Book BYZANTINE and Post Byzantine Art - Crossing Borders

ВИЗАНТИЙСКО
Изкуствоведски четения 2017

И
ПОСТВИЗАНТИЙСКО
ИЗКУСТВО:
ПРЕСИЧАНЕ
НА
ГРАНИЦИ
BYZANTINE
Art Readings 2017
AND
POST-BYZANTINE
ART:
CROSSING
BORDERS
Martyrdom of Sts Kyrikos and Julita, 17th century Cretan icon,

Icon collection of Bachkovo Monastery, Bulgaria.
Photo: Ivan Vanev
Мъченичеството на св. св. Кирик и Юлита,

критска икона от ХVII в.,
Иконна сбирка на Бачковския манастир, България.
Фотограф Иван Ванев
ИЗКУСТВОВЕДСКИ ЧЕТЕНИЯ
Тематичен рецензиран годишник за изкуствознание в два тома
ART READINGS
hematic Peer-reviewed Annual in Art Studies, Volumes I–II
Международна редакционна колегия

International Advisory Board
Andrea Babuin (Italy)
Konstantinos Giakoumis (Albania)
Nenad Makulijevic (Serbia)
Vincent Debiais (France)
Редактори от ИИИзк
In-house Editorial Board
Ivanka Gergova
Emmanuel Moutafov
Съставители
Edited by
Emmanuel Moutafov
Ida Toth (United Kingdom)
Publisher
Institute of Art Studies
21 Krakra Str.
1504 Soia
Bulgaria
www.artstudies.bg
© Институт за изследване на изкуствата, БАН, 2018

© Institute of Art Studies, BAS, 2018
ИЗКУСТВОВЕДСКИ ЧЕТЕНИЯ
Тематичен рецензиран годишник за изкуствознание в два тома
2017.I – Старо изкуство
ВИЗАНТИЙСКО
И ПОСТВИЗАНТИЙСКО ИЗКУСТВО:
ПРЕСИЧАНЕ НА ГРАНИЦИ
BYZANTINE
AND POST-BYZANTINE ART:
CROSSING BORDERS
ART READINGS
Thematic Peеr-reviewed Annual in Art Studies, Volumes I–II
2017.I – Old Art
Съставители
Емануел Мутафов
Ида Тот
Еdited by
Emmanuel Moutafov
Ida Toth
София, 2018
Сборникът се издава с финансовата подкрепа на
Фонд „Научни изследвания“
при Министерство на образованието и науката
Сборникът се издава със съдействието

на Плесио компютърс
Content
Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Art:
Crossing Borders, Exploring Boundaries ....................................................................11
Emmanuel Moutafov, Ida Toth
Words and Images in Early Christian Inscriptions

(3rd–7th Century) ................................................................................................................39
Antonio E. Felle
“Das Licht Christi leuchtet allen“ – Form und Funktion

von Kreuzen mit Tetragrammen in byzantinischen
und postbyzantinischen Handschriften ......................................................................71
Andreas Rhoby
Between Princes and Labourers: The Legacy of Hosios Christodoulos

and his Successors in the Aegean Sea (11th–13th Centuries.) ....................................91
Angeliki Katsioti
Essay on a Visual Perspective of Medieval Writing .................................................129

Vincent Debiais
The Inner Portal of St Mark’s Basilica in Venice

between East and West ....................................................................................................151
Valentina Cantone
Images and Texts across Time:

The Three Layers of Mural Paintings
in the Church of St George in Soia..............................................................................171
Elka Bakalova, Tsvetan Vasilev
The Balkans and the Renaissance World ....................................................................193

Jelena Erdeljan
Panagia Eleousa in Great Prespa Lake:

A symbolic artistic language at the Beginning of the 15th Century ........................209
Melina Paissidou
Un cycle hagiographique peu étudié

de la peinture extérieure moldave:
La vie de saint Pacôme le Grand ....................................................................................231
Constantin I. Ciobanu
Post-Byzantine Wall Paintings in Euboea:
The Monastery of Panagia Peribleptos at Politika ....................................................249
Andromachi Katselaki
A Unique 15th Century Donation to Vatopedi:

A Pair of Wood-carved Lecterns ....................................................................................265
Dimitrios Liakos
Between Loyalty, Memory and

the Law: Byzantine and Slavic Dedicatory Church Inscriptions
Mentioning Foreign Rulers in the 14th and 15th Centuries .......................................303
Anna Adashinskaya
The Illustrated Slavonic Miscellanies

of Damascenes Studite’s Thesauros –
a New Context for Gospel Illustrations in the Seventeenth Century ....................325
Elissaveta Moussakova
Jovan Četirević Grabovan – an 18th Century Itinerant Orthodox Painter.

Some Ethnic and Artistic Considerations ...................................................................349
Aleksandra Kučeković
Painters of Western Training Working

for Orthodox Patrons – Remarks on the Evidence
of Late-medieval Transylvania (14th–15th Century) ....................................................369
Dragoş Gh. Năstăsoiu
The Scene of the Road to Calvary

in St George’s Church in Veliko Tarnovo ...................................................................391
Maria Kolusheva
Костадин Геров-Антикаров – даскал и зограф ..................................................411

Владимир Димитров
Religious and National Mythmaking:

Conservation and Reconstruction of the Social Memory ........................................427
Antonios Tsakalos
List of Contributors .........................................................................................................446

Съдържание
Византийско и поствизантийско изкуство:

пресичане на граници, навлизане в различното ..............................................11
Емануел Мутафов, Ида Тот
Слова и образи в раннохристиянските надписи (III–VII век)......................39

Антонио Е. Феле
„Христовата светлина озарява всичко“ –

форма и функция на кръстовете с тетраграми
във византийските и поствизантийските ръкописи .......................................71
Андреас Роби
Между статута на господари и слуги: влиянието

на св. Христодул и неговите последователи
върху егейските острови ΧΙ–ΧΙΙΙ век .......................................................................91
Ангелики Кациоти
Опит върху визуалната перспектива на средновековното писане ............129

Венсан Дебие
Вътрешната порта на „Сан Марко“

във Венеция между Изтока и Запада ......................................................................151
Валентина Кантоне
Изображения и текстове във времето:

трите стенописни слоя
в църквата „Св. Георги“ в София .............................................................................171
Елка Бакалова, Цветан Василев
Балканите и ренесансовият свят .............................................................................193

Йелена Ерделян
Богородица Елеуса на Голямото Преспанско езеро:

символичният художествен език от началото на XV век .............................209
Мелина Паисиду
Житието на св. Пахомий Велики –

един малко проучен агиологичен цикъл
в живописта на Молдавия ..........................................................................................231
Константин И. Чобану
Поствизантийски стенописи на остров Евбея:
манастирът „Св. Богородица Перивлепта“ в с. Политика ............................249
Андромахи Кацелаки
Едно уникално дарение

на манастира Ватопед от средата на XV век:
два резбовани аналоя ..................................................................................................265
Диитриос Лякос
Между лоялността, паметта и закона:

византийски и славянски посветителни надписи от църкви,
упоменаващи чуждоземни владетели от XIV и XV век ..................................303
Анна Адашинская
Илюстрираните славянски сборници,

съдържащи „Съкровище“ на Дамаскин Студит –
нов контекст за евангелските илюстрации през ХVІІ век ............................325
Елисавета Мусакова
Йован Четиревич Грабован – един пътуващ зограф от ХVIII век.

Етнически и художествени значения ....................................................................349
Александра Кучекович
Художници със западна школовка, работещи

за православни поръчители – бележки върху данните
от късносредновековна Трансилвания (XIV–XV в.) ...........................................369
Драгош Нъстъсою
Сцената Пътят към Голгота от църквата „Св. Георги“

във Велико Търново.....................................................................................................391
Мария Колушева
Kostadin Gerov-Antikarov:
A Teacher and Icon Painter .............................................................................................411
Vladimir Dimitrov
Религиозно и национално митотворчество –

съхраняване и реконструкция на социалната памет .......................................427
Андониос Цакалос
Списък на авторите ......................................................................................................446

Сборникът е посветен на 70 години
изкуствоведски изследвания
в Българската академия на науките.
This volume celebrates the 70th Anniversary

of research in Art Studies
at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.
От съставителите:
Статиите в този сборник са представени първо като доклади на Международната
конференция „Изкуствоведски четения 2017 – модул „Старо изкуство“, организира-
на от Института за изследване на изкуствата в София, 31.03 – 02.04.2017 г. в чест
на 70 години изкуствоведски изследвания в Българската академия на науките. Във
форума взеха участие 44 учени от България, Гърция, Сърбия, Франция, Великобри-
тания, Италия, Албания и САЩ. Всички текстове бяха подложени на строга оценка,
която позволи да се направи внимателна и справедлива селекция на публикациите
в годишника. Бихме искали да изразим дълбоката си благодарност на анонимните
рецензенти за техните своевременни и компетентни препоръки, както и на авто-
рите за тяхната воля да доработят в сътрудничество с нас своите статии с оглед
повишаване на академичното ниво на изследванията им в унисон с най-съвременните
достижения в областта на византологията и проучванията на православното изку-
ство през османския период.
A note from the editors:

The articles in this volume were presented at the International Conference Art Readings 2017
– Old Art Module, organised by the Institute of Art Studies in Soia between 31 March and
2 April 2017 to celebrate the seventieth anniversary of Art Studies at the Bulgarian Academy
of Sciences. The Conference atracted forty-four participants from Bulgaria, Greece, Serbia,
France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Albania, Romania and the USA. All submissions have
been subjected to a rigorous peer-reviewing process, which allowed a careful and judicious
selection for the publication in the Annual. We wish to express our deepest gratitude to the
anonymous reviewers for their prompt and thoughtful feedback, and to the contributors for
their willingness to work closely with us in order to secure a high level of academic excellence
in showcasing the most recent developments in the ield of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Art
Studies.
Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Art:
Crossing Borders, Exploring Boundaries
Emmanuel Moutafov1
Institute of Art Studies,
Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
Ida Toth2
The Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies,
Wolfson College, Oxford University
Abstract: The authors relect on methodological and terminological problems

related to the critical ields of Byzantine and so-called Post-Byzantine Art in the
Balkans. Departing from the traditional, frequently controversial, issues of conti-
nuity and identity, this chapter proposes a more efective conceptual framework,
which favours the ideas of multiculturality, hybridity, and horizontal exchange.
The present essay also addresses the questions of cultural history, and, especially,
of Western inluences in Orthodox painting after the 15th century, and it urges that
art of any period should be measured against the standards of its own time. More
generally, it suggests that the reception of Orthodox Christian art in the Balkans
ought also to be considered to fall within the purview of scholars of the Western
Renaissance, as well as of Otoman Studies, so as to ensure fruitful academic dia-
logue across disciplines.
Key words: classical, Byzantine, Post-Byzantine, Orthodox, Christian, Otoman, West-
ern, Renaissance, Medieval, Balkans, Pre-modern, methodology, terminology, style.
1 Dr Emmanuel Moutafov is Associate Professor in Byzantine and Premodern Art at the Fine
Arts Department, and since 2014, Director of the Institute of Art Studies of the Bulgarian Acade-
my of Sciences. He works in the ields of Greek Medieval and Post-Medieval Epigraphy, Palaeog-
raphy, Iconography, and Painter’s Manuals.
2 Dr Ida Toth is Senior Instructor and Lecturer and Research Fellow at Oxford University, and a
regular Visiting Professor at Belgrade University. She is a historian of Byzantine literary culture
with research interests in rhetoric, narrative prose, and public display of texts. She is a member of
the Executive Commitee of the Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies, and, together with
Andreas Rhoby, a coordinator of the International Commission for Byzantine Epigraphy (AIEB).
11
Византийско и поствизантийско изкуство: пресичане на граници
The keen contemporary interest in the Eastern Roman Empire that
prompted the German historian Hieronymus Wolf in 1557 to coin
the term ‘Byzantium’ came as a relection of the intellectual curi-
osity and existential anxiety of Wolf’s own times3. His was by no
means the irst Western encounter with Byzantine literary heritage,
whose impact had been felt for over a century in Humanist and
Renaissance Italy, from where it spread across other European cul-
tural centres, including Augsburg – a free imperial city in Southern
Germany, in which Wolf found patronage for his work on Byzan-
tine historiography. The inadvertent upshot of his – otherwise tor-
mented – forays in Medieval Greek literature was Wolf’s inspired
nomenclature, which would prove as resilient as the realm it pur-
ported to designate – and, probably, just as controversial4. Notably,
the scholarly appraisal of ‘Byzantium’ changed over time with luc-
tuations in cultural and historical perceptions: in the seventeenth
century, when the European Enlightenment, although fascinated
with Byzantine political and court culture, raised doubts over the
overall merits of the theocratic Byzantine Empire; in the eighteenth
century, when Western intellectuals such as Montesquieu, Voltaire,
and Edward Gibbon took an openly dismissive stance declaring the
Medieval Orthodox state feeble, corrupt, and decadent5; and, con-
spicuously, in the nineteenth century, when the development of Eu-
ropean Byzantine Studies coincided with the birth of independent
Balkan states, whose ideologies ‘nationalised’ Byzantium as a way
of detaching themselves from their Otoman past. These atitudes
go a long way towards explaining the reputation of Byzantium as a
fraught, but ininitely alluring, academic subject, no less captivating
today, but perhaps no longer as divisive6.
The undeniable appeal of the subject has elevated Byzantine Stud-
ies to a fully-ledged, and ever growing, scholarly ield with its
own distinct place alongside Classical, Medieval and Early Modern
3 Dekker, Rudolf. Egodocuments and History: Autobiographical writing in its social context
since the Middle Ages. Verloren Publishing, 2002, 29; Reinsch, Diether Roderich. Hieronymus
Wolf as Editor and Translator of Byzantine Texts. In: Przemyslaw Marciniak and Dion C.
Smythe (eds.). The Reception of Byzantium in European Culture Since 1500. Farnham, 2016,
43-53.
4 Marciniak, Przemysław. Ikona dekadencji. Wybrane problemy europejskiej recepcji Bizancjum
od XVII do XX wieku. Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego. Katowice, 2009.
5 Christophilopoulou, Aikaterini. Βυζαντινή ιστορία Α΄ 324–610. Θεσσαλονίκη, 1992, 5.
6 Nilsson, Ingela and Paul Stephenson (eds.). Wanted, Byzantium: The Desire for a Lost Empire.
Uppsala, 2014.
12
Studies. Regretably, this advancement has not yet been extended to
include the reception of (Post-)Byzantine traditions7, which still lie
open to prejudice and misconstruction. A revealing case in point is
the notion of the uniformity of Post-Byzantine style, and, more gen-
erally, art, which rests on the equally problematic understanding
that there existed a single Byzantine style prevailing in the entire
Medieval Orthodox οἰκουμένη8. In fact, Byzantium as a complex
amalgam of Roman identity, Christian ideology, and European her-
itage, with the Greek language providing a further identity mark-
er9, requires that a similar concept of dynamic plurality be applied
to its visual and material culture. Still, the reception of Byzantine
art, from its very beginnings, did litle to acknowledge this diversi-
ty. The interpretation of Byzantine art as a ixed ‘Greek’ style had
been linked with discernibly unfavourable connotations from ear-
ly on, in the context of the Italian Cinquecento. It irst appeared in
Giorgio Vasari’s description of the art of Cimabue, as a negative
exemplum against which to measure the artistic accomplishments
of fourteenth-century Florentine painting10. Viewed through the
prism of such appraisal, the title of the 2002 exhibition and its cata-
logue, Post-Byzantium: the Greek Renaissance11, presents an incongru-
ous contradiction in terms, going against the grain of the implicit
claims that any renaissance of the Byzantine Greek style was both
absurd and impossible. But, Vasari’s programmatic statement – ev-
idently ill-informed on Byzantine art – cannot be taken as conclu-
sive in discussions of what constitutes a ‘renaissance’ movement
in art. Seting aside the treacherous question of terminology, the
core issue, that of the revival of interest in Classical Antiquity, was
7 The ield of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine reception studies is still in its infancy, but it is grow-
ing ever stronger: Auzépy, Marie-France (ed.). Byzance en Europe. Saint-Denis, 2003; Kolovou,
Foteini (ed.). Byzanzrezeption in Europa. Spurensuche über das Mitelalter und die Renaissance
bis in die Gegenwart. Berlin/Boston, 2012; Betancourt, Roland and Maria Taroutina (eds.). Byzan-
tium/Modernism: The Byzantine as Method in Modernity. Leiden and Boston, 2015; Marciniak,
Przemysław and Dion C. Smythe (eds.). The Reception of Byzantium.
8 Sprat, Emily. Toward a Deinition of “Post-Byzantine” Art: The Angleton Collection at the
Princeton University Art Museum. In: Record of the Princeton University Art Museum, 71 (June
2014), double issue 2013–2014, 2-19.
9 Koder, Johannes. Byzanz – römische Identität, christliche Ideologie und europäische Ausstrahl-
ung. In: Dmitry Bumazhnov, Emmanuela Grypeou, Timothy B. Sailors and Alexander Toepel
(eds.). Das golden Byzanz und der Orient. Schallaburg, 2012, 27-42.
10 Vasari, Giorgio. Lives of the Artists. Trans. George Bull. Vol. 1. Harmondsworth: Penguin
Books, 1965, 50-51.
11 Kakavas, George (ed.). Post-Byzantium: The Greek Renaissance. 15th – 18th Century Treasures
from the Byzantine & Christian Museum, Athens. Athens, 2002.
demonstrably more intricate and far more widely considered in the
world of ifteenth-century Europe than has been sustained in the
traditional tenets of Western art history12. One aspect of this broad
phenomenon, the contribution of Byzantium to the rediscovery of
classical scholarship in the West, is nowadays beter understood13.
Points of contact and mutual inluence between Byzantine and Re-
naissance Art have also been evaluated14. Somewhat less familiar
to modern scholarly publics is the taste and the rhetorical vocabu-
lary for viewing and describing ancient monuments that Byzantine
scholars introduced to Italian Humanists15. As well as cultivating
the aesthetic appreciation of ancient architecture and decoration of
buildings, this inluence set the vogue for fostering Hellenic and
Roman past in the process of renegotiating one’s own identity – a
development that can be as clearly identiied in the West as in early
Otoman culture, whose own appropriation of classical (and Byzan-
tine) antiquities represented an atempt to claim the succession and
the legacy of the Roman/Byzantine Empire16. Classical culture and
classical art therefore remained a backdrop against which Medieval
and early modern societies constructed their pasts and measured
the achievement of their presents. However, this process of creative
reimagining did not exclude Byzantium. In the West, for example,
Byzantine religious art became part of the incipient culture of art
collecting17: although much of this is still unknown, some artefacts
that survive, provide vivid testimonies to the reception and trans-
mission of works of art well beyond any ixed geographical and
historical boundaries. One such example, Bessarion’s Reliquary, a
lavish Palaiologan staurotheke bequeathed to the Florentine Scuola
12 Burke, Peter. Hybrid Renaissance. Culture, Language, Architecture. Budapest and New York,
2016.
13 Wilson, Nigel. From Byzantium to Italy: Greek Studies in the Italian Renaissance. Baltimore,
1993; Harris, Jonathan. Greek Emigres in the West 1400–1520. Camberly, 1995.
14 Recently by: Lymberopoulou, Angeliki and Rembrandt Duits (eds.). Byzantine Art and
Renaissance Europe. London, 2013.
15 On the impact of Byzantine scholarship on Quatrocento humanists and their atitudes to-
ward architecture, see: Smith, Christine. Architecture in the Culture of Early Humanism: Ethics,
Aesthetics and Eloquence, 1400–1470. Oxford, 1992.
16 Ousterhout, Robert. The East, the West, and the Appropriation of the Past in Early Otoman
Architecture. – Gesta, 2004, No. 43/2, 165-176; Fowden, Elizabeth. The Parthenon Mosque, King
Solomon and the Greek Sages. In: Otoman Athens: Archeology, topography, history. Athens,
forthcoming.
17 Duits, Rembrandt. Byzantine Icons in the Medici Collection. In: Angeliki Lymberopoulou and
Rembrandt Duits (eds.). Byzantine Art and Renaissance Europe. London, 2013, 157-188.
14
della Carita by the famous Byzan-
tine expatriate, Cardinal Bessari-
on18(Fig. 1), ofers abundant scope
for examining the creative process-
es of cultural memory and social
agency in art. More generally, a
focus on these processes stands to
greatly enrich our understanding
of the Byzantine and Post-Byzan-
tine art production, and of its im-
pact on wider European culture19.
Such luidity has been fully ac-
knowledged by modern Byzantine
scholarship, which regards Byzan-
tium as much more than a uniform
polity, making up one empire, one
religion, one artistic style and one
ethnos20. Rather, it views the Byzan-
tine Empire as a political, cultural,
and religious – Orthodox Christian
– force ield, complex by itself, but
also creating polycentric spheres
of inluence, of which one was the
Byzantine Commonwealth – the only
one, in fact, whose spiritual centre
was Constantinople, and which
outlived Byzantium’s territorial
empire21. Misconstruction of this
18 Schreiner, Peter, Holger Klein and Valeria Polet-

