons, as well as the will people, both good and evil" ^{[17, 207]}.

Integrating the image of an Angel into the figurative system of the poem, reminiscent of the hierarchy of characters in the mysteries of the XIV – XV centuries, Messiaen designated the "earth — sky" genre vector in the "Franciscan scenes". The idea of a connection between man, the world and God is initially developed in the 3rd picture of the poem ("The Kiss of the Leper"), when an invisible Angel first visits a leprosy patient and a compassionate visitor — St. Francis of Assisi. The angel explains to the leper the meaning of the sufferings of his soul: "Your soul makes you feel guilty. But the Lord is more than your soul. He is love <...> He is bigger, bigger than your soul. He knows everything," the beautiful Angel repeats ^{[11, 60]}. By paraphrasing, Messiaen conveyed here the meaning of the text of the "First Epistle of the Holy Apostle John the Theologian": "If our heart condemns us, then God is more than God, because God is greater than our heart and knows everything" (John 3:20). Developing the idea of the connection between man, the world and God in the 5th, 7th and 8th paintings of the poem, Messiaen created semantic and dramatic arches in the composition of the work; thanks to the technique of symmetry, the artistic form of the poem gained conceptual coherence and compositional integrity.

The idea of the connection between man, the world and God is developed in the poem by the method of "philosophical transposition" (the expression of H. W. von Balthazar) ^{[18, 39]}. Transposition — the movement of a theological idea into a generalized register and an expanded range of meanings — makes it possible to distinguish in the finale of the poem the affirmation of the idea of a connection between man, the world and God. The author of the Franciscan Scenes approached the discovery of this idea in the poem as a result of understanding the ideas of high Scholasticism and their interpretation by modern Catholic thinkers. Messiaen, who turned to the text of Summa Theologia many times, noted Thomas Aquinas' consistent development of Aristotle's concept of the Soul. Originally outlined in the work "The Sum against the Pagans", the concept of the "angelic doctor", as noted by S. S. Averintsev, "caused a lot of criticism from the Augustinian-Franciscan opponents of Thomas Aquinas, until it was adopted at the Council of Vienne in 1314 as the orthodox doctrine of the Catholic Church" ^{[9, 469]}. The Summa Theologica formulates the thesis: "Man is not only a soul, but a kind of union of soul and body, and not (according to the Platonic formulation) a "soul using the body" (S. th., p. I, q75, a.4)" ^{[9, 469]}. The above thesis of St. Thomas Aquinas on the union of soul and body S. S. Averintsev compared it with the axiom also given in Summa Theologica: "The human soul is not only the motor of the body acting on it from the outside, but its substantial form and at the same time the only one (S. th., p. I, q76, a.3)" ^{[9, 469]}. The thought of St. Thomas Aquinas is logically aimed at expounding the idea of the immortality of the soul. As researcher K. S. Bandurovsky noted, in the Thomistic doctrine of the immortality of the soul, "Thomas Aquinas makes a significant turn, abandoning the traditional centuries-old interpretation of this problem based on Platonic philosophical principles, and from the highly reasoned, extensive Platonic concept of the immortality of the soul and turning to the Aristotelian doctrine of the soul, which, as it was customary to believe in those days the times (and as is often still believed), foundations the denial of the immortality of the human soul as a whole, or at least presents this issue as an aporia" ^{[19, 11]}.

In the apotheosis of the poem (the 8th painting "Death and a New Life"), its author exposes the idea of a connection between man (St. Francis of Assisi) and God to philosophical transposition, presenting a paraphrase of the text of Holy Scripture in the choral part. Messiaen included the liturgical exclamation Alleluia in the final chorus! ("Praise the Lord!"). The source of paraphrasing here is the Epistle of the Holy Apostle Paul to the Corinthians (Chap. 15; 40-43): "Another radiance of the moon, another light of the sun. Hallelujah! <...> And even the light of one star is different from the light of another star… So it is with the resurrection of the dead. Hallelujah, hallelujah! Out of weakness, illness and humiliation, he is resurrected! He is resurrected in power, glory and joy" ^{[11, 100]}. Transposing the idea of the connection between the main character of the poem and God into the high register of meanings of the Holy Scriptures expands the semantic space of the original idea, providing the opportunity to read the fundamental ideas of Christianity at a new level of semantic generalization. As a result of the philosophical transposition, a complex of ideas of the resurrection of the dead, the immortality of the soul, joy, the connection between man, the world and God is revealed.

