Museikon 3 / 2019

Vladimir Agrigoroaei

2019, MUSEIKON: A Journal of Religious Art and Culture | Revue d'art et de culture religieuse

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A Journal of Religious Art and Culture | Revue d'art et de culture religieuse

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« Fig. 2. Akfrainion, church of Saint George. View from the South-West. paintings preserved in the churches of Saint Nicholas and Saint Paraskevi in Kanavari (Gr. KavaPcpi, Boeotia),’ or in the crypt of Saint Nicholas monastery church in Kambia (Gr. Kaymd, Boeotia),’ all of them from the end of the 13" century or from the beginning of the next, as well as the cave church of St. Blaise or the monastery of Zoodochos Pigi in Kopais (Gr. Kwmaida, Boeotia), of 1333.”°

The complete phrase mentioning the Frankish lordis TOY @EGICEBE(CT)AT(OY) / KABAAAP[I] MHCEP ANTONH TE ®AAMA (Fig. 13, 14). Except for rare instances, the na- mes of the laity are usually not accompanied by adjectives or titles of this kind.“* Moreover, the inscription introduces the name of Anthony at the end of a threefold series of de- terminants: OcooePéotatos, Kapaddpns, and pnoégp. These words depict the triple status of the ktetor in the eyes of the Akraifnion community: Anthony was devoted to God,* as he made a donation for the renovation of the church, but he was also a knight, and a person of high social standing, as implied by the use of the word MHCEP (cf. Old French messire) (Fig. 14), an honorary title preceding the names of Frankish noblemen.” This threefold arrangement seems to be carefully planned and it is highly unusual in the context of a Greek inscription mentioning the ktetors.” When the duke returned to Lamia, he held a council with the barons from Thessaly, the ruler of Amphissa, Lord Bo- niface of Veronne, and Lord Anthony le Flamenc, who was considered one of the wisest men in Romania. He appoin- ted suitable officials, who were all to his liking, with the council’s approval. He also appointed a nobleman named Vucomity as marshal of Thessaly and gave him authority over all matters concerning feats of arms that pertained to his office. He also gave him one of his own knights, Lord John le Flamenc, to be his aide in overseeing all the coun- try’s needs. He appointed Lord Anthony le Flamenc, con- sidered one of the wisest men of the duchy, as regent and his lieutenant over the whole country. When the duke had settled all the affairs necessary for the country of Thessa-

The Dedicatory Inscription of Saint George Church at Akraifnion, Boeotia (1311). Notes after the Completion... | 15 TE ®AAMA (hereafter Anthony le Flamenc) (Fig. 12). An- thony was a baron of Karditsa (Akraifnion) in Boeotia, appointed by the Duke of Athens, Guy 11 de la Roche, and as such his representative in the administration of the Duchy. The Greek version of the Chronicle of Morea does not mention him, but the French text provides a few pieces of information:

It has been commonly assumed that the Franks restricted the access of the indigenous population to the adminis- trative apparatus in the areas that they occupied, and that they placed the local church under their control.’ A Ca- tholic archbishopric was indeed installed in Thebes during the Latin rule.** However, despite the installation of Latin hierarchs at the head of this particular metropolitan see, research also points out that the initiative of building and decorating the churches in the areas dominated by the Franks must have belonged to the lower and indigenous clergy of the area, especially to local priests.* Taking into account the particular situation alluded to in the Akrai- fnion inscription, it is safe to say that our Anthony té PAcuamust have developed a special relationship with this local monastery and that he may have allowed a certain freedom of movement and expression for his subjects. To further support this claim, it is worth noting that the ex- penses seem to have been covered by the Frankish knight himself, while the coordination work and the mural pain- tings were left in the charge of monks Germanus and Nico- demus. The situation is not common, and comparisons come from other Latin-held areas, where there are cases in which Frankish rulers made donations to Orthodox churches.™ The arrival of the Catalans probably saw the rights of the local people diminished, but as far as ecclesiastical matters are concerned, one thing is clear: although the bishops were Latin, the presence of the Orthodox clergy was tolerated, and this was the general rule for all Frankish lordships.*

