Visual Cherubikon: Mary as Priest at Lagoudera in Cyprus
Matthew Milliner2020, Stanislava Kuzmová and Andrea-Bianka Znorovszky, eds., Mary, the Apostles and the Last Judgment (Trivent, 2020)
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Abstract
Mary’s priesthood is a prominent theme in Byzantine art, and this paper argues that it abounds at the Virgin of the Vetches church (Panagia tou Arakos) at Lagoudera in Cyprus, especially because of extensive depictions of the apocrypha. Through subtle interpretations of the Protevangelium and Dormition narratives, the twelfth-century artist Theodore Apsevdis highlighted priestly aspects of the beginning, middle and end of Mary’s life, aspects unified through a visualization of the Prayer of the Cherubic Hymn (Cherubikon) which is said by priests to commence the Eucharistic portion of the liturgy.
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The Priesthood of the Virgin Mary as an Image-Paradigm of Christian Visual Culture
A. Lidov. The Priesthood of the Virgin Mary as an Image-Paradigm of Christian Culture // IKON, 2017, 10, p. 9-26., 2017
The paper discusses the crucial significance of the theme of the Priesthood of the Virgin Mary for the development of Byzantine iconography, and the Christian visual culture in general. The Priesthood of the Virgin Mary has, since the late Middle Ages, become a very popular topic in Roman Catholic theology, with influence also on the iconography of the Latin West. In Byzantine theology this theme has never been articulated as doctrine, whether positively or negatively. However, in Eastern Christian homiletics and hymnography the notion and metaphor of the Virgin's priesthood is easily perceived. Some church fathers compared the Virgin with the Priest and at the same time with the Altar Table, on which " she has offered to us Christ as Heavenly Bread for the redemption of sins ". In the author's view, through the notion of the Priesthood of the Virgin only, as present in the minds of iconographers, we are able to understand the symbolic meaning of several pictorial motifs which have remained unexplained. The theme of the Priesthood of the Virgin Mary is simultaneously both obvious and unexpected. 1 It is obvious because the connection between the Virgin, the Church and liturgy requires no particular proof, it has been addressed in scholarly literature for a long time. It is unexpected because in Orthodox theology there is no formally accepted theme of the priesthood of the Virgin, this subject is not analyzed at all-neither in a positive, nor in a critical way. For instance, it is not mentioned in any polemics against Catholic theology where the theme of the Priesthood of the Virgin is clearly articulated. They have been working it out in a detailed way since the 11 th century; it was of special importance in the 17 th century and it is still the subject of active discussion nowadays; this situation is (stands) in strict contrast to the Orthodox tradition. 2 In an article focused primarily on Byzantine iconography, there is no chance of any special attention being paid to Catholic views on the priesthood of the Virgin. There is a significant volume of literature on this theme: suffice it to recall the fundamental works by Rene Laurentin. 3 Latin theological ideas can be illustrated with some visual examples. An image of the Virgin Orans created in 1112 (fig. 1) for the altar apse of the main cathedral in Ravenna is characteristic (it was taken from the wall during the reconstruction of the basilica, and is now in the Archi-episcopal Museum). The most interesting iconographic detail of this image is the presence of two bands: one is short, white and fringed, the other is golden with precious stones, long and narrow, coming down almost to the hem, like an orarion. It is on the left shoulder, under the maphorion. Nikodim P. Kondakov long ago emphasized the liturgical sense of the two bands, clearly associated with a number of well-known liturgical vestments (epitrachilion, orarion, epigonation), but not coinciding with any of them exactly. 4 Based on this detail, Kondakov classified that image as the type of the Virgin Deaconess (a variant of the Orans). The presence of the special type of deaconess was not accepted by other scholars, however, an idea of the priesthood of the Virgin is quite clearly represented in the Ravenna mosaic.