The liturgical episodes of the responsory reading (paintings 2 and 8), which create a semantic and dramatic "rhyme", reveal the functioning of the dramatic sphere of theatrical liturgy in the poem. The theological idea of supersensible reality is developing in the semantic field of this sphere. The immanent component of revelation — the idea of supersensible reality — is considered separately in our article (2024), in the paragraph "On the theological interpretation of the scene of Christian revelation. The Theocentrism of the "poem"" ^[20].

Interpretation of the idea of predestination in the poem. Divine Providence

In episode 4 of the poem, Messiaen expressed an idea of the rules of behavior of Franciscan monks, showing that the vicar (Brother Eli) escorted a traveling Angel out of the monastery door because he distracted the vicar from important matters. A traveling Angel who visited the monastery of the Minorite monks asked Brother Eli: "What do you think about predestination? Have you rejected the old man in order to become a new man, to find your true face, which is provided by God, in truth and holiness, in the holiness of truth?" ^{[11, 68]}.

Messiaen outlined the idea around which a controversy was conducted in the XIII century, which left a mark on the history of Christianity. It is about predestination (predestinatio or predeterminatio). According to the interpretation of S. S. Averintseva, predestination is "the determinism of human ethical behavior emanating from the will of the deity and hence his "salvation" or "condemnation" in eternity" ^{[9, 357]}. Mentioning predestination, Messiaen noted the problem of ideological contradictions that took place in the era of the mature Middle Ages. The divergence of views of Christian thinkers on predestination was facilitated by the existence of various orders; the latter created opportunities for the development of alternative types of scholasticism. The doctrines of Saints Bonaventure and Thomas Aquinas were not chosen by Messiaen as objects for the discovery of ideological, stylistic or intellectual-aesthetic distinctions. "If the motto of the Franciscans is "love", i.e. mystical gorenje, then the motto of the Dominicans is "truth" — i.e. systematic elaboration of doctrine in the forms of common sense," S. S. clarified. Averintsev ^{[9, 465]}. "Saint Bonaventure never denied the Dominican ideal in the name of the Franciscan ideal, considering them to be of equal value, and according to a trustworthy tradition, Bonaventure and Thomas were linked by bonds of friendship, but this did not extend to their philosophical views," — such a comparative description made by the Franciscan Salimbene was given by researcher V. L. Zadvorny in the article "Saint Bonaventure and his era" ^{[10, 16]}. As S. C. believed. Averintsev, "Saint Bonaventure prefers to give formulations about "primordial love" (praedilectio) God as the true cause of man's moral virtues" ^{[9, 358]}.

In Messiaen's interpretation of the idea of predestination / Divine providence, the poem reveals a semantic analogy with the thesis of St. Bonaventure about the God-ordained moral self-improvement of the soul on the way to God (Itinerarium mentis ad Deum). In the words of a traveling Angel, the author of the poem expressed, at the same time, the idea of God's intuition (providence), about the possibility of a person gaining truth, "the sanctity of truth," pre-established by the New Testament. As Messiaen showed, St. Francis of Assisi comprehended the idea of Divine providence as the intervention of the Divine will in the process of spiritual perfection of man.

The idea of Divine providence is revealed by Messiaen in the final episode of the 6th picture of the poem ("Sermon to the Birds"). In the words of the holy Gospel, Father Francis tells Brother Massa about birds that "do not sow, nor reap, nor gather into barns; and our heavenly father feeds them" (Matthew 6:26). To what was said, St. Francis added: "Let us entrust our lives to Divine providence: in search of the Kingdom, the Kingdom of His truth, and the rest will be added to us in abundance" ^{[11, 86]}. Referring to Divine providence in the poem, Messiaen paraphrased the text of the New Testament: "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you" (Matthew 6:33).