From a socio-political point of view, the name and titles of the Frankish lord as a whole are somewhat of a puzzle. It is difficult to determine whether this threefold sequence belonged to the official terminology employed by the Franks or not. It certainly looks like a title of nobility, but it could equally be an ad hoc creation of the inscription’s transcriber. In the Greek version of the Chronicle of Morea, the word juoipe and its variants pucép or puoépe are used in relation to the Frankish lords; they are equivalent but oppo- site to the title given to the Greek archontes: kup. On the other hand, xaBaddpne (‘kavalaris’) is not attested in the text of the Chronicle, but there are mentions of a place named KafaddAapitons (‘Kavallaritsis’) in the vicinity of Chlemoutsi castle (Aelis, in the Peloponnese), the residence of the Villehardouin Frankish lords.* This suggests that the word was frequent in the vernacular language, but it does not seem to have been used in an official sequence, next to pucipe. KaBaddpns appears nevertheless in the Poulologos poem (late 14" century) with the meaning of ‘knight’.” And there are many other occurrences in the Tale of Alexander, History of Velissarion, Imperios and Margarona, etc. Since these late medieval and early modern Demotic texts bear the influence of many Western features, some of them being translations of Western texts from Italian sources, the pre- sence of kaBaAdpne and its derivatives account for a wide use of the term in connection with the Franks. The word also appears in Digenis Akritas, meaning that by the 15™ cen- tury (the time when the version of the Escorial manuscript was transcribed) it was well adopted into the Greek lan- guage.” It is therefore highly possible that the threefold official title sequence was created ad hoc for the Akraifnion inscription, but this also implies that the Frankish lord was held in high esteem by the local community. Since the Frankish lord survived the battle of Halmyros in 1311,°° researchers thought that his involvement in the decoration of the Akraifnion church of Saint George had a twofold reason: his survival (during the battle) as well as his salvation (all ktetorial works or donations to chur- ches have as main purpose the ktetor’s salvation).°” Never- theless, the exact date of Anthony’s death is not known. This is probably one of the reasons for which J. A. Buchon tried to modify the word of the fourth line (beginning of the second part of the inscription), reading it as ade.

Upon further reading, the dedicatory inscription also states that OAE TEAOC HAI®EN... OAE TEAOC EYPEN (Fig. 15-16). If this line is isolated from the following ones and if we remain faithful to the interpretation of J. A. Bu- chon, who saw the inscription before it was probably re- painted, the difficulty in interpreting it coming from the vagueness of OAE. J. A. Buchon believed it to be an adverb — possibly referring to Akraifnion as site of Anthony’s death around the year 1311, chronology noted at the end of the inscription — but it could also be read as O AE - referring to the ‘end’, meaning the death of the Frankish ruler himself. This interpretation, published in the initial Greek version of this study,** was also dictated by an exact interpretation of TOAGIN MAPTIPOON (Fig. 17). If interpreted faithfully, this sequence may refer to the death of the ruler occurring in front of many witnesses, as reference to the neotestamen- tary expression dict moAA@v paptupwv from 2 Ti 2:2 (‘in the presence of many witnesses’). The use of the verb AquBavea followed by a genitive case also begs for a translation of this type (‘the end grasps / holds many witnesses’). How- ever, this interpretation does not provide any information concerning the circumstances of the Frankish lord’s death. We are left with what we already knew: the Catalans’ su- premacy in the region led to the transfer of the feud from the Frankish lord to new Catalan masters. The Dedicatory Inscription of Saint George Church at Akraifnion, Boeotia (1311). Notes after the Completion... | 17

Nevertheless, the two parts of the inscription do not dis- play evident palaeographical differences. It is therefore possible that the renovators’ different social status would not matter much, as long as their contribution to the kteto- rial act was genuine. Even though brothers Germanus and Nicodemus were both monks, the first stands out as hegu- men of the monastery. One might imagine that Germanus (as leader of the monastic community) and Nicodemus (as member of the same community) were included in the dedi- If we pursue the same line of interpretation and consider that the beginning of line 5 (H(CT)G@)PHA AYTED) (Fig. 18) is not related to the narration of the events, then the hiero- monks and brothers® Germanus and Nicodemus are to be identified with the painters who ‘narrated’, that is, decora- ted the church with frescoes.” There are, however, some doubts as to whether this interpretation is to be preferred or not, because the verb is used in the third person singular. If this is not a mere inconsistency, the text may refer to one of the two monks as painter or overseeing the work.®! Addto this the further presence of the article TOYC, in the plural, while the participle ANAKENHCANTA (Fig. 19) comes in the singular. All these inconsistencies point to the calligra-

A second inscription, written with Cyrillic characters inci- sedon the wooden lintel above the door of the church, reads: “YEARS OF THE LORD. 1755 (with Cyrillic characters) May : 29 (with Cyrillic characters)” (AN D[O]MNULUI. 1755 MAI: 29)”. More than three decades later, when the painting of the areas below the tower had already started, the inscription incised on the lintel was covered with a layer of fresco plas- ter, over which the painter Popa Ioan Grigorievici transcri- bed, this time in brush strokes, the text that had been mas- ked, as follows: “FROM THE BUILDING OF THE CHURCH. YEARS OF THE LORD: 1755 (with Cyrillic characters): May: 29 (with Cyrillic characters) 1” (DE LA ZIDIREA BISEARECI. ANII DOMNULUI : 1755 : MAI: 29 I) (Fig. 4). nari in 1754, reference to the fact that “in that year bishop Pavel also arrived” (tot intru acest an au venit si d. VI[a]d[i] ca Pavel). It is not clear enough whether the author of the note referred to Petru Pavel Aron’s return as a bishop in Transylvania.”’ However, it is plausible that being present in Sibiu in September 1754, the Greek-Catholic hierarch might have made a visit to Rasinari in order to see how work was progressing on the site of the new church.

