Andrew Kosorok

This glass version of an ossuary box housing magic lantern slides references a story shared among mystic and gnostic Christian, Sufi, and Western alchemy traditions – a story with its roots in the Infancy Gospels.

In Jerusalem of two millennia ago, as with many of its contemporary cities, land was at a premium. When a loved one passed away their remains would be buried for a year or so then the bones would be recovered, cleaned, and respectfully placed in hand-carved ossuary boxes and interred in family entombment sites. A few decades ago a significant stir was caused when archeologists announced they had discovered the Holy Family of Christian tradition, whose bones were found in a set of ossuary boxes bearing their names (https://www.religionnewsblog.com/17561/mysterious-bones-of-jesus-joseph-and-mary). Further discussion among archeologists and anthropologists studying the time period revealed that these were relatively common names, and several caches of remains with the same and similar name groupings have been recorded – but for a while, this announcement was responsible for a lot of excitement.

Regardless, the ossuary box was a significant and tangible way for surviving family to remember a departed loved one with reverence and respect.

This particular ossuary box shares a story from the infancy Gospels. These non-canonical Gospels are a collection of gnostic Christian stories allegedly describing the younger years of Jesus, also referred to as Yeshua, Iesu, and ‘Isa depending on the language of those recounting the tales.

As the story goes, the young Jesus would wander his neighborhood immediately after a storm, carrying one of his adopted father’s compasses. Whenever he would find puddles, he would use the compasses to inscribe a perfect circle for the water to settle in. And whenever he would come across the body of a bird which had perished in the storm, traditionally starlings, the young Jesus would bring them back to life and they would fly into the sky.

The purpose of these short stories and the lessons they are meant to teach are gone, but we can see their influence in ancient Christian and Medieval art, as well as hear their echoes in the tales told through mystical and gnostic Christian tradition, Western alchemy illustrations, and Sufi stories about the Greatest of Saints – ‘Isa, who could return life through his Creator’s will.

The images in the magic lantern slides are inspired by ancient Christian, Sufi, and alchemical story-telling imagery, with references to sacred geometry and mysticism.