Interpretation of the idea of "enlightenment": the strategy of light-color metamorphoses

The author of the poem expanded the semantic range of the statement set out in the 5th picture, in the role of an Angel: "The Lord blinds us with an abundance of truth" ^{[11, 74]}. In the text of the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi from the 8th picture of the poem, Messiaen included semantic formulas from Psalm 143 ("deliver me, "heal me"). Along with the idea of Divine truth, the prayer of the protagonist contains the idea of "illumination" of the soul, and music and poetry are identified as vectors of the spiritual path of Father Francis. "Lord! <...> Music and poetry brought me to You in an image, a symbol for the lack of truth. Lord! <...> Enlighten me with your presence, set me free, deliver me, blind me forever with the abundance of truth...", Saint Francis of Assisi prayed to Christ ^{[11, 98]}. Poetic lyricism distinguishes the author's interpretation of the juxtaposed ideas of Divine truth and "illumination". The expression "... in a way, a symbol [for lack of truth]" reveals the development of the idea of "illumination" in the poem. Enlightenment allows a person to see God in the created world "through an image and in an image." This idea was outlined by Saint Bonaventure in the treatise "The Guide of the Soul to God": "Consistently, our soul contemplates God in the world around us through footprints and in footprints, in itself through an image and in an image, above itself — through the reflection of the divine light shining in our soul, and in the light itself, in accordance with the possibilities of our position as pilgrims in this life and the preparedness of our soul" ^{[10, 153]}.

In the tragic climax of the poem (the 7th painting "Stigmata"), theatrical imagery appears in the foreground of dramatic development. In order to create a mystical atmosphere of the sacrament, Messiaen applied here a special strategy of stage lighting, light-color metamorphoses. The text of the author's commentary reveals semantic parallels with the idea of St. Bonaventure about the nature of spiritual light. "An unearthly light is needed so that the coupling of the finite with the Divine becomes a reality," St. Bonaventure asserted [Antiseri, 157]. The metamorphoses of light and color radiations in Messiaen's poem mark the beginning of the dialogue between St. Francis and Christ. The author's remark states: "Here the scene will light up with a pale, strange, disturbing light" ^{[11, 90]}. Throughout the tragic climax of the poem, Messiaen consistently outlined the metamorphoses of light and color radiation: "It gets brighter. Dark green and pale yellow reflections appear" ^{[11, 90]}. The author of the poem described in detail the lighting of the darkened scene in the episode of revelation — the dialogue between St. Francis of Assisi and Christ. The finale of the episode with the appearance of stigmata on the hands, feet and right side of St. Francis of Assisi is accompanied by a laconic author's remark: "It's getting very light. The whole stage is illuminated with orange-red light" ^{[11, 90]}. The space of spiritual light, as Messiaen showed, reveals in the poem the semantic interaction of the "finite" (human) and the eternal (Divine).

Applying the strategy of light and color changes, Messiaen expressed the meaning of the verse from the Holy Scripture by synthesizing theatrical, decorative and artistic elements: "As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world" (John 9;5). The judgments on the spiritual origin of light, which go back to Neoplatonism, were developed in the writings of St. Augustine, and later in the teachings of St. Bonaventure. In the twentieth century, the authoritative German researcher H.-G. Gadamer mentioned the spiritual and sensual nature of light, who connected the origin of light (Lichtwerdung) with the appearance of the "Verb" — the Divine Word: "Only at the creation of light does God begin to speak for the first time," Gadamer noted ^{[22, 158]}.

The theological idea of the nature of spiritual light was expressed by P. Teilhard de Chardin: "This light is not accessible to simple perception <...> This is a smooth and strong radiance generated by the union in Christ of all the elements of the world" ^{[13, 104]}. Interpreting the idea of "illumination" in the poem, Messiaen formed a space of spiritual meaning in the scene of revelation, applying the method of synthesis of various artistic elements of theatrical art. In developing the strategy of light-color transformations necessary to create an atmosphere of mysticism in the tragic climax of the poem, Messiaen implemented religious and philosophical ideas dating back to the teachings of St. Augustine, which formed the idea of modern theological thinkers about the nature of spiritual light.

The symbolic image of the "Heavenly Staircases". The ideas of death and resurrection of the dead and their interpretation in the poem

Just as St. Augustine created the concept of the Heavenly City, St. Bonaventure captured the symbolic image of the world in the form of six steps of a ladder leading a person to God: "... the created world is a ladder for climbing to God" ^{[10, 51]}. Considering the relationship of earthly creations ("things") with God, the "seraphic doctor" discovered the subtle connections that exist between creation and the Creator. Analyzing the nature of this interaction, the author of the introductory article to the publication of the Guidebook ... (1993), researcher and translator V. L. Zadvorny interpreted St. Bonaventure's understanding of the metaphysical nature of the interconnected elements of the world in this way: "Things relate to God as signs with the meaning they express" ^{[10, 26]}.