In the icon of Saints Peter and Paul, the background against which the figures of the two apostles are projected has a similar composition in all the mural representa- tions of the churches painted by Stan, the earth and the air occupying the compositional framework in equal pro- portions. The blue-indigo sky is dotted with white stars,

“ Fig. 19. Antimins given by Bishop Inochentie Micu to the church St. Paraskevi (demolished in 1753) from Rasinari.

Dionisie Novacovici in September 1761 as bishop of the Romanians from Transylvania who didnot adopt the Greek- Catholic confession. The archbishop had his temporary residence in Sibiu where he lived only for a short while — soon after his installation he made an extensive trip in order to get to know his diocese. After having completed his canonical visit from the end of 1762 and until 1767 when he left Transylvania forever, Dionisie Novacovici resided in Rasinari® among many believers and next to the great church there, which served him as an episcopal cathedral. Thus, from 198 priests ordained by the hierarch during his pastoral life in Transylvania, 36 received the ordination in the church dedicated to St. Paraskevi. The first of these was priest Ivan of Valea village, in Turda district, ordained in Rasinari on December 25, 1762. On March 22, 1763, another ordination was celebrated for a local priest, Oprea, and the last ordination took place on 27 April 1763.”

4 Fig. 40. Hierarch throne. Carver Franz Eberhardt (1792-1795).

. Fig. 46. Crucifix icon. Church of the “Greeks” in Sibiu. Iconostasis. Currently in the Archangels church in Gura Raului. Painter Joseph Neuhauser (1798).

a Fig. 51. Signature: “Priest Savva Popovici, Orthodox priest ot Staza i proci (and other)” (1791). to commission the most gifted craftsmen to decorate the building. As it was natural to happen in an artistic center with an established tradition, the painters chosen were either local artists or craftsmen working in neighboring villages: Ivan and Nistor, Stan and his nephew (his brother’s son), Gheorghe, Oprea Popovici, and Ioan of Poplaca. Other artists to whom works were commissioned came from beyond the mountains, from Wallachia. Linked by birth to Campulung and by their craftsmanship to the Brancovan art, loan the Carpenter and the father-son painters Grigorie Ranite and Ioan Grigorievici were also called to work for the church in Rasinari. The last two artists mentioned here were finally ‘adopted’ by Transylvania, which absorbed them into an artistic stream that, owing to their contribu- tion, was becoming more and more specific. The original synthesis of the Transylvanian painting style was also included in the melting pot that, for several decades, the Rasinari church had become. At the same time with the substantial infusion of elements inspired by the tradition of the Wallachian art, there was a counter-current tendency to assimilate Western stylistic formulae, highlighted in the expression of the icons painted by Gheorghe, the son of Iacov and, even more pronouncedly, by the Rasinari villa- gers’ choice to entrust the adornment of the church to artists from the European West, i.e. sculptor Franz Eber- hardt and painter Joseph Neuhauser. This orientation will become a predilection, reflected in the Western style in which the new church dedicated to the Holy Trinity and built during the first two decades of the 19" century in Rasi- nari can be included, both architecturally and decoratively.

the history of the Burning Bush coincides with significant times in the history of the Romanian Orthodox Church during communism; secondly, their experience of political detention ties them to the universe of the Romanian Gulag and to the issues of repression, memory and suffering. Most of the intellectual and clergy arrested in the Burning Bush group were imprisoned in Aiud, the “typical” prison for spiritual guidance.

4. Fig. 3. loan Kulighin, photo from the collection of Sofian Boghiu (published by Antonie Plamadeala in 1992 and by Gheorghe Vasilescu in 1999). Initially published in Cuviosul Ioan cel Strain (din arhiva Rugului Aprins), 1999, p. 7.

Another very interesting aspect is observed by historian Alain Besancon, who notes the manner in which, in com- munism, the execution has to follow a judiciary exam, so that the people or their representative — the party organs — can identify and incriminate the enemy, either the declared enemy or the hidden one.” In other words, the condemna- tion of the enemy is performed (both physically and symbo-

The group’s informative tracking file (Fig. 8) was initially a verification file open at the end of 1956/early 1957," which was transformed, following a 5-month-verification, into a group file." The types of documents included are, mostly, of operative (informative tracking) nature: personal files (syntheses of the individual’s biography, based on the data held at the time by the Securitate), biographical notes, requests for data verification, informative notes received by the Securitate officers from different informants or agents, documents that concern the institutional dialogue between the headquarters and the different regional Securitate cen- tres (which are, mostly, requests for the continuity of infor- mative tracking and surveillance), synthesis papers (which engulf information from several informative notes), syn- lically) as a consequence of a legalist process, that rigo- rously demonstrates in its evidences the entire guilt of the enemy. No records are more detailed than those of the Securitate, and no narration is more coherent than that of

a. Fig. 8. Cover of the first volume of the informative file of the Burning Bush group. Courtesy of the National Council for the Study of the Securitate Archives (ACNSAS), Direction Research, Exhibitions, Publications (same as Fig. 9-11). ACNSAS, Informative Fund, file 2214, volume 1, cover.