to (eds.). La Stauroteca di Bessarione fra Constanti-
nopoli e Venezia. Venice, 2017.
19 On cultural memory, see: Assman, Jan. Com-
municative and Cultural memory. In: Astrid Erll
and Ansgar Nünning (eds.). Cultural Memory
Studies. An International and Interdisciplinary
Handbook. Berlin and New York, 2008, 109-118; on
art and agency, see: Gell, Alfred. Art and Agency.
Oxford, 1998.
20 For an inspired discussion of the nature of Byz- Fig. 1. Gentile Bellini. Cardinal Bessarion and Two
antium and its society, see: Cameron, Averil. Byzan- Members of the Scuola della Carita in prayer with the
tine Maters. Princeton and Oxford, 2014. Bessarion Reliquary. Photo credit: The National
21 Dimitri Obolensky’s concept of the Byzantine Gallery, London
15
inluence as emanating one-directionally, from the centre to the pe-
ripheries, is the reason why still, even right up until today, the in-
est Medieval monuments and mural paintings in Serbia, Bulgaria
or Macedonia (FYROM) tend to be atributed to metropolitan, i.e.
Byzantine painters. By the same token, works of ‘inferior’ quality
or some rather less impressive examples of icon painting are com-
monly classiied as products of local, i.e. non-Byzantine, painters.
Thus, scholars feel free to label unsigned works of non-Greek, i.e.
Bulgarian, Serbian, Armenian workshops as belonging to a subcul-
ture within a high culture emanating from a Byzantine, often Con-
stantinopolitan, epicentre. The Boyana Church ofers a vivid case
in point. The vast array of secondary literature on this monument22
marks a triumph of Byzantine Studies over nationalism, achieved
through debunking the myth of the Boyana painter (Fig. 2) as being
of Bulgarian extraction, as well as over the compensatory assump-
tion that this monument signiied the advent of the European Re-
naissance. And yet, in a similar vein, stylistic analyses of the icono-
graphic programme of Boyana have created yet another, equally
problematic, myth about a highly accomplished, but otherwise,
unknown Constantinopolitan icon painter. Clearly, a more concert-
ed discussion needs to be had regarding the nature of Byzantine
style in art, and whether some aspects of this art, particularly those
that are understood in terms of ‘translation’ and ‘crossover’, should
be nonetheless deined as exclusively Byzantine; and, moreover,
whether artistic quality should be thought of as a privilege of the
(Greek-speaking) centre alone.
Throughout the fourteenth century, the Balkans was in the grip
of an economic, political, military, and religious crisis. At the end
of the century, the entire region was divided among numerous
smaller polities, whose weakness made them easy prey for the
Otomans23. The Otoman conquest had major consequences for
Commonwealth, revised by: Shepard, Jonathan. Byzantium’s Overlapping Circles. In: Elizabeth Jef-
freys (ed.). Proceedings of the 21st International Congress of Byzantine Studies, London, 21 – 16
August 2006. In: Plenary Papers. London, 2006, 15-55; Shepard, Jonathan. The Byzantine Com-
monwealth 1000–1550. In: Michael Angold (ed.). The Cambridge History of Christianity. Cam-
bridge, 2006, 1-52.
22 Penkova, Bisserka (ed.). Боянската църква – между Изтока и Запада в изкуството на хрис-
тиянска Европа [Boyanskata tsarkva – Mezdu Iztoka i Zapada v izkustvoto na hristianska Evro-
pa]. Sofia, 2011 (with the bibliography of the monument).
23 Dimitrov, Strashimir, Manchev, Krastju. История на балканските народи [Istoria na bal-
kanskite narodi]. Vol. 1. Soia, 1999, 17; Laiou, Angeliki. ‘Byzantium and the Neighbouring Pow-
16
Fig. 2. Interior mural decoration of the Boyana church, 13th century, Bulgaria. Photo credit: Ivan Vanev
the political, judicial and cultural life of the Christian population.

While the Greeks of Constantinople retained some religious auton-
omy and the right to more substantial representation at the Sub-
lime Porte, the arrival of the new political power changed the fate
of the Balkan peoples in a more conspicuous way: although some
continuity can be discerned in their demographic, administrative
and economic development, in the political and to some extent re-
ligious sphere, Otoman rule entailed a break with the Byzantine
past. A strong sense of discontinuity was relected in the determi-
nation with which the Romanian princes in the Wallachian lands
claimed the legacy of the Byzantine imperial traditions. Their cul-
tural and ideological self-fashioning was especially visible in their
continuous military campaigns against the Otomans, their spon-
sorship of eforts to recover Byzantine literary heritage, and the
rich iconographic programme that they left behind of themselves
as founders and benefactors of major Orthodox churches and mon-
ers: Small State Policies and Complexities. In: Sarah T. Brooks (ed.). Faith and Power (1261–1557):
Perspectives on Late Byzantine Art and Culture. New York, 2006, 42-53.
17
asteries24. Elsewhere in the Balkans, however, Christians could not
hold governing or even administrative positions (except for vassals
in the ifteenth century), and that, in turn, diminished opportunities
for the patronage, and, consequently, for the production, of monu-
mental – and secular – art. In cities, Muslims already accounted for
about forty percent of the population25. The Patriarchate of Tarnovo
was downgraded to a Bishopric, and it came under the jurisdiction
of Constantinople either in 143826 or immediately after 1453. This in
efect amounted to the obliteration the Medieval Bulgarian religious
traditions through their merger with a general Orthodox and spe-
ciically with Greek culture. Nonetheless, it cannot be denied that a
considerable level of religious tolerance still existed in the Balkans,
arguably more so than in many other parts of contemporary Eu-
rope27. In some respects, the Pax Otomana brought prosperity: the
restoration of the Patriarchate of Peć in 1557 inspired and funded a
revival of religious art harking back to the traditions of Medieval
Serbian manuscript illumination, painting and architecture28. On
the other hand, the crisis of the seventeenth century created new
conditions for artistic production in the Balkans. Painter workshops
gradually retreated to the countryside and remote mountainous re-
gions, where they beneited from communal patronage and from a
new class of merchant-donors (ig. 3) commissioning their services
as icon painters and wood carvers. These itinerant craftsmen intro-
duced new styles – simpler, quicker to execute, adoptive of diverse,
also Islamic, inluences – into seventeenth-century Orthodox art29.
The signiicance of the Fall of Constantinople in 1453 as a deinitive
24 Pippidi, Andrei. Tradiţia politică bizantină în Țările Române în secolele XVI–XVIII. 2nd edi-
tion. Bucharest, 2001.
25 Todorov, Nikolay. По някои въпроси на балканския град през XV–XVII в. [Po niakoi vapro-
si na balkanskia grad prez XV–XVII vek]. – Historical Review 2, Soia, 1965, 134.
26 The terminus is provided by the signature of Ignatius of Tarnovo at the Council of Florence
“ο ταπεινός μητροπολίτης Τυρνόβου”. See Snegarov, Ivan. Кратка история на българската
църква [Kratka istoria na balgarskata tsarkva]. Vol. 2. Sofia, 1946, 211.
27 Bergstässer, Georg. Grundzüge des islamischen Rechts. Berlin–Leipzig, 1935, 43.
28 See, contributions by Zoran Rakić, Svetlana Pejić, Miljana Matić, Mila Gajić, Irena Špadijer,
Branislav Todić and Ljiljana Ševo in Section VI: Christian Theocratic Realm within an Islamic Em-
pire: A Great Post-Byzantine Renewal. In: Danica Popović and Dragan Vojvodić (eds.). Byzantine
Heritage and Serbian Art. Vol. II. Belgrade, 2016, 497-579.
29 Tsampouras, Theocharis. The contribution of the Mount Grammos painters to the formation of
a common artistic language in the seventeenth-century Balkans. Maximilian Hartmuth (ed.) with
assistance of Ayşe Dilsiz and Alyson Wharton. Christian art under Muslim rule: proceedings of
a workshop held in Istanbul on May 11/12. 2012. Leiden, 2016, 1-17.
18
Fig. 3. Donor composition, d. 1645: the merchant Panos Arseniou and the former treasurer
of the Archbishopric of Pogoniani, Panos Papademetriou. Painted by Demetrius from
Grammosta and Ioannes Skoutares. Church of the Holy Apostles, Molyvdoskepastos,
Epirus, Greece. Photo credit: Theocharis Tsampouras
19
turning point in the history of the Balkans has been overstated in
scholarly literature. This momentous event does not seem to have
been universally felt across the entire region, and the emphasis on
the date itself runs the danger of misrepresenting a true historical
process. The Bulgarian state had disappeared from the political map
of Europe sixty years earlier; Serbia capitulated in 1459; Morea in
1460; and Bosnia in 1464. The mountainous regions of modern-day
Montenegro and Albania held out much longer, until the beginning
of the 16th century. The Otoman conquest of the Balkans took al-
most a century to complete, while the decline of the weak states
that were subsequently conquered had made itself felt a whole cen-
tury earlier. The loss of the political centre of Orthodoxy was dei-
nitely important, but it was not perceived as quite so momentous
by contemporaries – at least not to the extent that the nineteenth-
and twentieth-century national historiographies represent. More
recently, scholars of the early modern Balkans have started to ex-
plore other aspects of this process, such as, for example, a conspic-
uous lack of hostility in atitudes towards the Turks in the works
of Christian authors in the aftermath of the conquest30. The notion
that these texts ought to have resonated with a nationalist anti-Ot-
toman ideology is by now outdated and anachronistic. On the con-
trary, it is being accepted that these sources provide evidence of a
positive stance towards the reigning sultans31. In the early centuries
of Otoman rule, the sultans were viewed as the natural successors
of Byzantine emperors. Even the Orthodox Church found a way of
commemorating and praying for the non-Christian, but nonetheless
legitimate, Otoman emperors. A sense of adjustment to the new re-
gime emerges in many genres of Slavonic literature, including brief
chronicles, histories and hagiographies32. Chronographers, for ex-
ample, most naturally placed the succession lines of Otoman lords
after the emperors of Constantinople, and would more often than
not call them ‘emperors’ rather than ‘sultans’33. The atitude towards
the Otomans in the Serbian genealogies is at the very least com-
30 Rakova, Snezhana. България, Сърбия, Византия – исторически записи за XV в. на

Балканите [Bulgaria, Serbia, Vizantia – istoricheski zapisi na Balkanite]. In: Vassil Gyuzelev, An-
isava Miltenova and Radoslava Stankova (eds.). Bulgaria and Serbia in the Context of Byzantine
Civilization. Soia, 2003, 145-163.
31 Danchev, Georgi. Страници из историята на Търновската книжовна школа [Stranici ot
istoriata na Tarnovskata knizhovna shkola]. Soia, 1983, 251.
32 Rakova. България, Сърбия, Византия, 158.
33 Stojanović, Ljubomir. Stari srpski rodoslovi i letopisi. Novi Sad, 1927, No. 858.
20
pliant34: when describing riots in the Balkans, these sources speak
about disasters caused by squabbling among the Christians, rather
than about their grievances against the conquerors. Thus “… the de-
scription of Otoman history, of the events that shook the Balkans in
the fourteenth and ifteenth centuries, is done in a way that allows
the Otomans to be woven into the fabric of the earlier history of the
peninsula and to act as the successive rulers of these lands”35.
Much as with ‘Byzantine’, the concept of ‘Post-Byzantine’ in art
presents problems for modern publics and scholars alike, not least
because of the diiculties posed by the vexed questions of identity
and continuity36. The term itself we owe to the historian and states-
man Nicolae Iorga and those who followed in his footsteps37. His
paradigmatic account of the permanence and survival of Byzantine
forms is still loosely employed in art history to describe a period –
the centuries of art production that followed the fall of the Byzantine
capital—and to deine the style of Orthodox art produced after 1453.
Iorga’s seminal work has undoubtedly contributed to the progress
of ‘Post-Byzantine’ scholarship by reinvigorating existing ields of
research, including those of religious iconography and painting, but
it has done litle by way of proposing any more precise chronology
or underscoring shifts in political situations and orientations of its
historical actors38. In the current state of research, many questions
remain open with perhaps the most pressing desiderata being the
following two: a reassessment of the interpretations of Post-Byzan-
tine art as inherently derivative and unoriginal, and a study of paral-
lel, diverse, and mutually inluential artistic trends that developed
in diferent environments across the Orthodox communities in the
Balkans and beyond. Religion is a central issue – high proportion of
surviving Post-Byzantine art happens to be religious. This has to do
with how religion was practiced, with Orthodoxy being the badge
34 Stojanović. Stari srpski, No 858.

35 Stojanović. Stari srpski, No 858.
36 Eastmond, Anthony. The Limits of Byzantine Art. In: Liz James (ed.). A Companion to Byzan-
tium. Chichester, 2010, 313-22.
37 Iorga, Nikolae. Byzance après Byzance. Bucharest: Institut d’études byzantines, 1981. Also
see Lowell, Clucas (ed.). The Byzantine Legacy in Eastern Europe. Boulder: East European Mon-
ographs, distributed by Columbia University Press, 1988; Kitromilides, Paschalis. The Byzantine
Legacy in Early Modern Political Thought. In: Anthony Kaldellis and Niketas Siniossoglou (eds.).
The Cambridge Intellectual History of Byzantium. Cambridge, 2017, 653-68.
38 Sprat. Toward a Deinition, 17.
21
of identity within the Otoman
Empire spilling over into the
patronage and commissioning
of art. The term that provides
some precision in deining the
artistic production that catered
for the religious needs of the
Christians under the Sultans
between the ifteenth and the
nineteenth century is Orthodox
Christian Art of the Otoman peri-
od39. The designation ‘Post-Byz-
antine’ will certainly continue
to have a substantial traction,
but, rather than being under-
stood literally, it can be used
to indicate processes of chang-
es taking place in the Otoman
world, the polyvalent nature of
culture and art, and the hybrid-
Fig. 4. Enthroned Virgin with Child and ity that we see as built into the
Donors, 13th century, Tuscan-Byzantine very fabric of the Post-Byzan-
workshop, Museum of the Basilica of
St Nicholas, Bari, Italy.
tine world.
Photo credit: Emmanuel Moutafov
Conditions for making Or-
thodox art after the end of the
ifteenth century difered from region to region within the Oto-
man Empire. To take the example of Constantinopolitan artisans:
some of them probably emigrated to Crete long before the fall of
Constantinople in 1453, where they found suitable conditions for
perpetuating Byzantine Orthodox traditions in religious painting.
Their inluence spread over the Ionian islands, and further aield,
reaching Venice and Venetian workshops, with which these artists
maintained regular contact. They painted icons à la Greca on gold
background, elongating the proportions of the igures, depicting
garments and architectural landscapes that abounded in ine detail.
Such icons were in demand in Western European markets until well
into the late sixteenth century (Fig. 4). For the rest of the Balkans,
39 Moutafov, Еmmanuel. Къде е Византия в края на 18 в.? Пъзел за изкуствоведи. [Kade e
Vizantia v kraya na 18 vek?] – Art Studies Quarterly, 2005, No. 4, 3-8.
22
however, opportunities to communicate directly with Crete, and
thereby, indirectly, with Renaissance and Post-Renaissance Italy,
were sparse. In other words, most Balkan lands were neither con-
sumers nor producers of the kind of Byzantine-style art that was
favoured in the West after the ifteenth century.
On the other hand, some Pre-Modern Orthodox icon painting reveals
the artists’ atention to perspective drawing techniques, rendering
their artwork much more like a window opening onto a realistic
world. Indeed, icons from Crete (Fig. 5) and the Ionian islands often
resemble Western images, with their space organised according to
the principles of geometric foreshortening. Not until the eighteenth
century, however, was this practise methodically applied. When it
eventually prevailed, the general appearance changed to the extend
that they lost the features that allowed them to be easily recognisa-
ble as products of Byzantine or Post-Byzantine art40.
The most common element in Medieval/Byzantine and Orthodox/
Post-Byzantine art in the Otoman period is its shared iconographic
tradition. This tradition adhered to the conventions of painting, not
from life, but integrating distinct notions of space and time into a
single plane, with no intention of creating any sense of depth. Look-
ing through the lenses of the Western Post-Renaissance aesthetics,
this style can be deined as formulaic, lat, and lacking perspec-
tive41. Along similar lines, it is usually assumed that Western artistic
inluence was slow to reach the Greek-speaking territories under
Venetian control. Such a notion leads to judging Post-Byzantine art
as retrograde, as well as to confusing the general paterns of inlu-
ence, which were by no means one-directional or ixed. The com-
plex socio-political circumstances of the Greek-speaking lands that
were successively under Byzantine, (Venetian), and Otoman rule
make it impossible to characterise Post-Byzantine art produced in
these territories according to a single style. Even more complicated
is the picture within those parts of the Otoman Empire where the
dominant Slavic-speaking population maintained contacts with the
Habsburg Monarchy and Russia. A more critical examination of the
question of foreign inluences and of their reception in Post-Byzan-
40 Sprat. Toward a Deinition, 14.