Science, which occupied a special place in the life of the Franciscans, seemed to Saint Bonaventure to be a step on the ladder leading to God. "The six stages of illumination that begin in the created world" (St. Bonaventure's definition) are a symbolic image of ascension to God, "to whom no one will enter except through Christ" ^{[10, 45]}.

In episode 5 of the poem's painting ("The Angel Musician") Messiaen expressed the idea of Divine music, which reflects the image of "Heavenly staircases": "Listen to the music that brought [your] life closer to the heavenly staircases, listen to the music of the invisible" ^{[11, 76]}. The above fragment and phrase from the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi ("Lord! Music and poetry have brought me to You!") form a semantic arch, marking the connection between the musical and poetic work of St. Francis of Assisi and Divine Music. The repetition of semantic formulas "at a distance" is the principle of Messiaen's dramatic strategy, which informs the poem of the "solidity of syntax" (B. V. definition Asafieva). The realization of the symbolic imagery of the text of St. Bonaventure allowed Messiaen to form an idea of the spirituality of Franciscanism in the poem. Saint Bonaventure marked the finding of an Assisi Poor Man on the sixth step of the ladder leading to God. In the treatise "The Guide of the soul to God", its author noted: "Here the transition to the higher world ends and the last page of the guide closes, the soul finds peace in God" ^{[10, 29]}. Saint Bonaventure always believed that Saint Francis of Assisi brought the experience of Christian love closer to God.

The 6th picture of the poem ("Sermon to the Birds") contains an episode in which St. Francis of Assisi and his former pupil Brother Masset discuss the singing of one of the birds, which, as if mistaken, "descends the tones of the scale before ascending them" ^{[11, 84]}. Explaining that this is how the Gammier bird sings, Saint Francis explained to his companion the idea of the resurrection of the dead: "And after the resurrection, we will also climb the staircases of heaven, as if descending from them" ^{[11, 84]}. Messiaen's interpretation of the idea of the resurrection of the dead reflected the symbolic image of the world in the form of heavenly staircases presented in St. Bonaventure's treatise "Guide of the Soul to God".

The ideas of death and resurrection of the dead have a cross-cutting development in the "Franciscan scenes". These ideas were developed in the prayer of the main character (2 painting "Lauda"), in the liturgical episodes with the reading of the responsory (2 and 8 paintings), in the above episode of 6 paintings and in the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi before his death.

In the solo episode from the 8th picture of the poem preceding the reading of the responsory, St. Francis of Assisi blesses "our sister's bodily death, which no one can avoid" ^{[11, 96]}. "Blessed is he whom the first death finds in accordance with Your holy will: the second death does not cause him any harm," says the holy ascetic ^{[11, 96]}. In the above part of the protagonist's dying monologue, Messiaen interpreted a fragment of the "Song of the Brother of the Sun" by St. Francis of Assisi. In the most famous poem written in the Italian vernacular, St. Francis of Assisi dedicated a stanza to death: "Praise be to You, Lord, for our sister, bodily death, / No man will escape it" ^{[1, 379]}. Translator, poet, philologist, Doctor of theology O. A. Sedakova noted: "The Song of the Brother of the Sun" <...> it looks like a psalm rewritten by a child's hand" ^{[23, 97]}.

In Lauda's original text, "A Song of Praise to God in Creation," St. Francis of Assisi glorified death: "Laudato si', mi Signore, / per sora nostra Morte corporale, / da la quale nullu homo vivente po' skappare: / guai a quelli ke morrano ne le peccata mortali; / beati quelli ke trovarà ne le Tue santissime voluntati, / ka la morte secunda no l farrà male" ^{[2, 297]}.

St. Francis of Assisi also expressed the idea of death in the poem "Greeting to the Virtues": "For there is no man on earth to find one of you, and before that he did not die" ^{[23, 96]}. Researcher O. A. Sedakova conveyed the attitude of St. Francis of Assisi to death with the phrase: "He demands death" ^{[23, 96]}. In the named poem by St. Francis of Assisi, the idea of death is stated by the author as follows: "Blessed are those whom it [death] finds in the fulfillment of Your most holy will, for the second death will no longer harm them" ^{[2, 227]}. Developing the idea of death in the poem, Messiaen noted the semantic connection between the idea of "bodily death" and the idea of Divine providence.