“Also, during the priorship of Vasile Vasilache, the for- mer director of the «Credinta» newspaper, Sandu Tudor, was accepted at Antim; Sandu Tudor, in connection to ar- chimandrite Benedict Ghius and several retired generals and former high dignitaries of the Antonescu government, created an association that officially has a mystic purpose, but which in fact holds political implications too, manoeu- vring from the shadows and under the mask of mystical exercise, the believers’ preparations for the resistance against democracy. The association wears the curious institution name of «Our Lady of the Burning Bush» - «dedicated to a deeper research and experience of the orthodox teachings and piety». Its activity is summarized to «everything that can fulfil a true spiritual life, through writing, through words, through one’s experience or through action». To illustrate their diseased mentality, it is enough to mention that their status grants the lead of their association to the «Holy icon of the feast, Our Lady of the Burning Bush, the one who is our true guide and governor, similarly to the tradition held by the endow- ments of Holy Mount Athos». In this association there are registered only individuals who, through their structure, their intellectual preparation, and their past activities, are reactionary. They practice a diseased mysticism with the purpose of consolidating the resistance towards the politi- calregime. Particularly at Antim, a group of former generals from the Antonescu government and their wives promote an atmosphere of diseased mysticism and agitation, in the perspective of a presumed religious persecution that were to follow on behalf of communism. The promoters of the movement are archimandrite Benedict Ghius and Sandu Tudor, currently monk Agaton. [...] The mystical

Another synthesis-note on operative measures reveals a more detailed context surrounding the mystical, hostile labelling. More precisely, the content of an informative note reveals the following: “Still, from the conversation had by the agent with Benedict Ghius on June 17, while they were at the Caldarusani monastery, it is concluded that Benedict Ghius is a fiery adept of a diseased mysticism melted with evident hostile conceptions against the regime. Thus, after expressing several opinions regarding the re-

The Musical Instruments in the Early Vernacular Translations of the Psalms (Collective Research) — Latin Section | 73 Mozarabic

As an exception among the Old French Psalters, under the influence of already established Old English tradition (for an analysis of this version and another one, see Hawk

The Musical Instruments in the Early Vernacular Translations of the Psalms (Collective Research) — French Section | 85

The Musical Instruments in the Early Vernacular Translations of the Psalms (Collective Research) — French Section | 89

This means, on the one hand, that both forms of the word were used in current speaking and writing, and that the presence or absence of the liquid consonant did not neces- sarily characterize a certain dialect or sociolect. On the other hand, the almost automatic choice of rhyme for the word timpanz (cimb(l)es ben sonanz) testifies to the im- mense influence of the psalm translations (cf. Ps 150:5) on the creation of a medieval French literary language. It is of no surprise that the Anglo-Norman adaptation of the so-called Quatre livre des reis uses a Latinism, cymbals, in order to translate the only occurrence of this word in 1-2 Samuel and 1-2 Kings.

4 Fig. 15-16. Surgéres (France). Notre Dame church, 12" century facade. Minstrels and monsters playing chordophones. Credits: va.

The Musical Instruments in the Early Vernacular Translations of the Psalms (Collective Research) — French Section | 95

Apart from the simple assumption that the translation is etymological, no other conclusion can be drawn, since the second verse does not even mention the name of the musical instrument. There is an interesting reading ribecha(‘rebec’, from the family of the violin) in a 15 century manuscript from Florence, Biblioteca nazionale, 11.1v.70, and this trans- lation choice is followed by the adverb giocondamente (cf. Ramello 1997, p. 196), therefore being an interpretation of the psalterium iocundum (Gallicanum and Romanum) and not citharam decoram (Hebraicum). In the next verse, the

Dicsérjétek titet kiirtnek hangossagaba, dicsérjétek titet kintornaba és hegedtibe. Ps 150 have also been lost.) The analysis of these fragments (Bottyanfy 2016; cf. Zelliger 2014) demonstrated that the first part of the psalter (or what survived of it) contained a different translation from the work of the second scribe, who took over from the middle of Psalm 50. This second part preserves a translation prepared probably in the first half of the 15 century, which is closely related to the translation of the Old Testament preserved in the Codex of Vienna (National Széchényi Library, MNy 72) and the translation of the Gospels preserved in the Codex of Mu- Dicsérjétek étet dobban és karban, dicsérjétek é6tet lawthurokban (f. 133r: lalthhurokban) és orgonaban.