41 These features are typical of most Orthodox painting made outside Crete and Corfu: Graziou.
Μεταβυζαντινή Τέχνη, 191.
23
Fig. 5. Martyrdom of Sts Kyrikos and Julita, 17th century, Cretan provenance,
the Icon Collection of the Bachkovo Monastery, Bulgaria. Photo credit: Ivan Vanev
24
tine art is acutely needed42. Moreover, any such discussions need to
acknowledge the bi-lateral and reciprocal nature of cross-cultural
contacts, and also to consider how networks, connections, and the
interacting systems of trade and diplomacy efected artistic chang-
es. Rare are instances that may point to any concerted eforts on the
part of one culture to inluence another, such as, perhaps, in the case
of the presumed impact of Western art. It is well known that trans-
lations of Leonardo da Vinci’s Treatise on Painting were undertaken
by Greek Orthodox painters in the eighteenth century and also, a
century later, by their disciples of Slavic origin. Still, the technique
of oil painting and the principles of perspective, which had been de-
veloped during the Italian Renaissance, began to be applied in the
Balkans under the inluence of the irst professional schools of art in
the nineteenth century. Up until then, only sporadic Western-style
elements can be identiied in Orthodox painting (Fig. 6), none of
which have been suiciently studied and understood by modern
scholars of Post-Byzantine art.
Elsewhere in the Balkans, until well into the late eighteenth cen-
tury, some artists, like Constantine from Byzantium/Istanbul (Fig.
7), deemed themselves direct heirs of Byzantine traditions with-
out being aware that they were establishing a post-tradition of any
kind. In the same vein, theoreticians of Orthodox art as Dionysios
of Phourna believed that ‘the end of true painting’ came with the
end of the Palaiologan period or the death of the legendary Manuel
Panselinos43, and accordingly, urged that these authorities should
be followed as models of exemplary style in Orthodox painting.
Relying on the religious term Christian Orthodox when discussing
the type of art that is not secular, instead of using the problematic
political and ideological designation such as Post-Byzantine, would
have the additional beneit of preventing generalising assertions
and possible misunderstandings in dialogues with experts from
other ields.
To date, the term ‘Post-Byzantine’ and its ramiications for the his-
42 Sprat. Toward a Deinition, 15. On the problematic nature of assessing ‘inluence’ in the his-
tory of art, see Baxandall, Michael. Paterns of Intention: On the Historical Explanation of Pictures.
New Haven, 1985, 58-62.
43 Moutafov, Еmmanuel. Мануил Панселинос и краят на „истинската живопис“ [Manuel
Panselinos i krayat na “istinskata zhivopis”]. In: Snezha Rakova and Liliyana Symeonova (eds.).
Medieval Balkans: Politics, Religion, Culture. Soia, 1999, 211-216.
25
Fig. 6. Two scenes from the life of St John the Baptist (Altar screen: The Cycle of Feast), 1869,
the Church of Sts Theodore Teron and Theodore Stratelates, Kouklen village, Bulgaria.
Photo credit: Ivan Vanev
tory of art have been most comprehensively discussed by Olga

Graziou, who notes that this deinition has been used principally
by Greek art historians, but does not acknowledge that it was also
en vogue in other Balkan countries until well into the 1990s44. Emily
Sprat has also made important contributions to this discussion45.
44 On the problematic usage of the term, see Graziou, Olga. Μεταβυζαντινή Τέχνη:
Χρονολογικός προσδιορισμός ή εννοιολογική κατηγορία. [Post-Byzantine Art: Chronologi-
cal Designation or Conceptual Category?]. In: Tonia Kiousopoulou (ed.). 1453: Η άλωση της
Κωνσταντινούπολης και η μετάβαση από τους μεσαιωνικούς στους νεώτερους χρόνους
[The Fall of Constantinople and the Transition from the Medieval to the Modern Period]. Her-
aklion, 2005, 183-96; Ćurčić, Slobodan. The ‘Absence of Byzantium’ – The Role of a Name. In:
Nea Estia 82, 2008, No. 164; and Safran, Linda. ‘Byzantine’ Art in Post-Byzantine South Italy. In:
Common Knowledge 18, 2012, No. 3, 485-504.
45 Sprat. Toward a Deinition, and eadem. The Allegory of the Holy Communion: An Investi-
gation of a Post-Byzantine Icon Type that Developed on the Ionian Islands during the Period of
the Venetian Hegemony. (MSt thesis, University of California, Los Angeles, Fall 2007). Sprat
presented further discussions of the concept in two conference papers in Michigan (2010) and
26
Graziou has rightly pointed out a conceptual problem that occurs
as a result of conining Post-Byzantine art to a strictly limited peri-
od46. It therefore seems useful to identify the chronological frame-
work for which this term is most relevant as well as stressing that
twentieth-century and contemporary Balkan historians, literary
scholars, and linguists have not dealt with the issue of chronolo-
gy in any conclusive way. In historic terms, the birth of the Balkan
national states and their ideologies in the 19th century was a period
when Orthodox Christian communities in the region were renegoti-
ating their relationships with Byzantine legacy, very much based on
the perceived importance of Byzantium for their respective national
narratives47. The disintegration of the Otoman Empire and the inal
establishment of the modern Balkan states also coincided with the
development of European Byzantine Studies, and the upsurge of
academic focus on the historical reality of Byzantium. But, that also
brought up certain stigmatising and discriminatory rhetoric: until
recently, Byzantine legacy in the Balkans continued to be viewed as
a modern construct, which only served contemporary political and
ideological agendas48. However, history writen from within the Or-
thodox tradition has seen a change: the modern Balkan countries
and their academias have gradually repositioned both Byzantium
and their own past in their proper historical contexts, and the suc-
cess of these processes bodes well for the future of Post-Byzantine
scholarship49.
***
Budapest (2013).
46 Graziou. Μεταβυζαντινή Τέχνη, 196.
47 Moutafov, Emmanuel. Of History in art and of Picturesque in History. King Samuel, his
Troops and Balkan Nationalism. In: Emmanuel Moutafov (ed.). The Age of King Samuel as Treat-
ed by Bulgarian Artists. Soia, 2014, 5-25.
48 Angelov, Dimiter. Byzantinism: The Real and the Imaginary Inluence of a Medieval Civili-
zation on the Modern Balkans. In: Dimitris Keridis, Elias Bursac, and Nicholas Yatromanolakis
(eds.). New Approaches to Balkan Studies. Dulles, VA, 2003, 3-21; Ricks, David and Paul Magdal-
ino (eds.). Byzantium and the Modern Greek Identity. Aldershot and Brookield, 1998.
49 Gyuzelev, Vassil and Kiril Petkov (eds.). State and Church: Studies in Medieval Bulgaria
and Byzantium. Soia, 2011; Popović, Danica and Dragan Vojvodić (eds.). Byzantine Heritage and
Serbian Art. Vol. I–III. Belgrade 2016; Bakalova, Elka, Margaret Dimitrova et al. (eds.). Medieval
Bulgarian Art and Leters in a Byzantine Context. Soia, 2017; Discovering Byzantium in Istan-
bul: Scholars, Institutions, and Challenges (1800–1955) 16 – 18 November 2017, Pera Museum:
htp://en.iae.org.tr//Images/pdf/etkinlikler/sempozyum/istanbuldabizansikesfetmek.pdf (the
Symposium booklet accessed 6 December 2017).
27
Serbia gained independence in 1815 with the establishment of
the autonomous Paşalık of Belgrade. According to the majority of
Greek researchers, the so-called Post-Byzantine period in art ends
with the Greek Wars for Independence in 183050, but it is perhaps
easy to intuit why the art of post-secession Greece is not referred
to as Post-Otoman but Modern Greek. The main part of Bulgaria
gained independence much later, in 1878. Other large and impor-
tant regions in the Balkans, like Thrace and Macedonia, remained
under Otoman rule at least until 1912. The local traditions of Or-
thodox art during the centuries of Otoman domination continued
to be promulgated by the icon workshops of Edirne, Athos, Melnik,
Sozopol, Debar, Kepesovo and Galatista. Icons and frescoes, which
conformed to the aesthetics of the previous centuries continued to
be painted in small villages of the newly independent territories of
the Balkan countries. Popular tastes remained the same, despite the
political and economic changes. Therefore, in this particular regard,
the alignment of political history with the history of religious art
is neither methodologically nor factually justiied. That is why we
have to allow for a more lexible periodization acknowledging that
the history of Christian Orthodox art in the Otoman period con-
tinues until the beginning of the twentieth century, or, provisional-
ly, until the 1920’s. This chronology covers the hiatus of 1830–1920
that has remained neglected by art historians; after all, the majority
of surviving Christian artefacts in the Balkan Peninsula date back
precisely to this era. Questionable quality, vast output, multidirec-
tional inluences, and innovations that do not conform to a single
tradition, should not be considered as an obstacle to scholarship.
Such phenomena hold the key to understanding earlier iconogra-
phy and, most importantly, the multiple identities of the Balkan
nations, their mentalities, and their Oriental-style, two-dimension-
alised, visual culture, formed during the complicated but in many
ways seminal nineteenth century.
Postscript
This essay has been writen in two stages: the fully-drafted ideas of one
author were in response read, largely against the grain, by the other. This
50 Chadzidakis, Manolis. Έλληνες ζωγράφοι μετά την Άλωση (1450–1830). Τόμος Α΄. Αθήνα,
1987, 8.
28
Fig. 7. Constantine
from Byzantium
(Istanbul), All Saints,
1777, the National
Archaeological
Institute and
Museum, Soia. Photo
credit: Ivan Vanev
approach has proved challenging and stimulating in equal measure: it

has provided both contributors abundant scope for crossing borders and
exploring boundaries in their respective research ields while inviting a
vigorous reassessment of the current state of scholarship as a whole. The
preparation of the present volume posed similar demands with still more
gratifying results. It has highlighted many intersections and communali-
ties across a wide range of scholarly contributions, and has, auspiciously,
showed that interdisciplinary collaborations hold a great promise for the
future of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine scholarship.
29
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34
Византийско и поствизантийско изкуство:
пресичане на граници, навлизане в различното
Емануел Мутафов
Ида Тот
В това уводно есе авторите разсъждават над терминологични и методологич-

ни проблеми, свързани с изследването и разбирането на византийското изку-
ство и т.нар. поствизантийско изкуство на Балканите. Според тях не може да
се говори за съществуването на единен византийски стил през Средновеко-
вието, особено в съседните на Източната римска империя православни дър-
жави. Оттам и се поставя под съмнение адекватността на условния термин
поствизантийско изкуство за периода XV–XIX в. например в териториите на
Османската империя, населявани от българи, сърби, румънци и др. Оспорва
се и универсалността на датата 1453 г. като условен край на византийското
изкуство с неговите национални варианти на Балканите; коментира се и ус-
ловната дата за край на периода, която е различна за Гърция, България и
Сърбия. В текста се засягат и въпросите за западните и ислямските влияния
в православната живопис след XV в. Разглежда се и досегашната дискусия
по тези спорни тези, като се предлага терминът Christian Orthodox Art of the
Ottoman period, а относно влиянията се предлага феномените на заемки на
Изток да се изследват и от експерти по Западен ренесанс, както и от осма-
нисти. Прави се и опит да се опише сложната картина на т.нар. „различия“
между византийското и наследилото го църковно изкуство, както и между
западната и източната художествена традиция, набелязва се и сложността в
определянето на едно произведение като национално по съвременните кри-
терии за национална принадлежност.
Този текст е писан на два етапа. Представените от E. Мутафов идеи са проче-
тени от И. Тот и доразвити от нея в качеството ѝ на редактор. Този подход се
оказа едновременно предизвикателство и стимул за съавторство, доказвайки,
че двамата – изкуствовед и филолог – могат да осъществят заложеното в за-
главието на сборника „пресичане на граници“, като „събарят“ преградите в
различните професионални полета на своята експертиза чрез предлагането
на взаимодопълващи се доказателства на едни и същи научни тези.
Процесът на съставителство и редакция на този том представи подобни на-
гласи и у останалите автори, а резултатите са още по-вдъхновяващи. Стати-
ите в сборника открояват много взаимодействия и сходства на изводите в
широкия спектър от научни приноси на авторите, доказвайки категорично,
35
че интердисциплинарните колаборации са перспективни за развитието на
по-обективната византологична наука и изследванията на православното
християнско изкуство през османския период.
36
Words and Images
in Early Christian Inscriptions
(3rd–7th Century)
Antonio E. Felle1
University “Aldo Moro” of Bari, Italy
Abstract. The use of both words and images in the epigraphic medium is already
atested in the very irst Christian inscriptions (mid 2nd century). This inscriptional
habit continued uninterrupted until the end of Late Antiquity (7th century) pro-
viding us with an important insight – also corroborated in the works of contem-
porary historians and Church Fathers – into the transformation of the notion of
‘exposed writings’, associated with inscribed texts that were intended to be seen
rather than read.
Key words: Late Antiquity, Epigraphy, Early Christianity, Rome.
In Greek and Roman Antiquity, both words and images appeared

as elements of an organized joint communicative stream2. In fune-
rary monuments, epitaphs and portraits of the deceased are used
together in order to create a long-term memorial of the dead. On
painted vases, inscribed words gave identity and voice to the people
1 Antonio Enrico Felle is Associate Professor of Christian and Medieval Epigraphy at the Uni-
versity Aldo Moro of Bari. He is also Visiting Professor of Christian Epigraphy at the Internatio-
nal Institutum Patristicum Augustinianum (Holy See), Corresponding Member of the Pontiicia
Accademia Romana di Archeologia, Corresponding Member of the Deutsches Archäologisches
Institut, Secretary of the Board of the Italian National Academic Council of Post-Classical Ar-
chaeology, and Scientiic Director of the ‘Epigraphic Database Bari’ (htp://www.edb.uniba.it).
2 Cavallo, Guglielmo. Testo e immagine: una frontiera ambigua. In: Testo e immagine nell’Alto
Medioevo. Setimane di Studio del Centro Italiano di Studi sull’Alto Medioevo, XLI (Spoleto, 15
– 21 aprile 1993). Spoleto, 1994, 31-64, part. 31-32.
39
a b
Fig. 1. Rome, via Appia. Necropolis under St Sebastian out-of-the-walls (around 150–220
CE). (a): ICVR, V 12905 [EDB 4294]; (b): ICVR, V 12892 [EDB 781]; (c): ICVR, V 12891 [EDB
780]; (d): ICVR, V 12900 [EDB 791]
represented on them. In public buildings and monuments, as well

as in reliefs and statues, monumental inscriptions display the pro-
visions of the foundation by their texts and by the arrangement and
materiality of their writing. From Classical Greece to the height of
the Roman Empire in 2nd century AD, inscribed leters and sculpted
or painted images each played their respective roles. Although they
complemented one another, they still tended to occupy their own
distinct space3.
In Rome, the funerary setlement found under the basilica of St Se-
bastian, along the Via Appia (the ancient Basilica Apostolorum), pre-
served the very irst examples of epigraphs by Christians of Rome
still in their original places: they are dated between the middle of 2nd
3 Cfr. Petrucci, Armando. Le scriture ultime. Torino, 1995, 18.
40
and the beginnings of 3rd century. Some of these epitaphs display
texts closely associated with images in a manner that difers greatly
from the rest of their contemporary epigraphic milieu.
Τhe most ancient inscription in the complex is the epitaph that
Μάρκος Οὔλπιος Καλόκαιρος dedicates to his mother Σεμπρωνία
Ἀγαθούς (Fig. 1,a)4. In the space below the text, where we can-
not detect any Christian reference, a ish is sculpted as swimming
through the sea waves. Regardless of the possible meanings of this
image, the composition as a whole follows the classical tradition of
separating text and image, although only in form; indeed, the pre-
sumable relation between the deceased and the image of the ish is
not made clear at all5.
In the same context, there are also other epitaphs – produced with-
in the irst years of 3rd century – displaying the image of the ish,
but this time consistently associated with the representation of an
anchor (Fig. 1b-c-d)6. In these inscriptions, the images are not set
in a distinct place on the slabs, as was the case with the epitaph of
Σεμπρωνία Ἀγαθούς: here the igures share with the text all the
available space, constraining the writen text to alternate its nor-
mative articulation. Evidently, here the images are considered a
structural part of the epitaph, whose message is thus expressed by
both the words and the igures. This particular feature also occurs
among other early Christian funerary inscriptions in Rome: I here
refer to the epitaph of Licinia Amias (Fig. 2a), with the unquestion-
able connection between the representations of two ishes on each
side of an anchor and the unique – and somewhat odd – Greek ex-
pression Ἰχθὺς ζώντων7; and to the two similar inscriptions of Iulia
Calliste and Valeria Fotine (Fig. 2b-c), whose Latin texts seem to be
in some way “completed” by the inal combination of Greek let-
ters and images, the precise meaning of which continues to elude
4 ICVR, V 12905 [EDB 4294]: Μ(άρκος) Οὔλπ(ιος) Καλόκαι/ρος Σεμπρωνίᾳ / ᾿Αγαθούτι μητρὶ
εὐ/σεβηστάτῃ ἐποίη/σεν ἕνεκε μνείας / ((piscis in undis)).
5 Also considering the epitaph of Τολλία Ἀσκληπιακή, found nearby the Roman catacomb of
Hermes, along the via Salaria vetus (ICVR, X 26971 [EDB 13438]), it is really hard to establish an
immediate relation between the mentioned deceased woman and the largely prevailing image of
the shepherd, bearing the sheep on his shoulders.
6 They are the epitaphs of the Augusti verna Atimetus (ICVR, V 12892 [EDB 781]); of Ancotia
Auxesis (ICVR, V 12891 [EDB 780) and of her mother Ἀγκωτία Ἰρήνη (ICVR, V 12900 [EDB 791]).
7 ICVR, II 4246 [EDB 8818]; now cfr. also Carleti, Carlo. ΙΧΘΥΣ ΖΩΝΤΩΝ. Chiose a ICVR, II
4246 – Vetera Christianorum, 1999, No. 36, 15-30.
41
a
c b
Fig. 2. (a): Rome, National Archaeological Museum. ICVR, II 4246 [EDB 8818]; Rome,
Vatican Museums: (b): EDB 41832; (c): ICVR, I 1778 [EDB 9815]
modern scholars8. Another meaningful case in point is the single

– and at irst glance inexplicable – word ἰχθύς roughly scratched
on a wall in the lowest room in the mausoleum of the Innocentiores,
in the same complex of St Sebastian (Fig. 3), in front of the epitaphs
discussed above9. In this graito, the image of a crux (in the shape
8 Respectively see EDB 41832 and EDB 9815.