Let us put away all earthly care: Mysticism and the Cherubikon of the Byzantine Rite
Studia Patristica LXIV, Vol. 12, 2013
The Cherubikon, sung during the Great Entrance in the Byzantine Rite, has been discussed in a number of different ways in the literature – as a theatrical component of the Divine Liturgy (White, 2006 et al.), in terms of musicology (Raasted, 1986 et al.), and as a ‘synecdoche’ of the entire Eucharistic liturgy (Taft, 1995). This article seeks to discuss the Cherubikon in terms of how it is understood in Late Antiquity as describing the liturgical action as mystical experience. The text sung on regular Sundays refers to worshippers as ‘mystically representing’ (μυστικῶς εἰκονίζοντες) the Cherubim; the text for Thursday of Holy Week describes the Eucharist as ‘the mystical supper’ (τοῦ Δειπνοῦ τοῦ μυστικοῦ); and the text sung for the Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts on weekdays during Great Lent refers to the ‘mystical sacrifice’ (θυσία μυστική). Germanus of Constantinople’s eighth century commentary on the rite describes the hymn and the multisensory liturgical action as being a corporeal gloss on the spiritual reality they describe – the ‘mystical, living, and unbloody service’ (τῆς μυστικῆς καὶ ζωοθύτου καὶ ἀναιμάκτου λατρείας, 37.17-8) – in what Taft (ibid. 54) calls a ‘prolepsis’ of the whole Eucharistic action. Germanus uses the same Greek verb to describe the correspondence of the ritual event to the spiritual reality, εἰκονίζω, as the hymn itself uses to describe the relationship of the worshippers to the Cherubim; this is a term traceable to Neoplatonic authors, such as Plotinus, who uses the verb to describe the created order as ‘an image continuously being imaged’ (ὁ κόσμος εἰκὼν ἀεὶ εἰκονιζόμενος), Enneads II 3.18). The engagement with Neoplatonic mysticism is also demonstrable through the influence of Maximus the Confessor, whose Mystagogy Germanus quotes in his commentary (Meyendorff, 1984, 105-7). As understood by Late Antique authors such as Germanus, then, the Cherubikon’s use of μυστικῶς indicates a conception of the Byzantine Rite that maps onto Iamblichus’ three degrees of prayer – introductory, conjunctive, and ineffable unification (De mysteriis V 26), with the Liturgy of the Catechumens serving as the introductory stage, the Great Entrance the conjunctive stage, and the Eucharist itself as ineffable unification.
The Virgin of the Passion: Development, Dissemination and Afterlife of a Byzantine Icon Type
Mary holds the Christ child in the traditional formula, but unexpectedly, angels appear above bearing not good news, but a cross, spear and sponge - tidings of Christ’s future torment. This is the Virgin of the Passion icon. Due to its enormous proliferation by papal command, it has been called perhaps the most popular religious icon of the twentieth century. But despite an abundance of recent studies on the Virgin Mary in Byzantium, there has been little investigation into what first spurred this iconographical innovation. This dissertation pursues this question by exploring four themes related to the Virgin of the Passion in Byzantium: Power, painting, priesthood, and predestination. My first two chapters explore what the Virgin of the Passion is not. “Power” has been a pervasive scholarly theme in the humanities in recent decades, and Byzantine art history is no exception. Yet a vague concept of power does little to illuminate the original context of the first known Virgin of the Passion, which dates to 1192 on the island of Cyprus. Instead, the image conveys an iconography of political defeat, which was possible because the cult of the Virgin in Byzantium preceded imperial sponsorship, and could consequently transcend and outlast that sponsorship as well. Another obstacle to understanding the Virgin of the Passion comes from traditional accounts of the history of painting, suggesting Byzantine stasis and Renaissance innovation. Tracing the image to the creative milieu of Komnenian Constantinople, I argue that the history of the Virgin of the Passion type illustrates the reverse – Byzantine dynamism, followed by relatively homogenous mass production in the Renaissance and beyond. My third and fourth chapters offer a new interpretation of the type. By connecting the icon to a twelfth-century Eucharistic controversy, I make the case that the original Virgin of the Passion is Eucharistic, which consequently associates Mary with priesthood. To contextualize this observation, I point to a surprising series of texts and images in the Byzantine world that also refer to Mary as priest. Finally, I offer a new interpretation of the instruments of the Passion borne by the angels above Mary and Christ. I relate them to the “Prepared Throne” imagery, a popular Byzantine motif most often interpreted as a throne “prepared” for Judgment. Instead, I make the case that it is the throne “prepared” from the foundation of the world. The result is that the Virgin of the Passion – a work of visual theology – treads on the verbally contested terrain of predestination.
The Virgin Orans in Byzantine Apse Decoration
Waseda RILAS Journal, vol.10, 2022
In eleventh-century Byzantium, depicting the Virgin Orans in the apse of the churches was prevalent. Among them, Nea Moni on the island of Chios is particularly renowned. This study argues that in Nea Moni, the Pantocrator in the dome and the Virgin Orans in the apse, simultaneously at the metalevel, are a representation of the Ascension of Christ. Archangels Michael and Gabriel in the subsidiary apses also serve as angels of the Ascension (Act 1:10). Nea Moni’s dome and apse, together with the entirety of the naos space, speaks of eschatological Christology, or Christ’s Ascension and the Second Coming. Nea Moni’s decorative program was not conceived on Chios but was probably influenced by the now lost Virgin’s Chapel of Pharos in the Capital (Photios’ Homily). On the Byzantine frontier, such as Cappadocia, southern Italy, and Georgia, churches that depict the Ascension in the apse still remain. On Crete, there is an example that represents the Virgin Orans under the Pantocrator of the dome. In Eski Baca in Cappadocia, the Pantocrator in medallion form is placed above the head of the Virgin Orans in the apse. Such examples would corroborate Nea Moni’s interpretation.