118 | The Musical Instruments in the Early Vernacular Translations of the Psalms (Collective Research) — Hungarian Section CHORDA. Although it is not strictly speaking a musical in- strument, two interesting translation choices for in chordis in Ps 150:4 must also be mentioned. KesztK. and KulcsK. offer an exact rendering hurba (a change of case made the text more accessible for Hungarian readers), but FestK. in- troduces an additional element into the text, specifying that the strings in question belong to a lute (Janthiur). As Ps 150 figures twice in the manuscript, the different spel- lings of lant are easy to identify. The first one (/awt) re- flects the original early New High German form laut, while the second one (/alth) already testifies to an intermediary stage of the word, later modified into lant (TESz 1. 719). Another curious variant of in chordis appears in DobrK. Its translator makes the same mistake as the Czech transla- tor of the Clementinum Psalter, taking chorda, -ae for cor, cordis and translating it as szivekbe (‘in hearts’). Could this be a mere coincidence? Considering Laszlo Hadrovics’s research on the AporK., the Old Czech Clementinum Psalter (a text unexamined by L. Hadrovics) should be analyzed more closely in relation to the Hungarian trans- lations, as they may derive at least from a common Latin biblical or commentary tradition.

OrG(0)AN. The Greek and Latin versions of the Psalms use this term to describe an aerophone instrument, in refe- rence to biblical realia. Modern translations of the Bible sometimes interpret it as the modern bagpipe or panpipes (Cahen 1921, p. 74). In biblical contexts, it may have been originally used to designate a form of shepherd’s flute (Sachs 1968, p. 106). If the biblical context were properly understood, one would have expected a translation by the Romanian words surld or zurna, wooden instruments often mentioned in historical sources and belonging to the family of oboes. The sound of the medieval oboes was high pitched and sharp, which led to their use in the princely courts, alongside trumpets (Gasca 1988, 42). Surld, a rustic oboe and similar to the Turkish zurna is a well-known in- strument of the Balkans (Barbuceanu 1999, 293). There are many mentions of these two instruments in Romanian his- torical sources, some of them mentioning them as etymons in names of professions (cf. a certain Mircea Purcel surla- riul ‘trumpeter’, January 17, 1495; Bogdan 1913, 52-53), but there are no mentions of the ‘organ’, leaving this term open to debate. CLOPOTE. The ‘bells’ should have been translated by chim- vale (already mentioned) and talgere. As no specific percus- sion instrument is known to be used by Romanians, I ima- gine that bells must have been the closest alternative for a translation choice. Chimvale (the Arabian zill) were never- theless used in Romanian contexts since the 15" century, and maybe even earlier, since the Ottomans appeared in the Balkans. When Moldavia and Wallachia were under Ottoman dominion, the sultan legitimized the Romanian rulers in a ceremony where chimvale were used among many other musical instruments (Rusu 2018).

Amc: If the pH translation choice Ps 91:4 were a scribal error, it would occur once in the PH text. Nevertheless, the term Yanmoipu is again interpreted as orgoane in Ps 107:3. A first guess would be that this choice was probably deter- mined By the scribe’s own representation of what Church Slavonic azmovipu meant. In this case, Alexandru’s hypo- thesis should not be rejected, but his sources should be iden- tified and evaluated nevertheless. A second guess would be that the Slavonic source consulted by the pu scribe read here @pzanol, but such a version needs to be identified as well.

par un détachement armé franco-russe, en pleine Guerre Mondiale, et remise solennellement par la France a la Rou- manie le 28 juillet 1917 — fut évoquée par des documents de correspondance diplomatique issus des archives rou- maines et francaises (parmi lesquels figurait un télégramme de remerciement du roi Ferdinand de Roumanie au Pré- sident de la République, Raymond Poincaré). Une icéne de Saint Démétrios trénant (Créte ou Venise, entre 1660-1697) provenant du Musée Ingres de Montauban complétait le cadre expositif, pour faire le point sur l’origine de l’ico- nographie des saints militaires dans l’art post-byzantin. xvii siécle) — évoquaient, en revanche, celui des hiérarques (évéques). L’image du costume ecclésiastique était complé- tée par des objets représentant l’Annonciation : la paire de manchettes, ou epimanikia, de Govora (xvi° siécle) et un autre fragment de vétement datant du xv‘ siécle. Le por- trait de saint Denis, issu du manuscrit des uvres de saint Denis l’Aréopagite (xiv° siécle) et le Saint Nicolas trénant, attribué a Michel Damaskinos (vers 1575-1590), donnaient une parfaite illustration du costume des évéques ou métropolites.