9 ICVR, V 12889 [EDB 778]. Longenecker, Bruce W. The Cross before Constantine. Minneapolis,
42
Fig. 3. Rome, via Appia. Necropolis under St Sebastian out-of-the-walls. Mausoleum of the
Innocentiores (160–220 CE). ICVR, V 12889 [EDB 778]
of the leter tau) is positioned inside the word itself, between the irst
two leters10. Other examples, from Asia Minor11, Greece12 – or from
Roman Africa as in the Hadrumetum funerary mosaic panel found in
the area of the so-called catacomb of Hermes (Fig. 4) – illustrate that
a shared language, made by both words and images, was used in
other 3rd century Christian communities outside of Rome13.
2015, 84-85 and footnotes 14-15 mentions there two graiti with the word ἰχθύς but, actually,
there is only one. It seems that Longenecker never saw the monument he mentions.
10 Similar to the discussed inscriptions of Iulia Calliste and Varronia Fotine, the graito makes a
direct reference to the passage of the Epistle of Barnabas 9, 8: λέγει γάρ· καὶ περιέτεμεν Ἀβραὰμ
ἐκ τοῦ οἴκου αὐτοῦ ἄνδρας δεκαοκτὼ καὶ τριακοσίους. Τίς οὖν ἡ δοθεῖσα αυτῷ γνῶσις;
μάθετε, ὅτι τοὺς δεκαοκτὼ πρώτους, καὶ διάσθημα ποιήσας λέγει τριακοσίους. Τὸ δεκαοκτὼ
ἰῶτα δέκα, ἦτα ὀκτώ· ἔχεις Ἰησοῦν. ὅτι δὲ ὁ σταυρὸς ἐν τῷ ταῦ ἤμελλεν ἔχειν τὴν χάριν, λέγει
καὶ τοὺς τριακοσίους. Δηλοῖ οὖν τὸν μὲν Ἰησοῦν ἐν τοῖς δυσὶν γράμμασιν, καὶ ἐν τῷ ἑνὶ τὸν
σταυρόν. “For it (the Scripture) says: “Abraham circumcised eighteen and three hundred men
of his household”. What knowledge, then, was given to him? Notice that first he mentions the
eighteen and then, after a pause, the three hundred. The number eighteen consists of an Iota (10),
and an Eta (8). There you have Jesus (IHCOYC). And because the cross was about to have grace
in the letter Tau ['T'], he next gives the three hundred Tau. And so he shows the name Jesus by
the first two letters, and the cross by the other” (English text from The Apostolic Fathers, II ed. and
transl. by B. D. Ehrman [Loeb Classical Library, 25], Cambridge (USA) – London, 2005(2), 44-45).
The Epistle of Barnabas is dated between the last thirty years of 1st century and the irst thirty years
of 2nd century AD.
11 MAMA VI, 224 from Apamea in Caria (Turkey).
12 See for example Feissel, Denis. Recueil des inscriptions chrétiennes de Macédoine du IIIe au
VIe siècle. Paris, 1983, no. 80 (from Nea Chalkedon, near Thessaloniki); nos. 116, 118, 119 (from
Thessaloniki).
13 But not in the same terms: the well-known funerary monument of the bishop of Hieropolis
Aberkios follows the usual epigraphic habit in every sense, although its text is explicitly reserved
for the initiates. Other 3rd-century funerary monuments by Christians in Phrygia plainly declare
their religious identity by words in the texts – clearly separated from the images. A ish is rep-
resented in the pavement of the Christian basilica in Stobi (4th century): cfr. Feissel, Denis. Chro-
niques d’épigraphie byzantine 1987–2004. Paris, 2006, 35, no. 124.
43
Fig. 4. Hadrumetum (now Sousse, Tunisia). Funerary mosaic of Hermes, with ish(es)
and central anchor. Gems with the same image Spier 2007, no. 261 (Rome, Camposanto
Teutonico, 3rd cent.); Spier 2007, no. 300 (Berlin, Staatliche Museen, 3rd century)
The shared language of words and images is noted as a typical fea-

ture of Christian practices in the Octavius by Minucius Felix, writen
between the end of 2nd century and the beginning of 3rd century –
the same period as our inscriptions. The text by Minucius explicitly
states that the Christians “occultis se notis et insignibus noscunt” (“rec-
ognize each other by secret marks and insignia”)14. Among the notae et
insignia recalled in the Octavius, we could identify not only igures
as ishes, anchors, doves, shepherds (according to the well-known
list given in the contemporary Paedagogus by St Clemens of Alexan-
dria15), but also combinations of words and single leters: obscure to
14 Min. Fel. Octavius 9, 2 (cfr. CSEL 2, 13).

15 Clem. Alex. Paed. 3, 11, 59-60 (SC 158, 123; GCS p. 270): Αἱ δὲ σφραγίδες ἡμῖν ἔστων πελειὰς
ἢ ἰχθὺς ἢ ναῦς οὐριοδεομοῦσα ἢ λύρα μουσική, ᾗ κέχρηται Πολυκράτης, ἢ ἄγκυρα ναυτική,
ἣν Σέλεοκος ἐνεχαράττετο τῇ γλυφῇ κἂν ἁλιεύων τις ᾖ, ἀποστόλου μεμνήσεται καὶ τῶν ἐξ
ὕδατος ἀνασπωμένων παιδίων. “And let our seals be either a dove, or a ish, or a ship scudding
before the wind, or a musical lyre, which Polycrates used, or a ship’s anchor, which Seleucus got
engraved as a device; and if there be one ishing, he will remember the apostle, and the children
44
a common audience. These notae et insignia – recurrent on Christian
gems, even before Constantine – must have been clear signs to initi-
ates of the same religious identity.
It is truly remarkable that the same terms notare and signum appear
one century later in the De mortibus persecutorum by Lactantius, in a
well-known passage about the caeleste signum appeared to Constan-
tine in order to be displayed on the shields of his soldiers before the
inal batle with Maxentius16. Although the “heavenly sign” actually
consists of two leters, Lactantius’ passage does not refer to it as a
word: consequently, it is not writen on the shields, it is delineated
as a mark in order to evoke not only the name of Christ, but also
Christ himself (“Christum in scutis notat”: notare is not a synonym of
scribere).
Later on, in the passages of Eusebius’ Vita Constantini about the
mystical vision of the future emperor, the leters are mentioned not
as making up words but as creating a sign. Rather than referring to
writing as such, the words represent visual communication describ-
ing the inscription τούτῳ νίκα strictly connected (συνῆφθαι) with
the τρόπαιον that appeared to the emperor, in the sky, over the
sunlight17. Following his vision, Constantine commands that an im-
drawn out of the water” (English text from: Roberts, A., Donaldson, J., Cleveland Coxe, A. (eds.). The
Ante-Nicene Fathers: the Writings of the Fathers down to A.D. 325. Vol. II: Fathers of the Second
Century: Hermas, Tatian, Theophilus, Athenagoras and Clement of Alexandria. New York, 2007
(irst edition: 1885), 285).
16 Lact. de mortibus persecutorum 44, 5: Commonitus est in quiete Constantinus, ut caeleste signum
Dei notaret in scutis atque ita proelium commiteret. Facit ut iussus est et transversa X litera <I>, summo
capite circumlexo, Christum in scutis notat. Quo signo armatus exercitus capit ferrum. “Constantine
was directed in a dream to cause the heavenly sign to be delineated on the shields of his soldiers,
and so to proceed to batle. He did as he had been commanded, and he marked on their shields
the leter X, with a perpendicular line drawn through it and turned round thus at the top, being
the cipher of CHRIST. Having this sign, his troops stood to arms” (English text from Roberts,
Alexander, Donaldson, James (eds.). The Ante-Nicene Fathers: Translations of the Writings of the
Fathers down to A.D. 325. Vol. 7. Bufalo (NY), 1905, 318. Here the annotations about this passage
by the editor, J. Moreau, in Lactance, De la mort des persécuteurs, II [SC 39, 2, 433-436]: “Caeleste
signum, employé seul, ne peut, en efet, signiier monogramma Dei [Altheim, Franz. Literatur und
Gesellschaft im ausgehenden Altertum, I, Halle, 1948, 145, no. 13). Mais le verb notare a un sens
très particulier: il signiie exprimer un mot, une idée, au moyen d’ue abbreviation, en une ou
deux letres; notare signum, c’est signiicare nota (cfr. Christum notat et SERV. Ad Aen. III, 44: la Sy-
bille fait connaître ses prophéties par des signa ce qui veut dire notis literarum, ut per unam literam
signiicet aliquid… dans le cas qui nous occupe, signum est déterminé par Dei, et signum Dei notare
signiie Deum nota signiicare, inscrire le nom de Dieu au moyen d’un signe, d’un monogramme”.
17 Eus. Vita Const. I, 28: αὐτοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς ἰδεῖν ἔφη ἐν αὐτῷ οὐρανῷ ὑπερκείμενον τοῦ
ἡλίου σταυροῦ τρόπαιον ἐκ φωτὸς συνιστάμενον, γραφήν τε αὐτῷ συνῆφθαι λέγουσαν·
τούτῳ νίκα. (“He said he saw with his own eyes, up in the sky and resting over the sun, a cross-
shaped trophy formed from light and a text atached to it which said: ‘by this conquer’.” (English
45
age (εἰκών) of the heavenly sign18 is made, consisting of the initials
of the sacred name “Christ” and a cross-shape trophy (σταυροῦ
τρόπαιον)19. It is remarkable that Eusebius here no longer mentions
the words of inscription ‘τούτῳ νίκα’.
The “heavenly sign” appeared to Constantine was very probably
the Chi/Rho monogram. It should be included among the ancient
“secret marks and insignia”, because it has been atested among
Christian artifacts (such as papyri, gems and some inscriptions)
that predate the references by Lactantius and Eusebius20. It appears
used essentially as an abbreviation meaning the nomen sacrum of
Jesus, the Christ21, a compendium scripturae22: we ind it in some gems
translation reprised from Cameron, Averil and Hall, Stuart G. (eds.). Eusebius. Life of Constantine.
Oxford, 1999, 81).
18 Eus. Vita Const. I, 30: τοῦ σημείου τὴν εἰκόνα φράζει… “… Then he summoned goldsmiths
and jewelers, sat down among them and explained the shape of the sign, and gave them instruc-
tions about copying it in gold and precious stones”. (English translation reprised from Cameron,
Averil and Hall, Stuart G. (eds.). Eusebius. Life of Constantine, 81).
19 Eus. Vita Const. I, 31: Ἦν δὲ τοιῷδε σχήματι κατεσκευασμένον. ὑψηλὸν δόρυ χρυσῷ
κατημφιεσμένον κέρας εἶχεν ἐγκάρσιον σταυροῦ σχήματι πεποιημένον, ἄνω δὲ πρὸς ἄκρῳ
τοῦ παντὸς στέφανος ἐκ λίθων πολυτελῶν καὶ χρυσοῦ συμπεπλεγμένος κατεστήρικτο, καθ’
οὗ τῆς σωτηρίου ἐπηγορίας τὸ σύμβολον δύο στοιχεῖα τὸ Χριστοῦ παραδηλοῦντα ὄνομα διὰ
τῶν πρώτων ὑπεσήμαινον χαρακτήρων, χιαζομένου τοῦ ῥῶ κατὰ τὸ μεσαίτατον. “It was con-
structed to the following design. A tall pole plated with gold had a transverse bar forming the
shape of a cross. Up at the extreme top a wreath woven of precious stones and gold had been fas-
tened. On it two leters, intimating by its irst characters the name ‘Christ’, formed the monogram
of the Saviour’s title, rho being intersected in the middle by chi” (English translation reprised
from Cameron, Averil and Hall, Stuart G. (eds.). Eusebius. Life of Constantine, 81).
20 For example, see the epitaph of the bishop Aurelios Glykonides, found in Eumeneia in Phry-
gia (Isikli, Turkey): SEG 6, no. 201 [ICG 1049] and a ring, found in Brigetio (O-Szoeni, Hungary),
now in Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum (cfr. Spier, Jefrey. Late antique and early Christian
gems. Wiesbaden, 2007, no. 114.
21 See Hurtado, Larry W. The Earliest Christian Artifacts. Manuscripts and Christian Origins.
Cambridge, 2006, part. 95-134 (nomina sacra) and pp. 135-154 (about the staurogram). For
example, the nomen sacrum of Christ is abbreviated XY in the well-known epitaph of Flavia
Sophe from Rome: cfr. Snyder, H. Gregory. A Second-Century Christian Inscription from the
Via Latina. – Journal of Early Christian Studies, 2011, No. 19.2, 157-195; https://doi.org/10.1353/
earl.2011.0018). See also the mosaic inscription discovered in a very early Christian “prayer hall”
found in 2005 in Megiddo: προσένικην Ἀκέπτους / ἠ φιλόθεος / τὴν τράπε/ζαν θ(ε)ῷ Ἰ(ησο)ῦ
Χ(ριστ)ῷ / μνημόσυνον: cfr. Tepper, Yotam. – Di Segni, Leah. A Christian prayer hall of the third
century AD at Kefar ‘Othnay (Legio): excavations at the Megiddo prison 2005, Jerusalem, 2006.
See also Markschies, Christoph. Was lernen wir über das frühe Christentum aus der Archäologie
des Heiligen Landes? – Zeitschrift für Antike und Christentum 2007, No. 11, 421-447 (against the
proposed pre-Constantinian dating).
22 The Chi/Rho monogram appear still used with this speciic meaning in the graiti scratched
on the so-called “wall g” near the believed tomb of saint Peter under the basilica Vaticana (see
their only edition until today: Guarducci, Margherita. I graiti soto la confessione di s. Pietro
in Vaticano. Cità del Vaticano, 1958). Because of their positioning, these graiti are to be dated
within 320–330: more or less contemporary to Lactantius and well before the Vita Constantini by
Eusebius. One of them (Guarducci. I graiti, No. 2) displays in Latin just the same words that
46
and inscriptions, as in some graiti
scratched on the so-called “wall g”
near the believed tomb of St Peter,
under the Vatican basilica in Rome
(Fig. 5).
a
After its adoption as an “oicial
sign” of the Roman imperial pow-
er, justiied and protected by the
God of the Christians23, the Chi/
Rho monogram with its diferent
variations – a former secret Chris-
tian mark – became the Sign par ex-
b
Eusebius reported talking about the inscription
appeared to Constantine: hoc vin[ce] corresponds
exactly to the Greek inscription τούτῳ νίκα: see
Carleti, Carlo. Il “monogramma” di Costantino:
una storia (forse) decapitata. Ιn: Tessa Canella Fig. 5. Rome, Vatican necropolis. (a): some of the
(ed.). L’impero costantiniano e i luoghi sacri. Bo- graiti scratched on the so-called “wall g” (from
logna, 2016, 239-269, part. 251-252. Guarducci 1958); (b): gem (drawing from Spier
23 The “Sign”, as φυλακτήριον, was placed “in 2007, no. 151: Perugia, Archaeological Museum
the principal apartment of imperial palace it- – maybe lost)
self”, according to the text of Eus. Vita Constanti-
ni III, 49: τοσοῦτος δὲ θεῖος ἔρως τὴν βασιλέως
κατειλήφει ψυχήν, ὡς ἐν αὐτοῖς τοῖς ἀνακτόροις
τῶν βασιλείων, κατὰ τὸν πάντων ἐξοχώτατον οἶκον τῆς πρὸς τῷ ὀρόφῳ κεχρυσωμένης
φατνώσεως κατὰ τὸ μεσαίτατον, μεγίστου πίνακος ἀνηπλωμένου μέσον ἐμπεπῆχθαι
τὸ τοῦ σωτηρίου πάθους σύμβολον ἐκ ποικίλων συγκείμενον καὶ πολυτελῶν λίθων ἐν
χρυσῷ πολλῷ κατειργασμένων. φυλακτήριον δὲ δοκεῖ τοῦτο αὐτῆς βασιλείας τῷ θεοφιλεῖ
πεποιῆσθαι. “So great was the divine passion which had seized the Emperor’s soul that in
the royal quarters of the imperial palace itself, on the most eminent building of all, at the
very middle of the gilded cofer adjoining the roof, in the centre of a very large wide panel,
had been ixed the emblem of the saving Passion made up of a variety of precious stones and
set in much gold. This appears to have been made by the Godbeloved as a protection for hs
Empire” (English translation reprised from Cameron, Averil and Hall, Stuart G. (eds.). Eusebius.
Life of Constantine, 140).
About this notion of the Chi/Rho monogram, see also Eus. Vita Constantini, I, 29: ἔνθα δὴ
ὑπνοῦντι αὐτῷ τὸν Χριστὸν τοῦ θεοῦ σὺν τῷ φανέντι κατ’ οὐρανὸν σημείῳ ὀφθῆναί τε καὶ
παρακελεύσασθαι, μίμημα ποιησάμενον τοῦ κατ’ οὐρανὸν ὀφθέντος σημείου τούτῳ πρὸς
τὰς τῶν πολεμίων συμβολὰς ἀλεξήματι χρῆσθαι (“Thereupon, as he slept, the Christ of God
appeared to him with the sign which had appeared in the sky, and urged him to make himself a
copy of the sign which had appeared in the sky and to use this as protection against the atacks of
the enemy”). English translation reprised from Cameron, Averil and Hall, Stuart G. (eds.). Eusebi-
us. Life of Constantine, 1999, 82. Furthermore, see Eus. Vita Constantini, I, 31: τούτῳ μὲν οὖν τῷ
σωτηρίῳ σημείῳ πάσης ἀντικειμένης καὶ πολεμίας δυνάμεως ἀμυντηρίῳ διὰ παντὸς ἐχρῆτο
βασιλεύς, τῶν τε στρατοπέδων ἁπάντων ἡγεῖσθαι τὰ τούτου ὁμοιώματα προσέταττεν (“This
saving sign was always used by the Emperor for protection against very opposing and hostile
force, and he commanded replicas of it to lead all his armies”). English translation reprised from
Cameron, Averil and Hall, Stuart G. (eds.). Eusebius. Life of Constantine, 82. For other signiicant
passages making reference to the notion of the “Sign”, see Eus. Vita Constantini, II, 7; II, 9; II, 16,2.
47
a
Fig. 6. (a): Rome, catacomb of Apronianus. Now in Rome, church of St Sabina (4th cent.):
ICVR, VI 15602 [EDB 5390]. (b): Cherchel (Algeria). Now in Algeri, Archaeological Museum
(4th cent.): CIL, VIII 9591
a d c
Fig. 7. (a): Rome, catacomb of St Pancratius: ICVR, II 4298 [EDB 16938]; (b): Aquileia,
Museum: CIL, V 8580; (c): Tebessa (Algeria): CIL, VIII 9591; (d): Madrid (Spain), Museo
Arqueologico; (e): Trier (Germany), Rheinisches Landesmuseum
48
cellence, signifying both the Deity and the Empire24. From the irst
decades of 4th century onwards, it ceased to be read as a monogram
indicating a sacred word – the name of Christ – but instead it repre-
sented an ideogram, immediately recognisable in spite of its complex
meaning. The earlier Christian in-group language, from the Con-
stantinian age onwards, was transformed into a publicly legitimat-
ed code.
Indeed, in these same decades, the synergy between writing and
visual languages found other examples, from the very sophisticated
“letered art” by Optatianus (continued in the long series of the Ear-
ly Medieval carmina igurata, starting from Venantius Fortunatus)25
to the common type of Christian funerary inscriptions (Fig. 6). The
joining of images and igures with words or their embedding with-
in texts strongly increase in the course of the 4th century, no longer
in order to hide, but with the aim of clearly displaying both the
religious and social identities of the deceased.
Around twenty years ago, Armando Petrucci, an Italian historian
of writing culture, identiied the insertion of images, igures and
symbols within the space usually reserved only for writing as a fea-
ture peculiar to Early Christian inscriptions. According to the data
stored in the Epigraphic Database Bari, one quarter of ca 40,000 in-
scriptions from Christian catacombs in Rome display images or ge-
neric non-alphabetical signs. From this evidence, we cannot deduce
that using images in inscriptions was a typical and characteristic
feature of all Early Christian epigraphs, as suggested by Petrucci,
but the fact remains that such an occurrence was very widespread:
in Rome (Fig. 7a), Italy (Fig. 7b), Roman Africa (Fig. 7c), and also
elsewhere in the West (France, Spain, Germany: Fig. 7d-e).
Images are placed next to the text, at its beginning or its end, but
24 The celebratory inscription in the igural mosaic on the loor of the Basilica of St Maria,
mentioning the bishop of Aquileia Theodorus (who atended the Council of Arles in 314), is
one of the irst examples of the use of the Christogram in public spaces. The monogram –
used absolutely, not as a compendium scripturae – placed in a prominent position as the incipit
of the epigraph, dates to the time around 320. About the use of the Chi/Rho monogram on
imperial coins, see Carleti, Carlo. Il “monogramma” di Costantino, 240-254.
25 See, most recently Squire, Michael. Optatian and his letered art. A kaleidoscopic lens on late
antiquity. In: Michael Squire and Johannes Wienand (eds.). Morphogrammata / The letered art
of Optatian. Figuring Cultural Transformations in the age of Constantine [Morphomata, Bd. 33],
Paderborn, 2017, 55-121; and also Lunn-Rocklife, Sophie. The Power of the Jewelled Style. Chris-
tian signs and names in Optatian’s versus intexti and on gems. In: Michael Squire and Johannes
Wienand (eds.). Morphogrammata, 427-459.
49
Fig. 8. Paris, Louvre.
Bulla of the Empress
Maria, irst wife of the
emperor Honorius
also inside the text, breaking the well-ordered and established an-
cient patern: these hybrids force their viewer to change dynami-
cally their reading strategies, switching between the writen and
the visual code of communication26. The bulla of the empress Maria,
Stilicho’s daughter and the irst wife of the emperor Honorius (she
dead in 408), is a clear example of an established synergy between
writen and visual codes (Fig. 8). The visible composite monogram
(made up of an alphabetical Christogram and a igured Stauro-
26 “One of the elements of great signiicance in the graphic texture of the earliest paleo-Christian
epigraphy is the insertion by the stone carver of igurative symbols within and in connection with
the text sometimes to break it up and sometimes to give it visual rhythm, as it were. (…) These
symbols sometimes stand as marginal comment on, or conclusion to, the text, and are sometimes
internal to it, with the result that they break the consecutio, split it into diferent and contrasting
portions, and give it spatial and formal movement. The outcome is a new and extremely lively
complex of signs, no longer arranged in a linear schema, one line above the next, but centering on
groups of leters and signs linked in a variety of ways and laid out in deliberately chaotic fashion
within a space no longer irmly bounded by a cornice, as in the traditional formal model, but left
free, and hence freely occupied. (…) The phenomenon was certainly widespread and uniform
throughout the western provinces… What strikes one as the real novelty here is the intrusion
into the writing space of an iconographic element made up of densely packed and highly mean-
ingful religious symbols. They helped constitute a wholly religious and self-referential funerary
epigraphy, the purpose of which was to give voice to the chorus of the living and the dead, of
the witnesses (the martyrs) and the fratres, of God and man”. English text reprised from: Petrucci,
Armando. Writing the Dead: Death and Writing Strategies in the Western Tradition (translation
by M. Sullivan). Stanford (CA, USA), 1998, 26-27 (Italian original edition: Petrucci, Armando. Le
scriture ultime. Torino, 1995, 37-39).
50
gram), is made up of engraved leters spelling out the names of the
Empress’s family members, who were at the same time the intend-
ed readerships of the text writen within the gem.
The shared space between words and images can be also explained
by spatial reasons: for example, the funerary slabs covering the loc-
uli in the catacombs (Fig. 9a) have only their obverse side to display
both the writen and the visual memorials of the deceased (not only
their portraits, but also other images, for example related to their
occupation or age); on portable objects (Fig. 9b), the amalgamation
of words and images can be caused by their own small dimensions.
These reasons do not apply to monumental inscriptions in public
b a
Fig. 9. (a): Rome, catacomb of