In the choral apotheosis of the poem, the ideas of death and the resurrection of the dead move into the high register of philosophical generalization. The complex of ideas of death, resurrection of the dead and Divine providence is connected in meaning with the symbolic image of heavenly staircases — steps leading to God. The image of the heavenly staircases in the poem symbolizes the idea of a connection between man, the world and God.

The idea of Divine truth and its interpretation in the poem

The idea of Divine truth presented in the canonical texts of the New Testament was the subject of research by the head of the Dominican Order, St. Thomas Aquinas (1221-1274). His theological treatise "On Controversial issues of Truth", along with the logical justification of the existence of God, contains an examination of two aspects: ontological truth adequate to human intelligence and Divine truth. The metaphysical center in the writings of the "angelic doctor" is the logical proof of the existence of God. St. Thomas Aquinas considered the Divine truth immanent to the Divine intellect to be the subject of metaphysics. In the period 1256-1259, Thomas Aquinas, who received a master's degree in theology and the position of head of the department of the University of Paris, combined teaching and research activities. He created such works as "On Divided Substances", "On the Eternity of the World", "On the Unity of the Theological Intellect", "The Sum against the Pagans" / "The Sum of Philosophy", as well as the unfinished "Theological Sum".

As St. Thomas Aquinas claimed, everything that exists is true and all living things bear the seal of God, who created every object in fulfillment of a perfect plan. "The fullness of God's being is the fullness of his truth," is how the researchers of the history of philosophy J. Reale and D. Antiseri interpreted the idea of St. Thomas Aquinas ^{[21, 140]}. This idea corresponds to the meaning of the verse of Holy Scripture: "I am the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6).

The twentieth-century Catholic thinker H. W. turned to the analysis of the ideas and relevant axioms developed by St. Thomas Aquinas. von Balthazar, who investigated the logical principles of thinking of the great representative of the theological thought of high Scholasticism. "His [Aquinas'] originality — of course, not completely, but to a large extent — consists in an enlightening ordering of the monstrous heaps of thought that formed before him. <...> The theme of philosophical "transposition" originates from Thomas. The whole worldview can be transferred from one key to another without any damage to itself. Can we assume that Thomas transposed the worldview of Augustine and Dionysius the Areopagite into terms of the Aristotelian system — or did he make the opposite transformation? Or did he translate both of these thinkers into some third, new language?" von Balthazar on the philosophical transposition of ideas ^{[18, 38-39]}.

Messiaen included the idea of Divine truth in the complex of the main ideas of the poem. The angel, the bearer of Divine Truth, convinces St. Francis of Assisi of the "conformity" of the holy ascetic's understanding of the idea of Divine truth and the fidelity of the service of the Poor of Assisi to this idea. The idea of Divine truth has a cross–cutting development in acts II and III of the poem (5-8 paintings). "The Lord blinds us with an abundance of truth. Music leads us to God for lack of truth," the Angel Musician inspires Saint Francis of Assisi (picture 5) [Avant., 74]. "This quote, dear Messiaen, is borrowed from the Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas, and St. Francis will pronounce it at the hour of his death in the last painting," researcher G. Halbreisch believed, who called the method of paraphrasing quoting ^{[7, 509]}. Comparing the idea of Divine truth with the phrase of the Angel Musician repeated in the 5th and 8th paintings of the poem ("The Lord blinds us with an excess of truth") allows us to establish a coincidence of semantic overtones.

In the 7th painting "Stigmata", the choir performing the phrases of Christ "in the first person" exclaims: "I am the Truth from which all things come" ^{[11, 92]}. Without resorting to quoting, Messiaen conveyed the idea of Divine truth by paraphrasing a verse of Holy Scripture: "I am ... the truth" (John 14:6).

