Bes Rauhma: A Biblical Symbol I

Abstract

Every formation house is to be fashioned after the house built on a hill top. Paul Kalluveettil CMI takes a fresh look at Bes Rauhma as a biblical symbol. The founding Fathers of the first indigenous religious congregation chose Mannanam hill to build up the first religious house. Indeed, the sites of the first monasteries were hills. As heights generally evoke heaven, the abode of God, Bes Rauhma has a deep spiritual significance. Those who dwell in the house on the top were destined to see visions of God concerning cosmos and every created being, such as humans, animals, birds, trees and plants, sun, moon and stars, hills and mountains, streams, rivers and oceans and galaxies. It is here that the fragmented relationships are mended and a new Adam in a new paradise is found. The author goes on to make a comparison between the various biblical mountains and the Bes Rauhma and sees the biblical symbolism present in each of them. Mount Moriah is described as the place of self-sacrifice and a place of becoming blessed; Mount Horeb as a place of encounter and a place of vision and colloquy; Mount Sinai as a place of theophany and place of covenant and Mount Zion as God’s dwelling place where petitions are heard, a place of praise, sacrifices and celebrations and finally, a place of blessing.