Domitilla. Epitaph of Creste (4th
century): ICVR, III 6618 [EDB 22533];
(b): Goldglass from Rome catacombs.
Rome, Vatican Library (4th century)
51
spaces: there, the blending of words and images is, naturally, slower
and more gradual, although the theory of such a habit can be found
elucidated in the works of some Church Fathers27. The incipit of the
very irst known oicial Christian inscription in Rome, the now-lost
dedicatory epigraph from the Vatican basilica, quod duce te mundus
surrexit ad astra, completely omits the essential data about the iden-
tity of the said dux28: evidently, the text was intended as a comple-
ment to the image, with which it also shared space and context. A
further, now lost, commemorative inscription in the Basilica Vaticana
is fully understood only by considering the accompanying images:
the ambiguous phrase “father and son” could be made clear only in
conjunction with the portraits of Constantine – the founder of the
building – and his son Constantius – the patron, who completed the
building work29.
The direct link between words and images inds a clear and explicit
deinition in the irst decades of the 5th century, inside the sanctuary
for the martyr Felix in Nola (Southern Italy), by the patron of the
Martyrium, the bishop Paulinus: according to his own words, both
leters and images are explicitly considered as elements of only one
language30: the igural representations are in the service of “explain-
27 Basil. Caes., Hom. 19 In quadraginta martyres Sebastenses, 2 [PG 31, coll. 508D-509A]: Ἐπεὶ
καὶ πολέμων ἀνδραγαθήματα καὶ λογογράποι πολλάκις, καὶ ζωγράφοι διασημαίνουσιν,
οἱ μὲν τῷ λόγῳ διακοσμοῦντες, οἱ δὲ τοῖς πίναξιν ἐγχαράττοντες, καὶ πολλοὺς ἐπήγειραν
πρὸς ἀνδρίαν ἑκάτεροι. Ἃ γὰρ ὁ λόγος τῆς ἱστορίας διὰ τῆς ἀκοῆς παρίστησι, ταῦτα γραφικὴ
σιωπῶσα διὰ μιμήσεως δείκνυσιν. “When often both historians and painters express maιnly
deeds of war, the one embellishing them onto tablets, they both arouse many too to bravery. The
facts which the historical account presents by being listened to, the painting silently portrays by
imitation” (English text from Leemans, Johan; Mayer, Wendy; Allen, Pauline and Dehandschuter,
Boudewijn. ‘Let us die that we may live’. Greek homilies on Christian Martyrs from Asia Minor,
Palestine and Syria (c. AD 350 – AD 450), London – New York, 2003, 68). Cf. also Greg. Nyss. De
Sancto Theodoro [PG 46, 737D]; Nyl. Sinait., Ep. IV, 61 [PG 79, 557D].
28 ICVR, II 4092 [EDB 17047]: Quod duce te mundus surrexit in astra triumphans / hanc Constantinus
victor tibi condidit aulam. (“Because with you as leader, the world triumphant arose to the stars /
victorious Constantine dedicated this hall to you”): English translation by Dale Kinney, reprised
from htp://www.learn.columbia.edu/ma/htm/kd/ma_kd_discuss_osp_inscript.htm).
Indeed, we can only speculate about the identity of the dux and about the correct interpretation
of the term mundus, which can be understood as either a noun (as in the translation by Kinney) or
an adjective describing Constantine himself (I agree with the later interpretation).
29 ICVR, II 4094 [EDB 14382]: Iustitiae sedes, idei domus, aula pudoris. / Haec est quam cernis pietas
quam possidet omnis / quae patris et ilii virtutibus inclyta gaudet / auctoremque suum genitoris laudibus
aequat. (“Seat of justice, house of faith, hall of modesty / this what you see, which all piety pos-
sesses / which rejoices, renowned, in the virtues of the father and the son / and equals its author in
the praises of his parent”): English translation by Dale Kinney, reprised from htp://www.learn.
columbia.edu/ma/htm/kd/ma_kd_discuss_osp_inscript.htm).
30 Paul. Nol., Epist. 32, 10-17 (year 404).
52
ing the writing” for the illiterate audience of the pilgrims: the faith-
ful, according to the bishop’s recommendations, can understand
the Holy by considering both the igured images and the writen
words31.
Only some years later, the pope Sixtus III (432–440) marked the
dedication of his great basilica to the Virgin on the Exquiline Hill
in Rome by two very diferent mosaic inscriptions. The irst one –
now lost – was placed on the inner wall of the church façade. It was
a long metrical text about the dogma of the Theotokos, just stated by
the Council in Ephesus in 43132. The other epigraph is very short
and simple: it is still today in its original place, in the middle of
the former apsidal arch of the church33. Despite its prominent po-
sition, the tabula ansata bearing the dedication of the pope to the
plebs Dei (Fig. 10) is actually ‘drowned’ in a deep sea of images that
completely enclose the writen words. In the contemporary mosaic
decoration of the baptistery of Albenga in Northern Italy (Fig. 11),
the inscriptions, although positioned in front of the triumphal arch,
appear eclipsed by the three-times reverberated, large and impres-
31 “… sed turba frequentior hic est / rusticitas non cassa ide neque docta legendi… propterea visum
nobis opus utile totis Felicis domibus pictura ludere sancta… quae super exprimitur titulis, ut litera mon-
stret quod manus explicuit” (Carm. XXVII, 547-548; 580-581; 584-585: year 403): “Now the greater
number among the crowds here are country folk not without belief but unskilled in reading…
This was why we thought it useful to enliven all the houses of Felix with paintings on sacred
themes… Over them are explanatory inscriptions the writen word revealing the theme outlined
by the painter’s hand” (from The Poems of St Paulinus of Nola, translated and annotated by P. G.
Walsh [Ancient Christian Writers. The works of the Fathers in translation, no. 40], New York 1975, 290-
291. See also the famous passage of Aug., Serm. 319, 8 (about a tetrastichon celebrating the martyr
Stephen: legite quatuor versus quos in cella scripsimus (. . .). Propterea enim eos ibi scribere voluimus, ut
qui vult, quando vult, legat. Ut omnes teneant, ideo pauci sunt; ut omnes legant, ideo publice scripti sunt.
Non opus est ut quaeratur codex; camera illa codex vester est”. “Read the four lines of the verse which
I have had writen up in the shrine; read them, hold onto them, have them by heart. The reason I
wanted to have them writen there, after all, was so that any who wanted could read them, read
them whenever they wanted. So that all could remember them, that’s why they are few; so that
all could read them, that’s why they are writen up in public. There’s no need to go looking for a
book; let that litle room be your book” (English text from The Works of Saint Augustine. A Transla-
tion for the 21st Century, Sermons, III/9 (306-340A) – On the Saints, translation and notes by E. Hill,
OP, ed. by J. E. Rotelle OSA, New York 1994, p. 154). On the same topic, cfr. also Aug. Hipp. in
Ioh. evang. tract. 24, 2 [= CChrSL 36, 245]; Id. de cons. evang. I, 10 [= CSEL 43, 16].
32 ILCV 976: Virgo Maria tibi Xystus nova tecta dicavi / Digna salutifero munera ventre tuo / Tu Geni-
trix ignara viri te denique faeta / Visceribus salvis edita nostra salus / Ecce tui testes uteri tibi praemia por-
tant / Sub pedibusque iacet passio cuique sua / Ferrum, lamma, ferae, luvius saevumque venenum / Tot
tamen has mortes una corona manet (“Virgin Mary, I, Xystus, I dedicated for you a new building,
worthy to your salviic breast. You, Mother who has not known a man, you pregnant while keep-
ing your bowels intact, you gave birth to our Saviour. Here are the witnesses of your womb, they
bring to you the prizes, under their feet, the instruments of their own pains: the sword, the ire,
the wild animals, the river, and the cruel poison; all they died, but for each one crown remains”).
33 Xystus episcopus plebi Dei (ILCV 975a): “Xystus, the bishop, in favour of the people of God”.
53
Fig. 10. Rome,
basilica of S. Maria
Maggiore, absidal
arch. Inscription
by pope Sixtus III
(431–440): ILCV
975a
Fig. 11. Albenga

(Liguria, Northern
Italy), baptistery
(5th century):
ICI, IX, 40
Fig. 12. Kélibia

(Tunisia). Now in
Tunis, Bardo Mu-
seum (5th century):
EDCS13500222
sive Christogram with alpha and omega placed on the vault of the
building34.
This growing hybridization between words and images achieved
by means of shared space, is vividly exempliied by a baptismal font
from Kelibia, now displayed in the Bardo Museum in Tunis (Fig.
12), also datable to the 5th century35, on which we see no distinction
between writen and igured space. Writing has become part of the
image, and images do not consist only of igures, but also of leters
and words – as we can see also in the use of diferent colors in the
leters: they are all considered, unequivocally, signs (according to
the proper meaning of the Greek term γραφή).
The notion of the signiicance of words and images is well ex-
pressed by the meaningful change of the relic associated with Jesus
preserved in the city of Edessa. The famous leter writen by Jesus
himself to the king Abgar, mentioned by both Eusebius and Ethe-
ria36, in 5th century Syriac Doctrina Addai is substituted by an image:
a painted portrait of Christ37. From the second half of 6th century,
according to Evagrius of Epiphania (Scholasticus), this man-made
image of Christ was replaced by the so-called “Acheiropoietos”, the
Holy Face miraculously imprinted on a cloth by the Lord Himself,
as was later conirmed by the words of John of Damascus38: this was
34 See ICI, IX, no. 40.

35 See EDCS 13500222, with previous editions.
36 A Greek translation of the Syriac text of the Jesus’ leter is reported by Eusebius (Hist. Eccl. I,
13, part. 5-10); the epistula Domini is referred to as a powerful relic by Egeria in her report of her
visit to Edessa on 19-21 April 384 (Ether., Peregr. 19, 8-19 [SC 296, Paris 1982, 206-213]).
37 Doctrina Addai, 6 [Histoire du roi Abgar et de Jésus, trad., intr. et notes par A. Desreumaux,
Turnhout, 1993, 59]: “Puisque Jésus lui parlait ainsi, l’archiviste Hannan, qui était peintre du
roi, mit en peinture l’image de Jésus avec des pigments de choix et la rapporta au roi Abgar
son maître. Quand celui-ci la vit, il la reçut avec grande joie et las plaça avec grand honneur
dans l’une des pièces de son propre palais”. Cf. Amerise, Marilena. La scritura e l’immagine
nella cultura tardoantica: il caso di Abgar di Edessa. – Orientalia Christiana Periodica, 2001, No.
67, 437-445. Cfr. anche Ruggieri, Vincenzo. La lessione della scritura nell’immagine (V–VI sec.).
In: Comunicazione e ricezione del documento cristiano in epoca tardoantica. XXXII Incontro di
studiosi dell’antichità cristiana (Roma, 8 – 10 maggio 2003) [Studia Ephemeridis Augustinianum,
90], Roma, 2004, 75-87, part. 79-82.
38 Evagr. Schol. Hist. Eccl. IV, 27 (in PG 86, 2748C8-2749A2): Ὡς δ’ οὖν ἐς πᾶσαν ἀμηχανίαν
ἦλθον, φέρουσι τὴν θεότευκτον εἰκόνα ἣν ἀνθρώπων μὲν χεῖρες οὐκ εἰργάσαντο, Ἀγβάρῳ
δὲ Χριστὸς ὁ θεός, ἐπεὶ αὐτὸν ἰδεῖν ἐπόθει, πέπομφε. Ταύτην τοίνυν τὴν παναγίαν εἰκόνα
κατὰ τὴν εἰργασμένην (10) σφίσιν ἐσαγαγόντες διώρυγα ὕδατί τε ἐπικλύσαντες. “They
brought the divinely created image, which human hands had not made, the one that Christ the
God sent to Abgar when he yearned to see Him”. Cfr. also John of Damascus, Expositio idei, 89 (=
de ide orthodoxa, IV, 16 [see Die Schriften des Johannes von Damaskus, II, besorgt von P. Bonifatius
Koter OSB [Patristische Texte und Studien 12], Berlin, 1973, 206-208, part. 208, ll. 50-56): Φέρεται
55
Fig. 13. Rome, ss. Cosmas and Damian, apse.
Mosaic with the inscription by pope Felix IV (526–530): ILCV 1784
the well-known “Mandylion”, the relic which remained in Edessa

until its transfer in Constantinople in 94439.
δὲ καί τις ἱστορία, ὡς ὁ κύριος τῷ Αὐγάρῳ τῆς Ἐδεσσηνῶν πόλεως βασιλεύοντι ζωγράφον
ἀποστείλαντι τὴν τοῦ κυρίου ὁμοιογραφῆσαι εἰκόνα μὴ δυνηθέντος τοῦ ζωγράφου διὰ τὴν
ἀποστίλβουσαν τοῦ προσώπου λαμπρότητα αὐτὸς ἱμάτιον τῷ οἰκείῳ καὶ ζωοποιῷ προσώπῳ
ἐπιθεὶς ἐναπομάξασθαι τῷ ἱματίῳ τὸ ἑαυτοῦ ἀπεικόνισμα καὶ (55) οὕτως ἀποστεῖλαι
ποθοῦντι τῷ Αὐγάρῳ. “Furthermore, there is a story told about how, when Abgar was lord of
the city of Edessians, he sent an artist to make a portrait of the Lord, and how, when the artist
was unable to do this because of the radiance of His face, the Lord Himself pressed a bit f cloth to
His own sacred and life-giving face and left His own image on the cloth and so sent this to Abgar
who had so earnestly desired it” (English text from Saint John of Damascus. Writings, translated
by F. H. Chase JR. [The Fathers of the Church. A new translation, Vol. 37]. Washington D.C., 1958,
1970 (2), pp. 372-373.
39 According to the Narratio de imagine Edessena by Constantinus Porphyrogenitus (see PG 113,
423-454). The relic of the Holy Face is ignored by Egeria in her account of her visit in Edessa in
384. Evagrius of Epiphania (536–594) in his Hist. Eccl. IV, 27, provides the irst mention of the
Mandylion: Procopius (490–565), writing about the king Abgar of Edessa, makes note only of
Jesus’ leter: cfr. Procop. De bellis, II (de bello Persico), 12, 24-27. Maybe an earlier reference to the
miraculous Image of the Face of Christ is the “Hymn on the Great Church of Urha”: see Du-
56
But let us go back to Rome. In the irst third of the 6th century, a
commemorative metrical inscription was placed by the pope Felix
IV (526–530) in the apse of the church dedicated to the Byzantine
saints Cosmas and Damian40. The epigraph is constituted as an es-
sential part of the communicative streaming that uses both images
and words, still occupying separate space following conventions of
classical epigraphy (Fig. 13). But, because of its placement along the
curve of the apse, the inscription is actually readable only by a very
limited audience that can view it in close proximity: that is, only by
members of the clergy. The common faithful could perceive from
afar the entire decoration, where the celebratory inscription works
only as a kind of “writen frieze”.
In the same decades, in Byzantine Ravenna, publically displayed
writing was also used in churches, but essentially inside the imag-
es, mainly in order to identify some of the represented people (Fig.
14a-b): the donors – for example, in St Vitale, the bishops Ecclesius
and Maximianus (546–556) – or single saints in the long sequences
displayed along the aisles (as in St Apollinare Nuovo). But, in the
apse mosaic of St Apollinare in Classe (Fig. 15a-b), the captions of
the prophets Moses and Elijah, just as the two epigraphs (one in
Greek, other in Latin) structurally related to the central Cross (the
ancient ἰχθύς and the new salus mundi), are actually very hard to
see and read. The only clearly legible inscription is the caption iden-
tifying the venerated martyr: sanctus Apolenaris.
A century later, Rome we can observe the same phenomenon in the
apse of the basilica built over the tomb of the martyr Agnes by pope
pont-Sommer, André. Un hymne syriaque sur la cathédrale d’Edesse. – Cahiers Archéologiques,