In prayer before death (picture 8), St. Francis of Assisi reveals to God the unchanging desire to be forever united with Divine truth: "Lord! <...> Blind me forever with an excess of truth!" ^{[11, 98]}. The method of presentation of the verbal text is relevant to the symphonic principle of generalization in the unfolding of the musical fabric: in the music of the opera, the theme of truth (Thème de la Vérité) in the orchestral part (c. 111) accompanies the solo of the main character: "Lord! <...> Blind me forever with an excess of truth!" ^{[24, 134]}. The composer approved the idea of Divine Truth as one of the leading ideas of the Franciscan Scenes. The theme of truth (Thème de la Vérité) is noted in the handwritten list of the main themes of the opera, compiled by Messiaen in the form of musical examples (see No. 12); the named list is given on the pages of the Avant-Scène Opéra magazine ^{[11, 104]}.

Interpretation of the idea "all things are good" in the poem

The evangelical life of Francis of Assisi is shown in the poem through the prism of a musical and poetic vision of a world in which everything is good. This idea of Christian metaphysics was developed in the liturgical episodes of 2 and 8 paintings of the poem. In them, Messiaen outlined fragments of St. Francis of Assisi's lauda "A Song of Praise to God in Creation" (1225) and his poem "A Call to Praise God." The alternating stanzas of lauda and praise include semantic formulas of psalm verses. This method of integrating semantic formulas from the texts of Holy Scripture was used by the author of the poem both in the solo of St. Francis of Assisi (prayer) and in the responsory read during the prayer of the main character. The named liturgical episodes contain the following semantic formulas of psalm verses: "Praise the Lord for all His creations. May heaven, earth, and every heavenly and earthly creation praise Him" ^{[11, 54]}. The text of the poem conveys the meaning of the texts of Holy Scripture (Old and New Testaments): "You are worthy, Lord, to receive glory and honor..." (Rev. 4:11); "Bless the Lord, sons of God" (Dan. 3:82); "Praise the Lord, for He is good" (psalm 146); "All creatures, bless the Lord" (psalm 102) ^{[2, 219]}. The episode of prayer and responsories from the 8th painting ("Death and a New Life") also includes the semantic formulas of Psalm 143: "My despair before You <...> Blessed is Your holy name" ^{[11, 96]}.

The idea of "all things are good" develops in the 6th picture of the poem ("Preaching to the Birds"). Before the beginning of the sermon to the birds, St. Francis and his companion Brother Masset are near a large green oak tree, in the crown of which songbirds have gathered. After listening thoughtfully to the bird concert, St. Francis of Assisi remarked: "All beauty must achieve freedom <...> in glory. Our bird brothers are waiting for the day when Christ will unite all creatures, earthly and heavenly" ^{[11, 84]}. In the above fragment of the poem, Messiaen conveyed the meaning of chapter CXXIV from the "Second Life of St. Francis of Assisi, compiled by Thomas of Chelan." This chapter is devoted to the description of the saint's reverence and love for creatures: "In beautiful things he recognized the Supreme beauty, and when he saw something good, he exclaimed: "The one who created this is infinitely good!" ^{[23, 106-107]}. After blessing the birds, Saint Francis told them: "The one who has done so many good things for you loves you! Brothers of the bird, praise the Lord, and I will make the sign of the cross over you as a sign of blessing!" ^{[11, 84]}. Conveying the meaning of the text of Thomas Chelansky, Messiaen interpreted the idea of "all things are good." The semantic formula is included in the text of the paraphrase: "All the birds of heaven, praise the Lord!" (Psalm 148, 7:10). Saint Francis of Assisi used the semantic formula of the psalm verse in his own poem "A Call to Praise God." Developing the metaphysical idea "all things are good" in the poem, Messiaen combined a paraphrase of Holy Scripture, semantic motifs of the poetic works of St. Francis of Assisi and the text of Thomas of Chelan.

The statement that all things are good takes place in the treatises of authoritative thinkers of the early Christian era. For example, in the work of St. Augustine "On the true Faith", this idea is presented in the form of proof: "For everything that exists must exist in whatever form: therefore, even if it is the least good, it will still be good and will be from God. Because the highest kind is the highest good" ^{[10, 171]}.

In the study "On the Names of God" by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (the second half of the fifth century), there is a judgment: "... the good, being good in essence, by its very existence spreads goodness to everything that exists" ^{[10, 173]}. Maximus the Confessor's commentary on the treatise of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite "The Ladder of Jacob" contains the justification that all things are good: "God has brought everything that exists so that, as far as everyone is concerned, it can partake of His grace <...> after all, everyone joins in his goodness according to his deeds" ^{[16, 147]}.

