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Martyrs, Prophets, Monks. Four Calendar Icons by painter John in the collection of St. Catherine’s monastery at Sinai (11th-12th C.)" at Iconography and Hagiography Visualizing Holiness. FOURTEENTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF ICONOGRAPHIC STUDIES Rijeka, 15 – 16 October 2020
Martyrs, Prophets, Monks. Four Calendar Icons by painter John in the collection of St. Catherine’s monastery at Sinai (11th-12th C.)" at Iconography and Hagiography Visualizing Holiness. FOURTEENTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF ICONOGRAPHIC STUDIES Rijeka, 15 – 16 October 2020
Maria LidovaThe paper discusses four calendar icons kept in the collection of St. Catherine’s monastery at Mt. Sinai. This group of images forms part of a hexaptych painted at the end of the eleventh or early twelfth century by an artist John, whose name is preserved in various inscriptions appearing on the surface of these panels. Calendar cycles was a new type of imagery introduced in the Middle Byzantine period inspired by the collections of vitae texts in particular, but not only, by the revised version of the Menologion compiled by Symeon Metaphrastes in the end of the tenth century. The long and monotonous narration characteristic of the Menologion, which divided the liturgical year into independent semantic parts, received an unprecedented artistic embodiment in calendar icons. These panel images brought together numerous scenes representing saints of the year in accordance to their commemoration in the church. Different approaches to the calendar imagery can be determined in Byzantine art. However, the four icons discussed in this paper stand out in many respects. Every panel of painter John covers three months of the year. The painted images of individual icons consist of nine horizontal rows each containing around ten small scenes. All martyrs are represented at the instant of their cruel death, while other saints are depicted standing frontally and bearing various attributes. The hagiographical scenes were arranged in a precise chronological order, eventually interrupted with representations of the feasts. The first icon is dedicated to the autumn months and opens with the figure of Simeon Stylites, whose celebration falls on September the 1st – the beginning of the Byzantine liturgical year. Accompanying each saint is a caption bearing his name and specifying either his martyrdom or peaceful death. In this paper, I intend to analyze the calendar cycle in detail, reveal unique artistic devices employed by the painter and compare his approach to similar imagery found in manuscript illumination and icon painting. Some representations are extremely rare and provide unique testimony for certain iconographic patterns. I hope to demonstrate the great significance of this visual material for the study of the cult of saints and hagiographic tradition. Attentive exploration of calendar icons can help us understand the perception of time in Byzantium and reveal how multiple representations could form an image of a unified church, an image that was essential for the perception of sainthood at the time.
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In this essay we are talking about the style of Christian visual art that is commonly called iconographic. This is a living tradition. It has been strongly preserved in the Eastern tradition of the Church of which there are a number of different, authentic styles, still produced today and all of which correspond essentially to what might be broadly referred to as the ‘Byzantine’ prototype, named after the Eastern Roman Empire that became closely identified with its first development and use. It should be stated that the Byzantine church was not the only one to use icons. Examples of authentic national variations that we see today are, for example, from the various Slav, Greek, Russian and Coptic. I write from the point of view of a practising Catholic and an icon painter, passing on what has been handed on to me, for the most part orally, as part of a living tradition dating back to the early centuries of the Church.
Paper presented at the 2020 Byzantine Studies Conference (online)
Deltion of the Christian Archaeological Society 4:17, 157-64
The representation of donors and holy figures on four Byzantine icons1994 •
Mirabilia Ars, nº 2 (2015 /1), Institut d'Estudis Medievals, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 2015, p. 200-226
Byzantine iconography of The Nativity of the Virgin Mary in the light of a homily of St. John Damascene2015 •
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.
European Journal of Theology and Philosophy, vol 1. No 4
Aspects of Iconography in Byzantine CappadociaThe main novelty my article brings concerns a particular iconographic motif: that known as the 'trial by the water of reproach'. In the few cases where this is rendered, usually only Mary is presented as undergoing this test, but in Cappadocian art Joseph is also subjected to it. Additionally, to this visual topic, another one that is rarely depicted will be introduced and commented upon: that known as 'Christ's first bath'. I will provide a particular example: the fresco which constitutes part of the decoration that embellishes the walls of Karabaş Kilise/ 'The Big Church' in Soğanlı Valley, southern Cappadocia. A few images-one of them never published before-have been included within this publication.
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