1947, No. 2, 3-39; McVey, Kathleen E. The Domed Church as Microcosm: Literary Roots of an
Architectural Symbol. – Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 1983, No. 37, 91-121, part. 95, str. 9; 100-101;
Palmer, Andrew – Rodley, Lyn. The Inauguration Anthem of Hagia Sophia at Edessa. – Byzantine
and Modern Greek Studies, 1988, No. 12, 117-248: cfr. Karaulashvili, Irma. The Date of the Epistula
Abgari. – Apocrypha, 2002, No. 13, 85-111, part. 102-103. Another Syriac source about the Holy
Face relic is the (perhaps) early 6th century History of Daniel of Galas’ (cfr. Nau, François. Hagiog-
raphie Syriaque. – Revue de l’Orient Chrétien, 1910, No. 15, 60-64, part. 61).
40 ILCV 1784: aula Dei claris radiat speciosa metallis / in qua plus idei lux pretiosa micat. / martyribus
medicis populo spes certa salutis / venit et ex sacro crevit honore locus. Optulit hoc Domino Felix antistite
dignum / munus, ut aetheria vivat in arce poli. “With bright metals, the splendid hall of God shines,
in which the precious light of faith lashes even more radiantly. From the martyr-physicians’
unshakable hope of being healed to the people, and the place has grown by virtue of [its] sa-
cred honor. Felix has ofered to the Lord this gift, worthy of a bishop, that he may live in the
highest heights of heaven” (English translation reprised from Thunø, Erik. Inscriptions on Light
and Splendor from Saint-Denis to Rome and Back. – Acta ad Archaologiam et Artium Historiam
Pertinentia, 2011, No. 24 (n.s.10), 139-159.
57
a
Fig. 14. Ravenna (Italy). (a): S. Vitale, apse.

Mosaic panel with Justinian and the bishop Maximianus (546–556);
(b): S. Apollinare Nuovo. Series of saints along the central aisle, detail (493–526)
58
a
Fig. 15. Ravenna (Italy). (a): S. Apollinare in Classe, apse (536–549);

(b): detail of the central Cross with the inscriptions ΙΧΘΥΣ and Salus mundi
59
Honorius in the irst half of 7th century (625–638). With its curved
dedicatory/honorary inscription41 (Fig. 16) as an essential part of the
decoration of the apse, the church seems to recall the 6th century ba-
silica of the Sts Cosmas and Damian; but here the epigraph is hard
to read also by the clergy in the presbytery, because it is too high,
its text is 12 verses long, and its leters too small to be easily deci-
phered. As in the Byzantine church of St Apollinare in Classe, the
only inscription immediately visible and readable in the decorative
schema of the apse is the one positioned over the central image of
the martyr: the caption s(an)c(t)a Agnes.
According to our common notion of writing as a tool to preserve
and to transmit information, these epigraphs are not necessary at
all: everyone could understand that the central igure in the apse
was the martyr commemorated in the church. In contrast, in the
Roman church of St Agnes the two represented donors – the popes
Symmachus and Honorius – are not identiied by any caption.
What is, then, the real raison d’être of these seemingly redundant
inscriptions? Evidently these “unnecessary inscriptions” are not
inscribed in order to identify the saints, rather, they serve as an es-
sential part of their formal visual representation42. Here, the words
have, because they have been writen, an authoritative role43 and the
41 ICVR, VIII 20757 [EDB 9577]: ((crux immissa)) aurea concisis surgit pictura metallis / et conplexa
simul clauditur ipsa dies / fontibus e niveis credas aurora subire / correptas nubes roribus arva rigans / / vel
qualem inter sidera lucem proferet irim / purpureusque pavo ipse colore nitens / qui potuit noctis vel lucis
reddere inem / martyrum e bustis hinc reppulit ille chaos / / sursum versa nutu quod cunctis cernitur uno
/ praesul Honorius haec vota dicata dedit / vestibus et factis signantur illius ora / lucet et aspectu lucida
corda gerens. “A golden picture arises from specks of metal and daylight itself, shut out [from
here], embracing it is in it enclosed. Dawn, you could believe, mounts over the gathered clouds
as though from snowy fountainheads weting the ields with dew. Or [you could believe] the sort
of light that rainbow will produce among the stars and a purple peacock himself gleaming with
color. He who was able to set the boundary of night or light has here beaten chaos back from the
tombs of martyrs. Any who once casts an eye overhead sees these votive oferings the bishop
Honorius has given. By his garments and ofering, his works are signiied, as also bearing light
[inwardly] in his heart of hearts he shines [outwardly] to the beholder’s eye” (English translation
taken from: Thunø, Erik. The Apse Mosaic in Early Medieval Rome. Time, Network and Repeti-
tion. Cambridge (USA), 2015, 25).
42 Felle, Antonio E. Visual features of inscriptions. An issue for EDB (and EAGLE). In: Digital
and Traditional Epigraphy in Context. Proceedings of the EAGLE 2016 International Conference,
Roma, 2017, 131-144, part. 141-143.
43 It is interesting that this notion of the captions of the saints’ images was not oicially sanc-
tioned in the East before the 8th century: “L’idée que l’image religieuse était sanctiié par le nom
du prototype se propagea à partir du VIIIe siècle”: see Sansterre, Jean-Marie. La parole, le texte et
l’image selon les auteurs byzantins des époques iconoclaste et posticonoclastes. In: Testo e imma-
gine nell’Alto Medioevo. XLI Setimana di Studio del Centro Italiano di Studi sull’Alto Medio-
evo (Spoleto, 15 – 21 aprile 1993), Spoleto, 1994, 197-243 (quotation from page 201). The second
60
Fig. 16. Rome, basilica of St Agnes on the via Nomentana. The apse with the inscription by
pope Honorius (625–638): ICVR, VIII 20757 [EDB 9577+EDB 41685]
images are considered as texts, according to a common notion of

scriptura and igura shared in both the West44 and the East45.
council of Nicaea in 787 rules that the writen name of the saint with its own epithet ἅγιος makes
unnecessary the prayer for the consecration of the image of the saint itself [see Mansi, XIII, 269E].
44 Cfr. Greg. Magn. Epist. XI, 10 (600, October): Nam quod legentibus scriptura, hoc idiotis praestat
pictura cernentibus, quia in ipsa ignorantes uident quod sequi debeant, in ipsa legunt qui literas nesciunt;
unde praecipue gentibus pro lectione pictura est. (“For what writing provides for readers, this a pic-
ture provides for uneducated people looking at it, for in it the ignorant see what they should fol-
low and the illiterate read the same from it, especially for pagans” (English translation reprised
from Martyn, John R.C. (ed.). The Leters of Gregory the Great. Vol. 3. Toronto, 2004, 745). Ibid.,
IX, 209 (599, July): “Idcirco enim pictura in ecclesiis adhibetur, ut hi qui literas nesciunt saltem in pari-
etibus uidendo legant, quae legere in codicibus non ualent. (“For a picture is provided in churches for
the reason that thos who are illiterat may at least read by looking at the walls what they cannot
ead in books” (English translation reprised from Martyn, John R.C. (ed.). The Leters of Gregory
the Great. Vol. 2. Toronto, 2004, 674).
45 Particularly signiicant the texts by John of Damascus: cfr. Die Schriften des Johannis von Dam-
askus, III. Contra imaginum calumniatores orationes tres, besorgt von. P. Bonifatius Koter OSB [Pa-
tristische Texte und Studien 17], Berlin – New York 1975, 83 (I, 8); 86 (I, 13); 99, ll. 57-60 (II, 10= III,
9a); 130 (III, 23); 159, ll. 70-74 (I, 56= II, 52).
An English translation of these texts is ofered by Allies, Mary H. (ed.). St John Damascene on
Holy images followed by three sermons on the Assumption. London, 1898. On Byzantine writers
who wrote about this topic, see Sansterre. Jean-M. La parole, le texte et l’image, 209-213 for John
of Damascus.
61
This chronological overview of early Christian inscriptions and of
epigraphs, conceived as structural elements of the rich visual pro-
grammes in the early Byzantine churches, allows us to conclude
that Christians adopted writen and visual codes from the very be-
ginning, using a complex but consistent language of signs created
from leters, igures and symbols.
Since the period of Early Christianity, words as images, and im-
ages as words, were used together not only in order to describe,
to deine, and to indicate, as in the classical epigraphic habit. They
acquired another aim: to evoke the Inefable.
62
Epigraphic databases, corpora and editions
EDB: Epigraphic Database Bari. Inscriptions by Christians in

Rome (3rd–8th century CE) [htp:// www.edb.uniba.it]
EDCS: Epigraphik-Datenbank Clauss – Slaby [htp://www.
manfredclauss.de]
ICG: Inscriptiones Christianae Graecae [htp://www.epi-
graph.topoi.org/ica/icamainapp]
ICI: Inscriptiones Christianae Italiae, Bari, 1985-
ICVR: Inscriptiones Christianae Urbis Romae septimo saeculo an-
tiquiores. Nova series, Voll. I–X, Cità del Vaticano 1922–1992.
ILCV: Inscriptiones Latinae Christianae Veteres, I–III, ed. E. Die-
hl, Dublin – Zürich 1970(3); Vol. IV, Supplementum, edd. J.
Moreau – H. I. Marrou, ibid. 1967.
MAMA, VI: Monumenta Asiae Minoris antiqua. Vol. VI: Monu-
ments and documents from Phrygia and Caria (eds. William Hep-
burn Buckler and William M. Calder), Manchester, 1939.
SEG: Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum, Leiden – Amster-
dam, 1923-
Primary sources
CSEL: Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum. Vindobo-

nae – Lipsiae, 1866-
GCS: Griechischen Christlichen Schriftsteller. Leipzig – Berlin
1897-
SC: Sources Chrétiennes, Paris – Lyon, 1942-
CChrSL: Corpus Christianorum. Series Latina, Turnhout, 1953-
Ether., Peregr. 19, 8-19 [SC 296], Paris, 1982.
John of Damascus, Contra imaginum calumniatores orationes
tres [see Die Schriften des Johannis von Damaskus, III, besorgt
von P. Bonifatius Koter OSB [Patristische Texte und Studien
17], Berlin – New York 1975.
John of Damascus, Expositio idei [see Die Schriften des Johannes
von Damaskus, II, besorgt von P. Bonifatius Koter OSB [Patris-
tische Texte und Studien 12], Berlin, 1973.
63
Mansi: Mansi, J. D. Sacrorum Conciliorum nova et amplissi-
ma collectio. Florentiae – Venetiis, 1757–1798 (1); Paris, 1899-
1927 (2); Graz, 1960 (3).
PG: Patrologiae Cursus Completus. Series Graeca, ed. Jacques
Paul Migne, Paris 1857–1866.
Saint John of Damascus. Writings, translated by F. H. Chase JR.
[The Fathers of the Church. A new translation, Vol. 37], Washing-
ton D.C., 1958, 1970(2).
The Poems of St Paulinus of Nola, translated and annotated by
P.G. Walsh [Ancient Christian Writers. The works of the Fathers
in translation, n. 40], New York 1975.
The Works of Saint Augustine. A Translation for the 21st Centu-
ry, Sermons, III/9 (306–340A) – On the Saints, translation and
notes by E. Hill, OP, ed. by J. E. Rotelle, OSA, New York 1994.
64
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Слова и образи
в раннохристиянските надписи
(III–VII век)
Антонио Е. Феле
От епохата на класическата гръцка древност до зенита на рим-

ската империя през ΙΙ в. сл. Хр. изписаните букви заедно със
скулптираните или нарисувани образи играят съвкупно хар-
монично свързана роля, но обикновено в отчетливо обособени
пространства. някои от най-ранните християнски епитафи оба-
че представят текстове, ясно свързани с образи по начин, който
се различава от настоящия, обичаен, епиграфски подход, като
същевременно стават отражение на посоките, засвидетелства-
ни в съвременната им християнска книжнина: напр. произведе-
нията на св. Климент Александрийски, Минуций Феликс Окта-
вий, но и по-късни текстовете на Лактанций и Евсевий, където
писаното слово и образите се възприемат като две различни
лица на един и същи език.
Често изображенията се поставят край текста, в неговото на-
чало или край, но пък и вътре в него, нарушавайки добре ус-
тановения древен комуникационен поток: подобни хибридни
форми заставят зрителя си да променя динамично ролите си,
редувайки разчитането на буквени и визуални кодове на кому-
никация.
След император Константин и най-вече след Теодосий в мо-
нументалните християнски надписи по църкви и на публични
места се наблюдава конкуриране между слова и образи, както
се отбелязва от някои църковни отци, в целия orbis christianus
antiquus. Представата за стойностната идентичност на словото
и образа е добре формулирана от съдържателната подмяна на
своеобразните Христови реликви в гр. Едеса – от буква, изписа-
на от Иисус до самия му рисуван портрет, който впоследствие
става „неръкотворен“ образ на Христовото лице или т.нар.
Убрус (Мандилион).
Епитафите, които все повече структурно се свързват с образите,
68
стават трудни за гледане и разчитане, защото с времето надпи-
сите стават украса, а изображенията започват „да говорят“ на
вярващите.
Веднъж написани, думите имат авторитетна/водеща роля, до-
като изображенията постепенно започват да се възприемат
като текстове според разпространените представи за scriptura и
figura, съществуващи и на Изток и Запад.
69
„Das Licht Christi leuchtet allen“ –
Form und Funktion von Kreuzen mit
Tetragrammen in byzantinischen und
postbyzantinischen Handschriften
Andreas Rhoby1
Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna
Abstract. Crosses with so-called tetragrams (i.e. four leters or four pairs of leters)
are not only atached to monuments, icons and portable objects, but are also found
inscribed into Byzantine and post-Byzantine manuscripts. Crosses with tetragrams
are commonly placed at the beginning of manuscripts and texts respectively as
well in other positions. They have multiple roles: crosses with tetragrams protect
the object against evil, they safeguard its existence, and, in addition, they occasion-
ally function as a decorative device. This paper presents an overview of crosses
with tetragrams in Byzantine and post-Byzantine manuscripts, and it aims to dis-
cuss this cultural phenomenon as a whole.
Key words. cryptograms, tetragrams, Byzantine inscriptions, icons, manuscripts,