Une autre série de textiles utilisés au sein del’Eglise ortho- doxe a la fin du Moyen Age furent intégrés dans la Pano- plie liturgique et tissus décoratives. Dans l'ensemble offert par Etienne le Grand au Monastére de Putna (1481), on pou- vait admirer les trois voiles servant a couvrir la paténe et le calice, objets indispensables a la célébration de l’Eucha- ristie ou Divine Liturgie. Les epitaphioi ou aérs de Neamt (1436) et Voronet (1515), inspirés du théme de la Lamen- tation, montraient, de leur cété, la préciosité de ces grandes voiles dont l’usage était réservé aux processions du Ven- dredi et Samedi saints. Deux relevés des fresques de l’église de la Peribleptos 4 Mistra — provenant des Archives Gabriel Millet de Paris et réalisés par Louis-Joseph Yperman en 1896 — illustraient la fagon dont ces voiles étaient portés sur Dans la Panoplie sacerdotale se remarquait la vitrine des epitrachelia, ou huit piéces trés richement et diversement décorées étaient suspendues comme dans une armoire de sacristie. Le plus ancien, daté du xv* siécle, provenait d’un atelier byzantin. Parmi les autres piéces, se distinguaient également les epitrachelia décorés avec les portraits d’E- tienne le Grand et de son fils, Alexandre (1496, Putna) ; celui de la Dame Maria (1504, Musée National d’Art de Rouma- nie) ; ainsi que celui de Barbu Craiovescu et de la Dame Neagoslava (1520/1521, Bistrita). Un orarion décoré d’anges et offert par le voiévode Vasile Lupu évoquait l’habit des diacres. Deux epigonatia — figurant la Transfiguration (Va- lachie, 1520-1521) et la Descente aux Limbes (Moldavie,

les épaules par les anges dans les peintures murales byzan- tines représentant la Divine Liturgie. Un autre type de voile (1481), brodé sur le théme de la Panaghia (la Vierge “Toute Sainte’) était probablement porté de la méme maniére par le prétre pendant une cérémonie de bénédiction du pain en honneur de la Vierge Marie. Broderies de tradition byzantine en Roumanie du xv‘ au xvir' siécle. Autour de l’Etendard d’Etienne le Grand | 147

Traditional discourse regards the wooden place of wor- ship and the glass icon as crucial elements of the Romanian Transylvanian village. They are often praised for their inge- nuity and formal plasticity, but most of all they are lauded because they were created by unsophisticated and illiterate minds, and by hands fit only for a basic level of craftsman- ship — in short, by people out of nowhere, living in poverty and social oppression. Conscious or not, these two extremes The history of the current administrative area known as Alba county does not have a history different than that of Transylvania. Many events which shaped the history of the province occurred in this area. Many political and spiritual institutions were also founded there, as well as many settle- ments, setting the pace for the entire evolution of Transyl- vanian society. The monuments mirror this historical devel- opment: fortresses, palaces, cathedrals, churches, schools — they are all examples ofa wide variety of architectural styles. Among them, Romanian wooden churches represent a nu- merically consistent category, essential for the understan- ding ofruralhistory andhighly valuable for theirmural pain- ting. From the perspective of present-day society, for which mosthistorical churches are valuedas part ofthe universal or national cultural heritage, Romanian wooden churches re-

firewood, so that the new emblems of Romanian society (the masonry churches) could be auspiciously raised in their place as symbols for the people who felt free and willing to exert their creative energy. Most often the requests were im- perative and the monuments were already in the process of being deconstructed.’ The respectful appeal to a competent scientific opinion’ was very rare, as most parishioners and priests shared the conviction that said churches could not hold anything of value, considering them unworthy of being preserved.‘

When Masonry Destroyed Romanian Wooden Churches: Socioeconomics, Politics, Ideology, and Culture in... Alba County | 151 sealed the fate for a majority of these wooden churches and very few survived into the 20" c. Other decisive factors leading to their destruction were the perishable materials out of which these churches were built, the ever-increasing demographical rate, and even unforeseen factors, such as natural disasters.

Inexplicably, this haste and fervour to destroy all the churches that were laboriously built by previous genera- tions reached a peak in ethnically and confessionally mixed communities, especially in the areas of the present-day Mu- res and Cluj counties. The wooden church of Jernut repre- sents a typical case of destruction, but many other similar examples were recorded during the extensive visit made by historian Atanasie Popa, delegate of the Committee, who published a series of articles which remain the only reference after the disappearance of these churches.’ research was barely starting to take an interest in the wooden churches of Transylvania at the time, supporting thus the protopope’s strong conviction that these monu- ments were not worthy of being preserved. However, Iacob Domsa had been warned about the existence of valuable components in the iconostasis and about the better-pre- served parts of the mural painting, for which he was asked to provide storage in the attic of the new church.’ As nothing survived — ‘nothing should remain of what was a long time ago, signs of slavery and humiliation’ (nimic sa nu ramana din ceea ce a fost demult, semne de sclavie si de umilire), as Atanasie Popa concluded -,* the protopope still bears a part of responsibility, even if some works may have disappeared under the watch of his successors.

