Todorova, R. An Early Fourteenth-century Visual Theology: First ‘Hesychastic’ Mandorlas. Proceedings of the 23rd International Congress of Byzantine Studies, 22-27 August 2016, Belgrade.Thematic Sessions of Free Communications: STUDIES IN BYZANTINE ICONOGRAPHY ‒ PART 2, p. 5 (original) (raw)
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This essay concerns itself with the meaning and function of the Communion of the Apostles in Byzantine monumental painting. Scholars have often interpreted the scene as a liturgical reimagining of the Last Supper, aimed at creating a mimetic relationship between ritual and image, or between the liturgical act and its heavenly prototype. In contrast, based on the history of the scene in illuminated manu scripts, the accompanying inscriptions, and commentaries on the liturgy, I argue that the Communion of the Apostles is an illustration of the historical institution of the Eucharist and has little to do with the everyday liturgical praxis. This continues to be the case even when, in the beginning of the fourteenth century, Christ appears in such paintings wearing patriarchal vestments as the Great Archpriest. I maintain that this new element is rather a manifestation and an advertisement of the enhanced political and religious status of the ecumenical patriarch in the Late Byzantine period.
Byzantine Religious Art and the Christian Church: An Historical Exploration
Anglisticum Journal, 2016
The establishment of the Byzantine Empire by Constantine the Great in AD 330 ushered a new dimension in the religious horizon of the early church. It created a new system of worship and the use of religious art in Christian religious activities. This religious art flourished in the empire until it degenerated into idolatry which led to serious controversy in the Eastern Church. This paper therefore examined the role Byzantine religious art played in the early church. It also considered the historical development of Byzantine art with particular reference to icons and mosaics and their characteristics and finally x-rayed the influence of icons and mosaics on the early church liturgy and theology.
The article offers some new insights into the signifi cance and function of Byzantine panagiaria, small-scale containers for the bread sanctifi ed in honor of the Virgin in a rite known as the Elevation of the Panagia. This rite, it is argued, was not limited to monastic and courtly contexts or to routine liturgical observance, as is often assumed, but could be performed by the laity as well. Proposing that the use of panagiaria as personal devotional instruments was fairly common in Byzantium, the article explores the interplay between the design, materiality, epigraphic enhancement, and ritual and devotional use of these objects.
Mirabilia Ars, nº 2 (2015 /1), Institut d'Estudis Medievals, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 2015, p. 200-226, 2015
As a result of the fact that the New Testament mentions little episodes and provides very few details of the real life of the Virgin Mary, several pious apocryphal legends emerged during the first centuries between the eastern Christian communities, which tried by all means to solve this hermetic silence surrounding the birth, childhood, youth, adulthood and death of the Mother of Jesus. These apocryphal accounts were then assumed and interpreted by numerous Church Fathers, theologians and sacral orators. These reflections of such prestigious thinkers structured a solid corpus of doctrine from which several devotions and Marian liturgical feasts of great importance would arise shortly after. The supernatural birth of Mary, after her miraculous conception in the womb of her elderly and sterile mother Anne, is a primary milestone in her “imaginary” life. As natural fruit of these heterogeneous literary and theological sources, the European medieval art and, in a very special way, the Byzantine one, addressed with remarkable enthusiasm the iconographic theme of The Nativity of the Virgin Mary, especially since the 10th-11th centuries, as one of the most significant episodes in the life of the Theotókos. On this basis, our paper proposes a triple complementary objective. First and foremost, it will highlight the content of the apocryphal sources and some thoughts or patristic exegesis on the subject, with particular emphasis in the homilies of St. John Damascene. Secondly, it will look at some Byzantine paintings on The Nativity of Mary, to determine to what extent the apocryphal accounts and the exegetical or doctrinal reflections on this Marian event are reflected in the characters, situations, attitudes, accessories and scenic items represented in these paintings. Finally, it will suggest some author’s interpretations which seem plausible on the possible symbolic meanings underlying in this relevant, dogmatic core and in its corresponding iconographic theme. Resumen: Como consecuencia de que el Nuevo Testamento menciona escasos episodios y brinda muy pocos detalles de la vida real de la Virgen María, entre las comunidades cristianas orientales surgieron durante los primeros siglos varias leyendas