liturgy.
I. Einleitung
ΦΧΦΠ (= Φῶς Χριστοῦ φαίνει πᾶσιν „Das Licht Christi leuchtet
allen“) – die Kombination dieser vier Buchstaben stellt eines der am
weitesten verbreiteten byzantinischen Tetragramme dar. Wie be-
1 Andreas Rhoby ist Mitarbeiter an der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Institut
für Mitelalterforschung, und stellvertretender Leiter der Abteilung Byzanzforschung. Darüber
hinaus ist er Privatdozent an der Universität Wien und Chair der Kommission Corpus Fontium
Historiae Byzantinae sowie Koordinator (mit Ida Toth) der Inschriften-Kommission der Associati-
on Internationale des Études Byzantines (AIEB). Seine Forschungsschwerpunkte sind byzantini-
sche Literatur und Sprache, Epigraphik sowie allgemein Kulturgeschichte.
71
reits an anderer Stelle ausführlich dargelegt2, bezeichnet der Termi-
nus „Tetragramm“ in unserem Zusammenhang nicht das berühmte
Wort mit vier Buchstaben YHWH (d.h. Yahweh, den Eigennamen
Gotes)3, sondern beschreibt die Kombination von vier Buchstaben
bzw. vier Paaren von Buchstaben, wobei IC XC NIKA (= Ἰησοῦς
Χριστὸς νικᾷ „Jesus Christus siegt [am Kreuz]“) die bekannteste
und am meisten verwendete ist4. Auch heute ist diese Formel noch
weit verbreitet, da sie in in der Orthodoxie verwendete Brotstem-
pel eingerizt ist5. Durch seinen Tod am Kreuz „siegt“ Christus,
und mit der Darstellung des Kreuzes sind die Tetragramme, deren
Bandbreite von den genannten Formeln IC XC NIKA und ΦΧΦΠ
bis zu Kombinationen von ΑΒΔΕ bis ΧΧΧΧ reicht6, stets verbun-
den. Die Buchstaben der Tetragramme sind meist in die vier Zwic-
kel des Kreuzes eingetragen; manchmal stehen sie auch zu beiden
Seiten des Kreuzstamms, oder sie beinden sich an den vier Enden
des Kreuzes. Manche dieser Akronyme sind leicht zu entschlüs-
seln, andere sind nicht mit Sicherheit zu deuten, was in manchen
Fällen zu einer beträchtlichen Zahl vorgeschlagener Aulösungen
geführt hat7. Für das eingangs erwähnte ΦΧΦΠ liegt eine eindeu-
tige Aulösung vor, z.B. im Cod. Flor. Laur. Plut. 11.9, f. 282r, aus
dem Jahr 10218: Φῶς Χριστοῦ φαίνει πᾶσιν, das in der Liturgie der
Vorhergeweihten Gaben verwendet wird9, ist aber auch schon auf
spätantik-frühbyzantinischen Öllampen aus Palästina überliefert10.
2 Rhoby, Andreas. Secret Messages? Byzantine Greek Tetragrams and Their Display. – Art-Hist-
Papers, 2013, No. 1, htp://09.edel.univ-poitiers.fr/art-hist/index.php?id=72.
3 Siehe zulezt Lang, Bernhard. Jahwe, der biblische Got. Ein Portrait. München, 2002.
4 Frolow, Anatole. IC XC NI KA. – Byzantinoslavica 1956, Nr. 17, 193-220.
5 Galavaris, George, Hamann-Mac Lean, Richard. Brotstempel aus der Prinz Johann Georg-Samm-
lung in Mainz. Mainz 1979, 43-45 u. Abb. 18-22.
6 Die vom Verfasser (aubauend auf Vorarbeiten Wolfram Hörandners) zusammengestellte,
noch unpublizierte Sammlung von Tetragramm-Varianten umfasst ca. 120 unterschiedliche Ty-
pen.
7 Siehe z.B. Pokrovskii, Nikolai Vasilevich, Evangelie v pamiatnikakh ikonograii preimushchest-
venno viznatiiskikh i russkikh. Sankt Petersburg, 1892, 444; Bentchev, Ivan. Monogramme und
Akronyme als Ikonenaufschriften. – Zeitschrift für ostkirchliche Kunst, 2002, Nr. 3-4, 57-64. Er-
weiterte Version unter htp://www.icon-art.info/book_contents.php?book_id=30.
8 Rhoby, Andreas. Secret Messages?, §11.
9 Siehe Goar, Jacob. Εὐχολόγιον sive Rituale Graecorum complectens ritus et ordines divinae
liturgiae, oiciorum, sacramentorum, consecrationum, benedictionum, funerum, orationum, &c.
Venedig, 21730 (Reprint Graz, 1960), 164. Vgl. Archimandrites Basileios. ΦΩΣ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΥ ΦΑΙΝΕΙ
ΠΑΣΙ. Hiera Mone Iberon – Athen, 2002 (Reprint 2015).
10 Rhoby, Andreas. Secret Messages?, §11-13.
72
Tetragramme sind auf allen möglichen Materialien und Oberlächen
erhalten: Man indet sie auf Fresken, sie sind auf Ikonen gemalt, sie
sind in Metalle und Stein – mitunter als Graiti – gerizt, sie sind
aus Ziegeln geformt, die in Kirchen- und Stadtmauern eingefügt
sind, und sie sind gelegentlich auch in Handschriften eingetragen11.
Wie bereits ausführlich festgehalten12, üben Tetragramme in Kombi-
nation mit dem Kreuz vor allem folgende Funktionen aus: Sie stellen
für das Objekt, auf dem oder in dem (im Falle von Codices) sie ange-
bracht sind, Schuz dar; gleichzeitig sind sie aber auch apotropäisch,
indem sie Feinde bzw. allgemein das Böse abwehren13. Darüber hi-
naus drücken sie, insbesondere in Zusammenhang mit kaiserlichen
Stiftungen, die Präsenz Christi aus14. An Stadtmauern nach außen
gerichtete Epigramme haben zunächst eine apotropäische Funktion,
indem sie – wie andere Inschriften auch – Feinden gegenüber schon
allein aufgrund ihrer Präsenz Abwehr signalisieren. Sie üben aber
auch eine Schuzfunktion aus, nämlich insofern, als sie im Zusam-
menspiel mit anderen Inschriften Stabilität und Unversehrbarkeit
garantieren15, und sie sind Symbol der imperialen Macht.
11 Ganz selten sind Kreuze mit Tetragrammen auch auf byzantinischen Bleisiegeln zu inden:
siehe Wassiliou-Seibt, Alexandra-Kyriaki. Corpus der byzantinischen Siegel mit metrischen Le-
genden. Teil 2: Siegellegenden von Ny bis inklusive Sphragis. Wien, 2016, Nr. 2266a (NKZΦ,
aufgelöst als νίκη ζωηφόρος), 2266b (ΝΚΦΡ, aufgelöst als νικηφόρος), 2267, 2268 (jeweils IC XC
NIKA).
12 Walter, Christopher. IC XC NI KA. The Apotropaic Function of the Victorious Cross. – Re-
vue des Études Byzantines, 1997, Nr. 55, 193-220. Weitere Publikationen in Auswahl: Hörandner,
Wolfram. Visuelle Poesie in Byzanz. Versuch einer Bestandsaufnahme. – Jahrbuch der Österrei-
chischen Byzantinistik, 1990, No. 40, 1-42: 16-18; Hörandner, Wolfram. Weitere Beobachtungen zu
byzantinischen Figurengedichten und Tetragrammen. – Nea Rhome, 2009, No. 6, 291-304; Rhoby.
Secret Messages?; Moutafov, Emmanuel. Typology and Semantics of Cryptograms and Acrolexa
in the Orthodox East in the Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Period. – Inicĳal. Časopis za sredn-
jovekovne studĳe / Initial. A Review of Medieval Studies, 2013, Nr. 1, 49-75; Moutafov, Em-
manuel. Kriptogramite i bilingvizmŭt na Paleologovoto iskustvo. – Patrimonium 2011, Nr. 3,
251-261; Safran, Linda. Greek Cryptograms in Southern Italy (and Beyond). – Art-Hist-Papers,
2013, No. 1, htp://09.edel.univ-poitiers.fr/art-hist/index.php?id=73.
13 Walter. IC XC NI KA, 213-215. Allgemein zum Phänomen siehe jezt die Beiträge (vor allem
jene von James Crow und Ine Jacobs). In: Garipzanov, Ildar. Goodson, Caroline. Maguire, Henry
(eds.). Graphic Signs of Identity, Faith, and Power in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages.
Turnhout, 2017.
14 Crow, James. Blessing or Security? Understanding the Christian Symbols of a Monumental
Aqueduct Bridge in the Hinterland of Late Antique Constantinople. In: Ildar Garipzanov, Car-
oline Goodson, and Henry Maguire (eds.). Graphic Signs of Identity, Faith, and Power in Late
Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. Turnhout, 2017, 147-174: 167-171.
15 Rhoby, Andreas. Tower stablished by God, God is protecting you: Inscriptions on Byzantine For-
tiications. In: Christos Stavrakos (ed.). Inscriptions in the Byzantine and Post-Byzantine History
and History of Art. Proceedings of the International Symposium “Inscriptions: Their Contribu-
tion to the Byzantine and Post-Byzantine History and History of Art” (Ioannina, June 26 – 27,
73
Abgesehen davon, dass Kreuze mit Tetragrammen an monumenta-
len Bauwerken zur Wirkung kamen, fanden sie wahrscheinlich auch
in ganz alltäglichen Situationen Verwendung. Man kann davon
ausgehen, dass Tetragramme bekannte Chifren waren, die auch für
Nicht-Alphabetisierte oder Halb-Alphabetisierte zu erkennen bzw.
zu verstehen waren. Zwei Beispiele aus der byzantinischen Alltags-
welt sollen dies verdeutlichen: Um sich vor Feinden zu schüzen,
ist in einer Handschrift des 15. Jahrhunderts (Cod. Bonon. Univ.
3632) mit magischen Texten folgender Hinweis zu lesen: Γράψον
Κυριακῇ, ὥρᾳ πρώτῃ: ις χς ν κ, φχφπ, ττχφ, χχχχχ („Schreibe am
Sonntag in der ersten Stunde [nach dem Sonnenaufgang] IC XC N
K, ΦΧΦΠ, ΤΤΧΦ, ΧΧΧΧΧ“)16. Eine in das 18. Jahrhundert zu datie-
rende Athener Handschrift (Cod. Hist.-Ethn. Het. 210)17, enthält un-
ter anderem eine Sammlung von Rezepten. Eines davon, das bei
Kopfschmerzen anzuwenden ist18, beginnt mit der Auforderung
Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς νικᾷ· ἐν ὀνόματι τοῦ Πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ Υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ
Ἁγίου Πνεύματος, νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων,
ἀμήν („Jesus Christus siegt. Im Namen des Vaters und des Sohnes
und des Heiligen Geistes, nun und für immer und in alle Ewigkeit,
Amen“) zu schreiben. Der Text endet abermals mit Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς
νικᾷ, gefolgt von τόπος Κρανίου παράδεισος19 γέγονεν („Der Ort
des Schädels wurde zum Paradies“). Die aus dem Neuen Testament
(Mt 27,33; Mk 15,22; Lk 23,33; Joh 19,17) abgeleitete Formel, die
auf Golgotha, den Hügel, auf dem Jesus Christus gekreuzigt wur-
de, hinweist, ist die Aulösung des weit verbreiteten Tetragramms
ΤΚΠΓ, wobei die meisten Belege aus der spät- und postbyzantini-
schen Zeit stammen. Sehr oft ist dieses Tetragramm mit anderen
Tetragrammen, wie dem erwähnten ΦΧΦΠ, überliefert – in erster
Linie bei der Darstellung von sogenannten „Geisterkreuzen“ (Kreu-
ze mit heiliger Lanze und Ysopschwamm) in den Laibungen von
Kirchentüren oder -fenstern20.
2015) . Wiesbaden, 2016, 341-369.

16 Delate, Armand. Anecdota Atheniensia. Tome I: Textes grecs inédits relatifs à l’histoire des
religions. Liège – Paris, 1927, 575-576. Zu den Problemen der Überlieferung dieser Passage siehe
Rhoby, Andreas. Secret Messages?, Anm. 44-45.
17 On the date Delate. Anecdota Atheniensia I, 105.
18 Delate. Anecdota Atheniensia I, 124.
19 In der Edition als παρὰ ιδ´ wiedergegeben; von Delate bereits selbst angezweifelt. Es dürfte
sich um ein vom Editor schlecht gelesenes, gekürztes παράδ(εισος) handeln.
20 Rhoby. Secret Messages?, §16.
74
II. Kreuze mit Tetragrammen in byzantinischen
und postbyzantinischen Handschriften
Kreuze mit Tetragrammen wurden aber nicht nur auf Mauern, Iko-
nen und sonstigen Objekten angebracht, sondern wurden auch in
byzantinische und postbyzantinische Handschriften geschrieben.
Man trift in Codices an verschiedenen Positionen, auf die im Fol-
genden eingegangen wird, auf bekannte Tetragramme, für die gesi-
cherte Aulösungen vorliegen, aber auch auf seltene Tetragramme,
für die keine eindeutigen Aulösungen vorhanden sind.
Um die vielfältigen Funktionen von Kreuzen mit Tetragrammen
in Handschriften darzulegen, sei im Folgenden auf einige wenige
Belege eingegangen21. Abschließend werden grundsäzliche Gedan-
ken zur Wirkung und Funktion von Tetragrammen in Handschrif-
ten festgehalten.
II.1 Kreuze mit Tetragrammen am Beginn von Handschriften

bzw. am Beginn von Texten
Der Cod. Par. Coisl. 278, der in die zweite Hälfte des 13. bzw. um
die Wende zum 14. Jahrhundert zu datieren ist, enthält fast aus-
schließlich Werke des Patriarchen Germanos II. (1223–1240)22. Die
erste in der Handschrift überlieferte Rede des Germanos beginnt
auf f. 4r. Auf der gegenüberliegenden Verso-Seite (f. 3v) ist ein von
einer späteren Hand bzw. einem späteren Benuzer der Handschrift
hinzugefügtes Flechtkreuz dargestellt23. Im Inneren der durch die
Ranken gebildeten Felder ist ΦΧΦΠ in der Richtung des orthodoxen
21 Aubauend auf Walter. IC XC NI KA, 201-203 (fast ausschließlich Belege für IC XC NI KA in
Handschriften); zu Tetragrammen in Handschriften siehe auch Gamillscheg, Ernst. Bemerkungen
zu Kreuzdarstellungen mit Tetragrammen. – Estudios bizantinos, 2015, Nr. 3, 21-28.
22 Zum Codex Lagopates, Spyridon N. Γερμανὸς ὁ Β´ πατριάρχης Κωνσταντινουπόλεως-
Νικαίας (1222–1240). Bίος, συγγράμματα καὶ διδασκαλία αὐτοῦ. Ἀνέκδοτοι ὁμιλίαι καὶ
ἐπιστολαὶ τὸ πρῶτον ἐκδιδόμεναι. Tripolis, 1913, 128-136; Devreesse, Robert. Bibliothèque Na-
tionale. Départment des Manuscrits. Catalogue des Manuscrits Grecs, II. Le Fonds Coislin. Paris,
1945, 257-259; siehe auch Schifer, Elisabeth. Codex Baroccianus 131 und Codex Coislinianus 278
als Überlieferungsträger von Texten des Patriarchen Germanos II. In: Antonia Giannouli, Elisa-
beth Schifer (eds.). From Manuscript to Books. Proceedings of the International Workshop on
Textual Criticism and Editorial Practice for Byzantine Texts (Vienna, 10 – 11 December 2009) /
Vom Codex zur Edition. Akten des internationalen Arbeitstrefens zu Fragen der Textkritik und
Editionspraxis byzantinischer Texte (Wien, 10. – 11. Dezember 2009). Wien, 2011, 185-191.
23 Die folgende Beschreibung basiert auf dem Studium eines Mikroilms der Handschrift, der
sich im Besiz der Abteilung Byzanzforschung, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften,
beindet.
75
Kreuzzeichens, d.h. oben – unten – links – rechts, zu lesen, wobei
dies den Betrachter in der Tat dazu einladen könnte, das Kreuzzei-
chen zu machen. In den Zwickeln des Kreuzes ist IC XC N KA zu
enzifern. Außerhalb beinden sich vier weitere Buchstaben, die
(vom Betrachter aus gesehen) links oben beginnend entgegen dem
Uhrzeigersinn zu lesen sind; dabei handelt es sich um das erwäh-
nte Tetragramm ΤΚΠΓ, wenngleich der Buchstabe links oben, an
dem ofenbar korrigiert wurde, eher wie ein Π aussieht. Das von
den genannten Tetragrammen begleitete Kreuz erfüllt, auch wenn
es von einer späteren Hand gestaltet wurde, folgende Aufgabe: Es
markiert den Beginn der eigentlichen Handschrift, d.h. des Werks
des Germanos, da auf den vorangegangenen Seiten (von verschie-
denen Händen ausgeführte) Troparia, verschiedene Notizen, ma-
thematische Probleme und der Beginn der Apostelgeschichte ange-
führt sind24.
Ein prominentes Beispiel für ein Kreuz, das den eigentlich Beginn
des Codex einleitet, stellt auch das aufwändig gestaltete, eine ganze
Seite einnehmende Kreuz mit dem Tetragramm IC XC NI KA auf f.
2r der um das Jahr 900 zu datierenden Prachthandschrift Cod. Vat.
Reg. gr. 1, der berühmten Bibel des Leon Sakellarios, dar25. Sowohl
das Kreuz im Coislianus als auch jenes in der Leon-Bibel üben aber
auch eine Schuzfunktion für die Handschrift bzw. für den Text, den
sie einleiten, aus.
Genau diese Aufgabe ist auch durch ein aus vier Versen bestehen-
des Epigramm deiniert, das auf f. 1r des heute verschollenen Cod.
Berol. Univ. 3807, eines Psalters aus dem 14. Jahrhundert, ein mit
dem Tetragramm IC XC NI KA versehenes Patriarchenkreuz beglei-
tet (Abb. 1):
Σταυρὸς φύλαξ ἄριστος ἑδραία σκέπη
τεῖχος ὀχυρόν, δαίμονας ταρβοῦν ὅπλον·
ἑστὼς ἐν ἀρχῇ βιβλίου τοῦδε σκέπει
διδοὺς ἀρωγὸν χεῖρα τῷ κεκτημένῳ.
24 Lagopates. Γερμανὸς ὁ Β´ πατριάρχης Κωνσταντινουπόλεως-Νικαίας, 130-131.

25 Canart, Paul. La Bible du patrice Léon. Codex Reginensis Graecus 1. Commentaire codicolo-
gique, paléographique, philologique et artistique. Vatikan, 2011, Farbtaf. IV; siehe auch Walter.
IC XC NI KA, 201.
76
Abb. 1. Berol. Univ. 3807, f. 1r. Copyright: Georg Stuhlfauth. A Greek Psalter with Byzantine
Miniatures. – Art Bulletin 1933, Nr. 15, 311-326: Abb. 6
77
Das Kreuz, bester Hüter, sicherer Schuz,
feste Mauer, Dämonen scheuende Wafe.
Am Beginn dieses Buches stehend schüzt es
und reicht dem Besizer eine hilfreiche Hand26.
Als Beispiel einer Handschrift mit Tetragrammen aus postbyzanti-