In the era of high Scholasticism, the idea of "all things are good" was designated by Saint Bonaventure, referring to the teachings of a Christian thinker, a representative of late patristics (Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite): "Dionysius, following Christ, says that the first name of God is 'Good'" ^{[10, 125]}.

In the Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas, the idea under consideration is presented as follows: "Everything that exists is good, because everything that exists, as far as it exists, is good" (... omne ens, inquantum est ens, est bonum) ^[25].

The related mental constructions of Saints Francis of Assisi, Bonaventure and Thomas Aquinas interpreted by Messiaen in the poem closely correspond. As Messiaen showed in the poem, St. Francis of Assisi embodied the idea of "all things are good" in musical and poetic forms.

Philosophical transposition of the Christian idea of joy: "the true and perfect joy of the blessed"

By including fragments of the work of St. Francis of Assisi "Instruction on True and Perfect Joy" in the 1st and 8th paintings of the poem, Messiaen captured in the "Franciscan Scenes" the Christian understanding of the idea of joy. In 1 painting ("The Cross"), the main character of the poem explains the meaning of the "Instruction ..." to the monk Leon, pointing to the cross installed on the road. In the chapter "Joy and the Cross" from the book "Truth is Symphonic", the theological thinker H. W. Von Balthazar noted: "The fact that the Gospel is good news, and therefore its main tone is, without a doubt, joy, says the very word eu—angelion. This is the proclamation of "great joy", "peace on earth" <...> peace and joy here are interchangeable designations of the highest good..." ^{[18, 120]}.

Messiaen interpreted joy as a fundamental idea of Christianity, including in the score of the Franciscan Scenes the themes of joy (La joie) and "perfect joy" (La joie parfaite), which have an end-to-end symphonic unfolding. In the finale of the poem, the idea of joy develops in accordance with the principle of complementarity: the idea of the joy of the Resurrection of Christ is complemented by the idea of the rebirth to a new life of St. Francis of Assisi. The triumph of joy is expressed by the chorus party: "He is resurrecting! He is resurrected in power, glory and joy!!!" ^{[11, 100]}. The verbal text of the choral part reflects the meaning of the judgment of St. Bonaventure, who mentioned the state of "inner joy" accompanying the process of the soul's ascent to God: "... research will give little, but anointing can give a lot: language will give little, but inner joy will give a lot" ^{[10, 155]}. Researcher V. L. Zadvorny noted the semantic connotation of St. Bonaventure's thought — "the mystical joy of knowing God and serving Him" ^{[10, 25]}.

Messiaen interpreted the idea of joy by applying a philosophical transposition: the idea of joy is transposed into a generalized register of the "true perfect joy of the blessed." In the opening episode of the prayer of the main character from the 5th picture of the poem ("The Angel Musician"), the idea of joy is presented in comparison with the idea of the resurrection of the dead. Having sung the praises of the Creator's creations, St. Francis of Assisi speaks about the resurrection of the dead as it is said in the "Epistle of the Holy Apostle Paul to the Corinthians" (New Testament). Concluding the prayer, the holy ascetic calls the joy of the blessed ones contemplating God a source of joy: "All these glories, of which the Apostle speaks, captivate me. But most of all, I am fascinated by the joy of the blessed and the endless happiness of contemplation. O eternal Lord, Almighty Father, let me taste a little of this unspeakable feast, at which You, together with Your Son and the Holy Spirit, show the saints the true light, the highest, perfect joy!" ^{[11, 74]}.

In the speech of the Angel-musician, addressed to the attentive holy ascetic, there is a repeated mention of the joy of the blessed. A beautiful Angel revealed to Saint Francis that he was worthy to experience the joy of the blessed: "Know the joy of the blessed in the sweetness of color and music" ^{[11, 74]}. The Christian idea of joy in the poem is transposed into the semantic register of the "true and perfect joy of the blessed." For the main character of the poem, as well as for its author, the idea of joy was revealed in music, through the prism of light-color metamorphoses.