Ioannis A. Eliades - Enthroned Virgin Mary and Child with Carmelite monks and scenes of miracles in the Museum of Nicosia
A Cypriot icon of a crowned Virgin of Mercy of the Carmelite Order with the sixteen miracles-scenes of the mercy of Virgin preserves an iconography of the lost today cycle of the miracles of the Merciful Virgin of the Carmelite Brothers. The recent restoration of the icon has removed the later overpaintings from the faces of the Virgin and Child and has revealed the original garments of the Carmelite Order which were used before 1287. The certain ante quem datation of this icon makes it an important universal artwork which reveals the contacts between East and West during the 13th century. This discovery sets the question whether the striped garments of the Carmelite Monks were vertically striped as in the Cypriot icon (before 1287) or horizontally as in the Siena Pala del Carmine (1327-1329). painted by Pietro Lorenzetti, ca. 40 years after the new habit of the Carmelites was introduced. The Cypriot icon has been executed by Cypriot master in Byzantine art of the Comnenian and post-Comnenian styles in order to illustrate a Western iconographical subject such as the Virgin of Mercy and the cycle of miracles of the Virgin towards the Carmelite Order.
A Byzantine Epigram in the Pictorial Cycle of Akathistos Hymn for the Virgin from the Narthex of Kremikovtsi Monastery St George (1493). – Scripta & e-Scripta vol. 16–17, 2017, 313–324.
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.
Mary’s parents in homilies before and after James Kokkinobaphos, Wonderful things, Byzantium through its art ( 42nd Symposium of Byzantine Studies, King’s College, London and Courtauld Institute, March 2009), Ashgate 2013
The manuscript of the twelfth-century homilies of the monk James from the Kokkinobaphus monastery in Bithynia (Par. gr. 1208, cat no 175) exhibited in the ‘Wonderful Things: Byzantium through its Art’ exhibition, is the earliest work of Constantinopolitan origin to include a fully expanded Mariological cycle (i.e. the illustrated life of Mary). On the occasion of its exhibition this manuscript will be used as point of reference not however to demonstrate its artistic value; We will instead discuss the homiletic activity on Mary’s early life before and after the twelfth century when the Kokkinobaphus homilies were produced. In particular, we will demonstrate the attitude of preachers towards Sts Anne and Joachim and the only source on Mary’s early life, the apocryphal Protevangelium of James, which dates from the second century but it consistently started to appear only after the eighth- century in Byzantine homilies.
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Byzantine iconography of The Nativity of the Virgin Mary in the light of a homily of St. John Damascene
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.
Liturgical Illustrations in the Byzantine Lectionary Cod.587 in the Dionysiou Monastery, Mount Athos
ORIENT (The Society for Near Eastern Studies in Japan), vol.41, 2006
The Dionysiou Lectionary (Cod.587 in the Dionysiou Monastery on Mount Athos) possesses not only the largest illustrations among the seventeen manuscripts with the narrative cycle of Christ's life, but also the greatest variety of pictorial forms according to the importance of the texts and feasts. To grasp the characteristics of its iconographic program, I discuss on the illustrations for Holy Week. The miniature depicting Christ's Prayer at Gethsemane is placed at the top of the Twelve Evangelia for the Passion of Holy Thursday. Why is Christ depicted three times in different motions? Why the miniature of the Conference of the Chief Priests before Caiaphas for the Liturgy of Holy Thursday has the same composition as the Conference of the Chief Priests before Pilate for the Orthros of Holy Saturday? Why the Betrayal of Judas is selectcd for the Holy Friday Liturgy? To solve these questions, we have to interpret whole texts of the church services for the Passion and surviving illustrated lectionaries. Our painter depicted the Prayer at Gethsemane in the composition of Moses Receiving the Law, to emphasize Christ as New Moses and to visualize the typological correspondence between the Old and the New Testament. The Conference of the Chief Priests, an insignificant episode at a glance, is regarded as the important event which connects the Gospel typologically with the Psalter in the context of the liturgy. To emphasize the point visually, the Dionysiou Lectionary selected the Conference of the Chief Priests with the same composition as the Psalter illustrations of the conference of the kings, in spite of the Gethsemane scene originally suitable for the place. Though the Betrayal is suitable for the twelve Evangelia, being pushed out by the Gethsemane, it is moved to the next position of the Holy Friday Liturgy. The main interest of the planner of the manuscript consists in the liturgy and the typology, and not in the correspondence with the text. The program of Holy Week in the Dionysiou Lectionary is deliberated carefully.