When Masonry Destroyed Romanian Wooden Churches: Socioeconomics, Politics, Ideology, and Culture in... Alba County | 153 4> Fig 6-10. The wooden church of Mogos-Miclesti. Courtesy of the Transylvanian Ethnographic Museum, Cluj-Napoca.

church of Berghin (Fig. 1), an A class item on the list of histo- rical monuments, and its reassembly at different elevations and based on a different plan in a bastion of the Alba Iulia ci- tadel (Fig. 2), in order to mark the spot where prince Michael the Brave founded a cathedral for the Transylvanian Ortho- dox worshippers in 1596-1597. To date, as a corollary of uselessness, the official list of historical monuments still refers to Berghin as the site where this monument is lo- cated, despite the many efforts made by local institutions.

tion of the funds necessary to build some churches accor- ding to the taste of the new generation of founders (ktetors), some churches ended up in urban areas as neighbourhood or hospital churches, while others provided the core for the creation of new monastic settlements.

- Fig. 19. Mamre Dinner, Gheorghe Tobias of Abrud (attribution), 1737. Salciua de Sus. Courtesy of Museikon.

The present study is not intended as the final word on the

When Masonry Destroyed Romanian Wooden Churches: Socioeconomics, Politics, Ideology, and Culture in... Alba County | 16:

subject of preservation of the wooden churches, so no con- clusions are needed. Instead, the monuments will be further presented one by one in order to have an image as clear as possible of the phenomenon involving such a drastic reduc- tion in the number of wooden churches in favour of mason- ry ones. The following list will present them in the order of their disappearance (exact year or approximate date), follo- wedby their location, theirconstructiondate(whenknown), and a concise set of contextual data (history of the monu- ment, mural painting, recovered liturgical objects or icons, etc.), provided that such details are known. This way, the 3, ) Fig. 25. The wooden church of the Lupsa monastery. e Restauration of the sanctuary. Credits: Anca Crisan.

When Masonry Destroyed Romanian Wooden Churches: Socioeconomics, Politics, Ideology, and Culture in... Alba County | 163 a local tradition, is assumed based on a wood framework of the masonry building.

May 31-June 5, 2019

This book therefore serves many purposes. First and foremost, it introduces the question of the Romanian Psalters to foreign researchers and draws attention to the still unclear nature of the Western inspiration for these texts. The early beginnings of Romanian culture may be considered strange. The ambivalent heritage of both East and West may account for the heterogeneous nature of the early vernacular Psalters, because the lands inhabited by the Romanians of the 15" century were at a flexible confessional crossroad. Transylvania was both a Catholic and Orthodox land at the same time. However, the effects of Catholicism on the medieval Romanian communities are still a matter of debate. They may have been similar to the cultural effects of the Reformation during the 16" and 17" centuries, when Latin or Western influences led to the writing or printing of other Psalters, in prose or verse. This is why several studies insist on the influence of the Reformation as well as on its medieval roots, on literary, religious, or even cultural continuities — because this line of research needs to be further explored. Coca lew Clee soem axncinawe: “oteheanw ba weeoemawe: Picw Secondly, the present volume wishes to compare the ‘Romanian case’ with similar quandaries in the history of other languages and literatures. Due to its mono- lingual nature, the Romanian philological research is often centred on its own ‘national’ language, in very much the same way the Czech, Hungarian, French, or English counterparts are too. The meticulous gramma- tical aspects of philology render it oblivious to the comparative line of approach. However, Romanian translations of the Psalter may easily be compared to the Hungarian or Czech Psalters, and these in turn to the

Centro Culturale Protestante - via T. Tasso 55, 24121 Bergamo - www.protestanti.bergamo.it - tel. 347.3311076 Ottocento anni dopo il Centro Culturale Protestante organizza un convegno che si propone di fornire aggiornate ricerche sia sugli specifici contenuti del Colloquio del 1218, sia sul contesto storico religioso, politico, sociale di cui il Colloquio fu, a suo modo, una delle vive e originali espressioni.

Museikon, Alba Iulia, 3, 2019, p. 183-187 | 183 The idea of restoring the St. Paraskeva Church of Crivina de Sus, a class “A” historical monument, began somewhat spontaneously in 2013, when a group of specialists from various fields arrived in Crivina to investigate its cultural landscape, as part of a larger research aiming at the socio- cultural character of Banat cemeteries.

In the winter of 2015, the church was protected with a textile membrane, tensed, set up on a metallic structure. This protecting structure was made after more than a year

of engineering and fundraising, and was devised to have a completely reversible effect, in order for it to be used at other churches as well, after completing its purpose at Crivina de Sus.

Fragments from the Painted Decoration of the Wooden Church of Crivina de Sus (Timis County)... | 185

These extraordinary painted fragments depicting the Last Supper, Abraham preparing to sacrifice Isaac, the Prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, and a crowned Cherubim are essential to our understanding of the manner in which the church was once painted. As for the three fragments of inscriptions, they bring entirely new information on the history of this edifice and on protopope Daniil, during whose priesthood the church was built and painted. At the same time, the inscriptions mention the date of the painting, sometime in the last years of the 17" century, pro- bably 1698. The discovered fragments, along with the rest of the icons from this church are currently undergoing restoration, and will eventually return to the church once the salvaging intervention is finalized.