Christian Ideas of Modern Catholic Thinkers in the Mirror of Messiaen's Poem

In the poem, Messiaen followed the tradition of the poet, playwright, and outstanding theorist of theatrical art P. Claudel (1868-1955. Claudel expressed the ideas of joy, resurrection of the dead, praise to God and the connection between man, the world and God in the finale of the mystery "The Good News of Mary" (1912-1948). Saint Violena (the main character of the mystery), who resurrected a dead child, says: "How sweet and how painful it is to let a living soul into the world" ^{[26, 489]}. A generalized set of Christian ideas is presented in the final episode of the mystery:

^{[26, 492]}

Claudel perceived the ringing of bells, which received a cross-cutting development in the mystery drama, as "the voices of symbolic "intermediaries" between earthly representatives of the human race and the disembodied forces of the heavenly host of the Lord" ^[27]. As in Claudel's mystery, Messiaen's poem asserts the relevance of the idea of a connection between man, the world and God. A special dramatic function in Messiaen's Franciscan Scenes is performed by the ringing of bells: on the night of the death of St. Francis of Assisi, all the bells in Assisi rang until morning. In the final painting of the Franciscan Scenes, Messiaen placed a remark: "The bells are ringing" ^{[11, 98]}. In the juxtaposed final episodes of Claudel's mystery and Messiaen's poem, it is noteworthy not only the coincidence of meanings, but also the appeal of each of the authors to the texts of Holy Scripture. Unlike Claudel, who quoted fragments of Holy Scripture and semantic formulas of the liturgy in Latin, Messiaen conveyed the meaning of the verses of Holy Scripture in forms of paraphrasing. The semantic layer of paraphrasing formed a "supertext" in the dramaturgically multilayered theological concept of the "Franciscan Scenes". In this "supertext" Messiaen revealed the meaning of the fundamental ideas of Christianity relevant to St. Francis of Assisi and the era of high Scholasticism in general. "Both Holy Scripture and Sacred Tradition, as well as the legacy of ancient philosophy, which was actively processed by scholasticism, acted in it as a grandiose normative supertext," S. S. noted. Averintsev ^{[9, 413]}.

In a wide range of Christian ideas of the poem, the semantic overtones of the thought of the Swiss theologian H. W. are discernible. von Balthazar, who used musical terminology in religious and philosophical discourse. In the book "Truth is Symphonic," the Catholic thinker summarized: "Symphonically, polyphonically, it is given only to the whole of humanity as a whole to think. At the same time, its largest representatives are distinguished by the ability — with the help of intuition, which is the core of their systems, to fuse elements scattered everywhere and always at hand. This is also the case in great art: it is always beholden to someone, it unexpectedly places the keystone where many builders have already worked before it" ^{[18, 38]}.

Turning to the conclusions, we note:

In the mirror of Messiaen's poem "St. Francis of Assisi. Franciscan scenes" reflects the meaning of hagiographic sources, among which are the author's biographies of Thomas of Chelan, St. Bonaventure, as well as "The Flowers of Francis of Assisi" and "The Mirror of Perfection".

Messiaen captured examples of the spiritual feat of the evangelical life and death of St. Francis of Assisi in a poem, revealing the ideas of his musical and poetic compositions ("Song of Praise to God in Creation", "Hymn of the Brother of the Sun", "Greeting to the Virtues", "Call to praise God", "Instruction on true and Perfect Joy").

The text of the poem reflects a wide range of religious and philosophical ideas of high scholasticism, primarily St. Bonaventure and St. Thomas Aquinas.

The author of the poem presented an artistic interpretation of the Christian ideas of revelation, the connection between man, the world and God, predestination / Divine providence, "illumination", death and resurrection of the dead, Divine truth, "all things are good", "true and perfect joy".

Reflecting theological ideas, semantic motifs and symbolic images of high scholasticism in the poem, Messiaen formed a space of Franciscan spirituality in the work.

Interpreting the ideas of Divine truth, death, resurrection of the dead, and joy in the poem, Messiaen applied a set of methods of paraphrasing and philosophical transposition.

The method of paraphrasing the verses of the Holy Scriptures allowed Messiaen to achieve the conceptual integrity and harmony of the form of the theological poem.

Realizing the metaphysical idea "all things are good", Messiaen summarized the semantic elements of the poetic works of St. Francis of Assisi, the prose text of Thomas of Chelan, paraphrases of verses of Holy Scripture, the ideas of St. Bonaventure and St. Thomas Aquinas.

Messiaen's poem, as well as in the studies of modern Catholic thinkers, asserts the relevance of the idea of a connection between man, the world and God.