"A Reconsideration of the Communion of the Apostles in Byzantine Art," Studies in Iconography 42 (2021): 1–20.
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.
The Heavenly Guard of the Mother of God: Mary between the Angels in Early Byzantine Art, in J. Herrin and F. E. Consolino (eds.), The Early Middle Ages (Bible and Women 6.1). (Atlanta: SBL press, 2020), 121-166.
In recent decades, the question of the development of the cult of the Mother of God in Byzantium has gained particular scholarly attention, which has resulted in numerous publications, several research projects, a number of academic events, and specialized exhibitions. 1 Notwithstanding this great interest, the formation of Marian iconographies and the role that her images played in the dissemination of the veneration of the Mother of God still await further clarification, as well as proper and, one hopes, I would like to thank the editors of this volume, Franca Ela Consolino and Judith Herrin, for their valuable comments and for inspiring me to look at the problem of women in relation to the Bible. I would also like to express my profound gratitude to John Mitchell, whose precious remarks helped improve the flow of this text.
To picture and to perform: the image of the Eucharistic Liturgy at Markov Manastir (II), Zograf 39 (2015)
The themes in the sanctuary decoration at Markov Manastir (Christ Emmanuel, Virgin Orans, Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles), whose peculiar iconographic elements reveal the mysteries of the Holy Trinity and the archpriesthood of Christ in the liturgical and theological context of the fourteenth century, are discussed in this paper. The remains of the text in the leitourgikon held by Christ the Archpriest have been reexamined. It seems plausible to assume that the inscription or a part of it referred to the opening dialogue of the anaphora. The iconographic peculiarities of individual items carried in the Great Entrance procession, modelled according to the structure of the archieratical Divine liturgy, have been reconsidered. It has been established that the way in which the large aër was carried, and its place in the procession escorting the Eucharistic gifts – which was very close to the holy offerings – followed the iconographic tradition of the Heavenly Liturgy in the dome, while the evidence for its shape and size can be found in a somewhat later liturgical source – the Patriarchal liturgical Diataxis of Dimitrios Gemistos. Keywords: the church of St Demetrios at Markov Manastir, Great Entrance, Christ the Great Archpriest, aër, leitourgikon, iconography, Late Byzantine painting.
"A Monument of His Own? An Iconographic Study of the Wall Paintings of the Holy Trinity Parakklesion at the Monastery of St. John Chrysostom, Koutsovendis (Cyprus)", Studies in Iconography 39 (2018), 1-85.
The wall paintings of the parekklesion of Holy Trinity at the monastery of St. John Chrysostom, Koutsovendis (Cyprus), dated to around 1100, have been given central stage in narratives of early Komnenian art, due to their high quality and their “metropolitan” style. Conversely, their iconography has received little attention. It is this imbalance that the present study seeks to redress. By dissociating the discussion from the assumption that the parekklesion was meant to house the tomb of its founder—the military governor of Cyprus Eumathios Philokales—and by focusing on certain innovative features, the uniqueness and complexity of the iconography is revealed. The tracing of the ensemble’s relationship to current concerns of the imperial administration and the Church, its eschatological overtones, and its references to Antioch and Jerusalem, helps anchor it to its historical and art historical context in the Eastern Mediterranean at the time of the First Crusade.
To picture and to perform: the image of the Eucharistic Liturgy at Markov Manastir (I), Zograf 38 (2014)
This paper presents and interprets the iconographic programme of the frescoes in the lowest register of the sanctuary in the church of St Demetrios at Markov Manastir in the context of the relationship between mural decoration and the contemporary Eucharistic rite. In the first part of the paper special attention is paid to the scene in the north pastophorion, which illustrates the prothesis rite, and the depiction of the Great Entrance, placed in the sanctuary apse. The iconographic and programmatic features of the fresco ensemble, the most pominent place among which is occupied by the representations of the deceased Saviour and Christ the Great Archpriest – are compared to various liturgical sources and visual analogies (monumetal painting and liturgical textiles) in the medieval art of Serbia and Byzantium. Keywords: the church of St Demetrios at Markov Manastir, prothesis rite, Great Entrance, Christ the Great Archpriest, Deceased Saviour, aër, epitaphios, iconography, Late Byzantine painting.
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