The book Vyklad Mikulase Lyry na evangelium sv. Matouse [A Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew by Nicholas of Lyra] contains a critical edition of the Old Czech translation of a part of the extensive exegetical work Postilla litteralis by Nicholas of Lyra, in which he provided an exegesis of the entire Bible. Immediately after it was written in 1322/1323-1331, his Latin work began to enjoy great popularity and spread in numerous copies all over Europe: there are almost 90 extant manuscripts written in the Czech lands that contain the Pos- tilla or its parts. Considering its distribution, it is not sur- prising that the Latin text of the Postilla was translated into vernacular languages already in the Middle Ages. This is also proved by the Old Czech translation of the interpretation of the Gospel of Matthew with forewords attributed to Jerome, which is likely to come from the turn of the 15" century. The translator’s identity has not been revealed yet, but it can be assumed that he was a scholar from the circle of the Prague university. How much of the Postilla was translated into Czech by this unknown scholar will probably remain unknown as well: a certain plan to translate more books can be inferred from the fact that also Lyra’s foreword to the Four Gospels was translated. Nevertheless, only the translation of the interpre- tation of the Gospel of Matthew has been preserved, more- over in a single manuscript, deposited in the National Library in Prague under the shelf mark XVII C 20, which probably comes from the time shortly before 1420.

At the beginning of the 19" century, a strange phenome- non occurred in the evolution of the Romanian painting. A series of icon painters and muralists, trained in the monas- tic schools around Bucharest, started timidly experimen- ting with technical and plastic expression genres and pro- cesses inspired by the Western art, eventually operating simultaneously as church painters and authors of portraits from reality, or even painters of nature. As an effect ofa du- plication per se, the symbolic and abstract vision of the Medieval religious art interfered in the painters’ works with the naturalistic vision, specific to the modern painting, Like Christian life as a whole, liturgical art also needs con- tinuous renewal. It is wrong to believe that icons or mural paintings can replicate those of the glory times of the litur- gical art of Christianity, ignoring the ecclesial, spiritual and cultural climate of those times. This can be noticed in the works of iconographers who are content to paint ordinary, common copies of prestigious iconic prototypes, such as the monumental Orant of the St. Sofia in Kiev (11" cen- tury). Although their duplication of the prototype may sometimes reach ‘perfection’, the morphologies of these copies are devoid of energy, like lifeless masks, even though they are considered to be expressions of a so-called ‘neo- Byzantine style’. I believe that the young Natalya Rusetska, born in an Orthodox country with a decisive contribution to the enrichment of the artistic heritage of ecumenical Orthodoxy, sensed the best way to rekindle the horizon of iconography. Her works remind me of Nikola Sari¢, but also of what Ioan Popa does with the small group of icono- graphers. They play the role of openings — both traditional and daring — in the inexhaustible horizon of viewing the Mysteries of the Faith. If were to prove what I said, I would refer to the manner in which the artist wishes to represent the ‘multitude of the heavenly host’ (cf. Luke 2:13) or the star of Bethlehem (cf. Matthew 2:2 and 2:9). These constant elements of the icon of the Birth of the Lord are treated from a perspective that can be related to the great discoveries of the new physics, among which gravitational dynamics and quantum electrodynamics. PriEsT IOAN B1zAu

> 1) Sky; 2018; levkas, egg, tempera; 30 x 40 cm. 2) Christma: star, 2017; levkas, egg, tempera; diam. 40 cm.

Arta din Romania. Din preistorie in contemporaneitate, dir. acad. Razvan Theodorescu, acad. Marius Porumb, 2 vols. Bucharest / Cluj-Napoca, EAR / Editura Mega, 2018.

OUR TRANSLATION: One of the “common places” of the scientific surveys dedi- cated to glass-painted icons is the enumeration of the models used by the authors, namely, the book illustrations, the plates of various origins, the palls, the wooden icons and the so-called glass-painted icons from the Austrian, Bohemian, Moravian, or Slovakian workshops. As core components of this spiritual geography, the icons tell the story of their journey, their longevity, their rediscovery, after decades, or even centuries of oblivion, the interference of their artistic styles and — sometimes — the interference of the beliefs of the acceptance of the “Other’s opinion”, as part of acommon Creed. This whole circuit overlaps the former commercial routes from the centre and south-eastern Europe, which enabled the transportation of ordinary merchandise and of all the elements required by the activity of an icon painter — ranging from the ingredients needed to mix primers and colours, to the silver and gold leaf, and from engravings to the fame of some miraculous icons that demanded to be copied in places so remote that even their names were forgotten. (p. XXXII, XXXII).