piadosas apócrifas, que trataron por todos los medios de suplir ese hermético silencio en torno al nacimiento, infancia, juventud, adultez y muerte de la Madre de Jesús. Esos relatos apócrifos fueron luego asumidos e interpretados por numerosos Padres de la Iglesia, teólogos y oradores sacros. Esas reflexiones de tan prestigiosos pensadores constituyeron un sólido cuerpo doctrinario del que se derivarían poco después varias devociones y fiestas litúrgicas marianas de extraordinaria importancia. Hito primordial en esa “imaginaria” vida de María es su sobrenatural nacimiento, tras su milagrosa concepción en el seno de su anciana y estéril madre Ana. Como fruto natural de esas heterogéneas fuentes literarias y teológicas, el arte medieval europeo y, de modo muy especial, el bizantino, abordaron con notable entusiasmo el tema iconográfico de la Natividad de la Virgen María a partir, sobre todo, de los siglos X-XI, como uno de los episodios más significativos de la vida de la Theotokos. Sobre esta base, en nuestra Ponencia nos proponemos un triple objetivo complementario. Pondremos, ante todo, en luz el contenido de las fuentes apócrifas y algunas consideraciones o exégesis patrísticas sobre el tema, con especial énfasis en las homilías de San Juan Damasceno. En segundo lugar, analizaremos algunas obras pictóricas bizantinas sobre la Natividad de María, para determinar hasta qué punto los relatos apócrifos y las reflexiones exegéticas o doctrinales sobre este acontecimiento mariano se reflejan en los personajes, situaciones, actitudes, accesorios y elementos escenográficos escenografía representados en esas pinturas. Por último, sugeriremos ciertas interpretaciones personales que juzgamos plausibles sobre los posibles significados simbólicos subyacentes en este relevante núcleo dogmático y en su correspondiente tema iconográfico.
Greek News Agenda, 2020
The Crucifixion of Jesus as part of the process of salvation and victory over death is of central importance in Orthodoxy. The iconography of the Crucifixion and the Holy Passion, as depicted in icons and frescoes of historical churches in the city and the prefecture of Chania, provides an interesting journey in local iconography. The aim of this study is to examine representative works of religious art from the thematic cycle of the Holy Passion which illustrate the evolutionary course of local religious painting. The iconography and technique of the works are characterized at times by elements surviving from the Byzantine tradition or of Western art influences. Historical and social factors are also highlighted, as well as the iconographic types that marked the aesthetic orientations of visual hagiographers. The critical analysis is based on the specific terminology of Art History. The study consists of three parts: The first examines icons of the 17th century depicting the Crucifixion and the Epitaph, painted by the prominent post-Byzantine iconographers of Chania, Konstantinos Paleokapas and Theodoros Poulakis, considered as successors to the tradition of the Cretan School; the second part refers to important local iconographer-painters who followed western standards and lived at the turn and the early decades of the 20th century. In particular, the study explores the successful integration of Western elements in their work; the third part examines the return of iconography post-1950 to the Byzantine tradition, with frescoes of the Crucifixion painted by native icon painters, students of Kontoglou and successors to the Cretan school tradition.
Scripta & e-Scripta, 2017
The research paper presents an unpublished inscription in Greek language from the narthex of the Kremikovtsi Monastery St George near Sofia – an epigram of the famous Byzantine poet Theodoros Prodromos, who lived at the court of the Komnenian Dynasty in the twelfth century. Being part of the scene Flight into Egypt and – more precisely, – being written in the scroll of a female figure – a personification of the city, no parallel of this inscription has been attested so far in post-Byzantine art. The only other scroll like this has been discovered in the church of the Seslavtsi Monastery St Nicholas near Sofia, but the text there is probably just a decorative detail. A complete study of the preserved part of the damaged inscription is conducted, together with a discussion about its linguistic and literary specifics in the context of the high Byzantine poetry and the Biblical exegesis. The aim is to outline and to describe the raison d’être of this religious epigram (ἱερὸν ἐπίγραμμα) as an expressive instrument for direct communication with the audience through its main stylistic feature – the dialogue between the Saviour and the layman, between the divine and the human nature of Christ. The poetical form chosen by Theodoros Prodromos immediately draws the viewers’ attention and it compels them to reflect upon the scene. Theodoros Prodromos’ epigram in the Kremikovtsi Monastery offers an exceptional and significant proof that the connection of Balkan art to the achievements of the Christian culture of the former Byzantine empire was still alive in the fifteenth century.