nischer Zeit sei der Cod. Suppl. D. gr. 1 des Dujčev-Zentrums in So-
ia erwähnt, eine liturgische Handschrift, die in das 17. Jahrhundert
zu datieren ist27. Kreuz und Tetragramme stehen hier zwar nicht auf
dem ersten Folio, aber doch relativ weit vorne in der Handschrift:
Auf Gebete für die Frau im Wochenbet (am ersten Tag nach der
Geburt)28 folgt auf f. 5v ein Stufenkreuz mit folgenden Tetragram-
men: IC XC NIKA, ΤΚΠΓ, ΦΧΦΠ, ΑΠΜϚ. Die Buchstaben lezteren
Tetragramms sind an den Balkenenden angebracht; sie sind ebenso
wie das Tetragramm ΦΧΦΠ im Cod. Par. Coisl. 278 kreuzförmig,
d.h. oben – unten – links – rechts, zu lesen29. Auch hier könnte man
daran denken, dass der Betrachter indirekt aufgefordert wird, in
der Tat das Kreuzzeichen zu machen. Für ΑΠΜϚ liegen im Übri-
gen verschiedene Vorschläge zur Aulösung vor: Der von Christop-
her Walter vorgeschlagenen Lesung Ἀρχὴ Πίστεως Μυστηρίου
Σταυρός30 (alternativ Σταυροῦ) ist einiges abzugewinnen, zumal
in beinahe allen Belegen des Tetragramms der Beginn des lezten
26 Stuhlfauth. Georg. A Greek Psalter with Byzantine Miniatures. – Art Bulletin 1933, Nr. 15,
311-326: 318 u. Abb. 6; Hörandner, Wolfram. Das byzantinische Epigramm und das heilige Kreuz:
einige Beobachtungen zu Motiven und Typen. In: Boris Ulianich (ed.). La Croce. Iconograia e
interpretazione (secoli I – inizio XVI). Ati del convegno internazionale di studi (Napoli, 6 – 11
dicembre 1999). Neapel – Rom, 2007, III, 107-125; Rhoby, Andreas. Ausgewählte byzantinische
Epigramme in illuminierten Handschriften. Verse und ihre inschriliche Verwendung in Codices
des 9. bis 15. Jahrhunderts (= Byzantinische Epigramme in inschriftlicher Überlieferung IV).
Wien, 2018, Nr. DE1.
27 Džurova, Axinia. Les codices unici dans Byzance après Byzance. Suppl. D. gr. du XVIIe siècle,
manuscrit inédit teint en pourpre du Centre de Recherches Slavo-Byzantines “Ivan Dujčev”
(Notes préliminaires). – Palaeoslavica 2002, Nr. 10/1, 65-78; siehe auch Džurova, Axinia. L’enlu-
minure des manuscrits liturgiques grecs des XVIe–XVIIIe siècles (conservatorisme et innovations).
In: Vasilis Atsalos, Niki Tsironi (eds.). Πρακτικά του Ϛ´ Διεθνούς Συμποσίου Ελληνικής Παλαι-
ογραφίας (Δράμα, 21 – 27 Σεπτεμβρίου 2003). Athen, 2008, II 489-508: 491-497.
28 Incipit (nach Džurova. Les codices unici, 74, Taf. I): Δέσποτα Κύριε παντοκράτωρ ὁ ἰώμενος
πᾶσαν νόσον καὶ πᾶσαν μαλακίαν. Ediert bei Goar. Εὐχολόγιον sive Rituale Graecorum, 261.
29 Von Džurova Les codices unici, 69 falsch gelesen als MΣΑΠ und aufgelöst als Μαρτύριον
Σταυροῦ Ἀνάστασις Πάνιων.
30 Walter, Christopher. IC XC NI KA, 211.
78
Wortes durch ein Stigma (und nicht durch ein Sigma) angegeben
ist. Darüber hinaus dürfte auch Ἀρχή als sicher gelten, da der er-
ste Teil des Tetragramms in der Klosterkirche von Peć an zwei
Orten als AP-Ligatur überliefert ist31. Wenn man Heinrich Gelzer
Glauben schenken darf, dann hat er die Aulösung Ἀρχὴ Πίστεως
Μυστηρίου Σταυρός auch in einem (nicht speziizierten) in das
Jahr 1689 zu datierenden Codex des Athos-Klosters Megiste Lau-
ra gefunden32. Die besondere Schuzfunktion des Kreuzes (und der
Tetragramme) im Cod. Suppl. D. gr. 1 des Dujčev-Zentrums in Soia
ist auch dadurch untermauert, dass der Kopist oder ein Benuzer
der Handschrift sowohl im oberen Bereich als auch im unteren Be-
reich (zu beiden Seiten des A von ΑΠΜϚ) des Kreuzes hinzufügte:
Φύλαξον χρήστην „Beschüze den Benuzer“, wobei bei der oberen
Legende τοῦ δέλτοῦ „des Buches“ hinzugefügt ist.
Erwähnenswert ist auch eine weitere Handschrift aus dem
Dujčev-Zentrum in Soia, nämlich jene mit der Signatur D. gr. 212.
Der in das Jahr 1378 zu datierende Codex, ein Evangelienlektionar,
enthält zu Beginn der Evangelien jeweils ein ganzseitiges Evange-
listenporträt sowie ein ebenfalls ganzseitiges Kreuz mit Tetragram-
men, wobei die Miniaturen, die nach Axinia Džurova in das späte
11. oder frühe 12. Jahrhundert zu datieren sind, nachträglich ein-
gefügt wurden33. Während sich die Evangelistenporträts auf den
Folien 2v (Johannes), 60v (Mathäus), 154v (Lukas) und 271v (Mar-
kus) beinden, sind die Kreuze mit den Tetragrammen auf der je-
weils nächsten Verso-Seite angebracht, nämlich auf f. 3v ΦΧΦΠ,
auf f. 61v IC XC NIKA, auf f. 115v CΔΦΤ und auf f. 272v ΑΠΤΧ.
31 Babić, Gordana. Les croix à cryptogrammes peintes dans les églises serbes des XIIIe et XIVe
siècles. In: Suzy Dufrenne (ed.). Byzance et les Slaves. Études de Civilisation. Mélanges Ivan
Dujčev. Paris, 1979, 1-13: 8.
32 Gelzer, Heinrich. Byzantinische Inschriften aus Westmakedonien. – Miteilungen des Kai-
serlich Deutschen Archaeologischen Instituts, Athenische Abteilung 1902, Nr. 27, 431-444: 440-
441. Von Gamillscheg. Bemerkungen zu Kreuzdarstellungen mit Tetragrammen 26 wird Α(ΓΙΟΝ)
Π(ΑΣΧΑ) Μ(ΥΣΤΗΡΙΟΝ) Σ(ΤΑΥΡΟΥ) vorgeschlagen.
33 Džurova, Axinia. Quelques observations sur les manuscrits enluminés de l’époque des Paléo-
logues (Cod. D gr. 132 = Kos. 218 ET, cod. D gr. 212 = Kos. sans coté). In: Β´ συμπόσιο Η Μακεδο-
νία κατά την εποχή των Παλαιολόγων, Θεσσαλονίκη 14 – 20 Δεκεμβρίου 1992. Thessalonike,
2002, 451-470: 453-455; Džurova, Axinia (unter Mitarbeit von Canart, Paul). Sijanieto na Vizantija.
Ukraseni grăcki răkopisi ot Balkanite (VI–XVIII v.). Katalog za izložba (XXII Meždunaroden Kon-
gres za Vizantijski Izsledvanija). Soija, 22 – 27 avgust 2011 g. Nacionalna Galerija za Čuždest-
ranno Izkustvo / Le rayonnement de Byzance. Les manuscrits grecs enluminés des Balkans (VIe–
XVIIIe siècles). Catalogue d’exposition (XXIIIe Congrès Internationales [sic] d’Études Byzantines).
Soia, 22 – 27 août 2011. Galerie Nationale d’Art Étranger. Soia. Soia, 2011, 127-128; siehe auch
Gamillscheg. Bemerkungen zu Kreuzdarstellungen mit Tetragrammen, 22-23.
79
Auf den auf die Kreuze folgenden Recto-Seiten beginnen dann die
jeweiligen Evangelientexte. Die Kreuze samt den Tetragrammen
leiten somit die Evangelien ein, stehen an deren Spize und üben
eine quasi-Schuzfunktion für die daraufolgenden Texte aus. Die
sonst nicht belegten Tetragramme CΔΦΤ34 und ΑΠΤΧ wurden von
Džurova in der Form Σωτηρίας δῶρον φωτὸς τίμημα und Ἅγιον
Πάσχα τοῦ Χριστοῦ aufgelöst35; Gamillscheg plädierte bei ΑΠΤΧ
zulezt für Ἅγιον Πάσχα Τάφος Χριστοῦ als Aulösung, wobei er
unter „Heiliges Osterlamm – Grab Christi“ einen Hinweis auf die
Verbindung von Tod und Auferstehung Jesu sah36. Diese Interpre-
tation ist inhaltlich zulässig, und auch formal ist Τάφος vor τοῦ
der Vorzug zu geben, da die Buchstaben eines Tetragramms stets
ein Nomen, Verbum, Pronomen oder Adjektiv einleiten, jedoch nie
einen Artikel.
II.2 Kreuze mit Tetragrammen an anderen Positionen in

Handschriften
Der Cod. Dujčev gr. 272 diente bereits als Beispiel dafür, dass Kreu-
ze und Tetragramme nicht nur am Beginn von Handschriften, son-
dern auch an anderen Positionen zu inden sind.
Dass Kreuze mit Tetragrammen in Handschriften nicht immer be-
sonders prunkvoll ausgeführt sind, beweist der in das 14. oder 15.
Jahrhundert zu datierende Cod. Bonon. Univ. 3568, der die Werke
des Flavius Josephus und des Philo Judaeus umfasst. Am Ende von
f. 119r, nach den Büchern I–VII von Flavius᾽ De bello Iudaico und vor
Beginn von Flavius᾽ Vita (f. 119v), ist ein kleines Kreuz gezeichnet,
in dessen Zwickel das bekannte IC XC NI KA eingeschrieben ist.
34 In die Zwickel eines auf einer Marmorplate aus dem Athos-Kloster Megiste Laura dargestell-
ten Kreuzes, das in das 10./11. Jahrhundert zu datieren ist, ist das Tetragramm CΔΦΔ eingeschrie-
ben, wobei auch dieses sonst nicht belegt ist: Liakos, Dimitrios. Byzantine and Post-Byzantine
Athonite Dedicatory Inscriptions in Historical and Archaeological Context. In: Emmanuel Mout-
afov, Jelena Erdeljan (eds.). Tekstove, nadpisi, obrazi / Text, Inscriptions, Images. Art Readings.
Thematic Annual Peer-Reviewed Edition in Art Studies in two volumes. 2016/Vol. I – Old Art.
Soia, 2017, 159-186: 160-161 mit Farbabb. 2, 178 (Nr. 2) mit der Transkription des Tetragramms
als Σταυροῦ δυνάμει (sic) δαίμονες φρίτουσσιν (sic). Nicht auszuschließen ist allerdings, dass
ursprünglich das Tetragramm CΔΦΤ vorgesehen war, dass aber der für die Anbringung der In-
schrift zuständige Handwerker einen Fehler beging, als er anstat des Tau ein zweites Delta in
den Stein rizte.
35 Džurova. Quelques observations sur les manuscrits enluminés, 454 u. Džurova. Sijanieto na
Vizantija, 136.
36 Gamillscheg. Bemerkungen zu Kreuzdarstellungen mit Tetragrammen, 26.
80
Unterhalb ist ein Vers zu lesen, der das Kreuz mit dem Kopisten der
Handschrift in Verbindung bringt:
Σταυρὸς <ὅδ᾽> ἐστὶ τῶν γραφόντων τὸ σθένος.

Das Kreuz hier ist die Kraft der Schreibenden37.
Der wahrscheinlich in das 16. Jahrhundert zu datierende Cod. Sin.

gr. 427, der neben anderen Texten die Scala Paradisi des Ioannes Kli-
max überliefert, verfügt auf f. 17r über eine Darstellung der Him-
melsleiter mit hinaukleternden Mönchen38. Neben zwei darüber
geschriebenen Epigrammen, die sich auf die Leiter und das mühe-
volle Hinaufsteigen beziehen39, sind auch zwei Kreuze gezeichnet,
wobei an den Enden der Arme des einen Kreuzes ΑΒΝΝ und des
anderen Kreuzes ΤΤΓΠ steht, wenn man der Leserichtung (vom Be-
trachter aus gesehen) oben – links – rechts – unten folgt. Beide Tetra-
gramme sind sonst nicht belegt. Bei ΤΤΓΠ könnte es sich allerdings
um eine Verschreibung des bekannten ΤΚΠΓ handeln. Neben den
bereits erwähnten Funktionen des Kreuzes, nämlich Schuz vor und
Abwehr des Bösen, kommt hier auch noch eine drite Komponente
zum Tragen: Die beiden Kreuze und ihre Tetragramme fungieren
als Ornamente, da sie auch farblich und stilistisch zu den beiden
Epigrammtexten und zur Darstellung der Leiter und der Mönche
passen.
Ein besonderes Beispiel für die Verwendung von Tetragrammen
stellt der um das Jahr 1300 zu datierende, auf Zypern entstande-
ne Cod Par. gr. 1391 dar, der in erster Linie kaiserliche Rechtstexte
überliefert, die teilweise in einem volkssprachlichen zypriotischen
37 Olivieri, Alessandro, Festa, Nicola. Indice dei codici greci delle Biblioteche Universitaria e
Comunale di Bologna. – Studi Italiani di Filologia Classica 1895, Nr. 3, 385-495: 435. Zu Text und
Übersezung auch Rhoby. Ausgewählte byzantinische Epigramme in illuminierten Handschrif-
ten, Nr. IT1 u. Farbabb. CVI. Der Artikel ὅδ’ wurde bereits von Olivieri und Festa hinzugefügt,
um den Vers im Sinne eines byzantinischen Zwölfsilbers zu „heilen“.
38 Zum Codex Beneševič, Vladimir, Uspenskĳ, Porphirĳ. Catalogus codicum manuscriptorum
graecorum qui in monasterio sanctae Catharinae in monte Sina asservantur. Tomus I: Codices
manuscripti notabiliores bibliothecae monasterii Sinaitici ejusque metochii Cahirensis, ab archi-
mandrita Porphyrio (Uspenskio) descripti. Sankt Petersburg, 1911 (Reprint Hildesheim, 1965),
227.
39 Rhoby. Ausgewählte byzantinische Epigramme in illuminierten Handschriften, Nr. ÄG15 u.
ÄG16 mit Farbabb. XIII.
81
Dialekt abgefasst sind40. Auf f. 204v beindet sich eine Illumination,
welche die Kaiser Konstantinos V. und Leon III. zeigt; auf dem ge-
genüberliegenden f. 205r beinden sich in Form eines Kreuzes an-
gelegte Tabellen von Verwandtschaftsbeziehungen41. Diese werden
von Tetragrammen, durch die der grundsäzlich weltliche Inhalt
der Tabellen in christologischen Kontext gebracht wird, lankiert:
IC XC NI KA, wobei IC XC oberhalb des Kreuzarmes steht und vor
NI KA auch YC ΘΥ (= Ὑὸς Θεοῦ „Sohn Gotes“) zu lesen ist42. Eben-
falls vor ΝΙ ΚΑ steht Ν Γ, das mit den bei den Stufen des Kreuzes
stehenden Buchstaben Ω und Λ ein eigenes, bislang unbekanntes
Tetragramm bilden dürfte, wobei das Lambda auf der (vom Be-
trachter aus gesehen) linken Seite mit der mit kleineren Buchstaben
ausgeführten Ligatur von Omikron und Ypsilon verbunden ist. Es
ist aber auch möglich, dass sich der Kopist selbst mit dem Tetra-
gramm ΝΓΩΛου verewigte, wenn ΩΛου als das Ende eines auf -ώλου
endenden Familiennamen (im Genetiv) zu deuten ist Ist diese Deu-
tung richtig, mag eine Verwandtschaft bestehen zu in Kreuzzwickel
eingeschriebenen Akronymen an den aus Osthrakien kommenden
Wasserleitungen von Konstantinopel (vor allem an der Brücke von
Kurşunlugerme unweit der Makra Teiche), die vielleicht zusäzlich
zu den gängigen Signaturen ebenfalls als Abkürzungen für Namen
von Baumeistern zu deuten sind43.
Das Kreuz kann nicht nur den Beginn einer Handschrift bzw. eines
Texts markieren, sondern kann auch am Ende eines Codex stehen.
40 Ausführlich zur Handschrift Constantinides, Costas N., Browning, Robert. Dated Greek Manu-
scripts from Cyprus to the Year 1570. Washington — Nicosia, 1993, 127-132.
41 Durand, Jannic, Dorota Giovannoni (eds.). Chypre entre Byzance et l’Occident, IVe–XVIe siècle.
Paris, 2012, 257 (Farbabb. 1), siehe auch S. 205. Digitalisat unter htp://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/
btv1b10722950c/f228.image.r=manuscrits1391%201391. Am Fuß des Kreuzes ist in Majuskel fol-
gender Titel angebracht: Περὶ τῶν βαθμῶν συγγενίας, darunter in Minuskel dessen Fortset-
zung: Καὶ περὶ ἀνιόντων καὶ κατιόντων καὶ τῶν ἐκπλαγίου (sic). Diese beiden Inhaltsangaben
sind jeweils von einem Rahmen umgeben, wodurch sich für das ganze Gebilde ein Stufenkreuz
ergibt.
42 Für IC XC YC ΘΥ gibt es in dieser und ähnlicher Buchstabenfolge auch weitere Belege: siehe
Walter. IC XC NI KA, 212 u. Galavaris, George. Kreuz II. – Reallexikon zur byzantinischen Kunst
1995, vol. 5, 219-284: 272. Exemplarisch siehe auch Rhoby, Andreas. Byzantinische Epigramme
auf Fresken und Mosaiken (= Byzantinische Epigramme in inschriftlicher Überlieferung, I). Wien,
2009, Abb. 102 (Timios Stauros tou Hagiasmati, bei Platanista, Zypern, Datierung in das Jahr
1494).
43 Crow, James. Bardill, Jonathan. Bayliss, Richard (with additional contributions by Paolo Bono
with the assistence of Dirk Krausmüller and Robert Jordan). The Water Supply of Byzantine
Constantinople. London, 2008, 168 (ΘΕ ΟΦ), 174 (Γ ΕΝ Α Ω); Crow, James. Blessing or Security?
154-164. Die Untersuchung dieses Phänomens sei zukünftigen Studien vorbehalten.
82
Ein weit verbreiteter Kopistenvers lautet auch: Σταυρῷ πεποιθὼς
τερματίζω τὴν βίβλον („Dem Kreuz vertrauend beende ich das
Buch“)44. Auf dem lezten Folio (f. 185r) des in das 12. Jahrhundert
zu datierenden Cod. Par. gr. 440, einer Handschrift mit zahlreichen
Werkes des Dionysios Areopagites45, beindet sich ein von einer
späteren Hand in einfacher Strichzeichnung hinzugefügtes kleines
Kreuz, das nach oben hin – in fast blasphemischer Weise – mit ei-
nem Gesicht und einer Art Kapuze darüber versehen ist46. Die in
die Zwickel des Kreuzes eingeschriebene Inschrift ist schwer zu
deuten: Es könnte sich um die Abwandlung des bekannten IC XC
NI KA handeln, wobei nur νη (?) κ(ᾷ) einigermaßen deutlich zu le-
sen ist. Darunter beindet sich das gängige Tetragramm ΦΧΦΠ, hier
etwas erweitert als φ χυ φ π wiedergeben. Ebenfalls darunter ist
(wahrscheinlich) das Tetragramm Ϛ Ϛ δ πτ zu lesen, das auch sonst
in der Form ϚϚΔΠΤ belegt ist, wobei ΠΤ als Einheit zu sehen ist47.
Dies erinnert an das Design von sogenannten „Geisterkreuzen“48.
Der Beleg im Cod. Par. gr. 440 ist Hinweis darauf, dass Kreuze mit
Tetragrammen nicht nur prunkvolle Gebilde, sondern auch ein-
fache Zeichnungen des Kopisten oder eines Benuzers der Hand-
44 Zahlreiche Beispiele bei Vassis, Ioannis. Initia carminum Byzantinorum. Berlin – New York,
2005, 687 u. Database of Byzantine Book Epigrams: htp://www.dbbe.ugent.be/. Dass dieses Bu-
chepigramm aber nicht nur am Ende einer Handschrift, sondern auch an deren Beginn stehen
kann, beweist das Beispiel des aus dem 11. Jahrhundert stammenden Cod. Ven. Marc. gr. II 181,
in dem der Vers auf f. 1r zu lesen ist: Mioni, Elpidio. Bibliothecae Divi Marci Venetiarum codices
graeci manuscripti. Vol. I: Codices in classes a prima usque ad quintam inclusi. Pars altera: Clas-
sis II, Codd. 121-198 – Classes III, IV, V. Rom, 1972, 109-110.
45 Zur Handschrift Omont, Henri. Inventaire sommaire des manuscrits grecs de la Bibliothèque
nationale et des autres bibliothèques de Paris et des Départements, I–IV. Paris, 1886–1898 (Re-
print Hildesheim, 2000), I 48.
46 Online zugänglich unter htp://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b10722183x/f188.item.
47 Vgl. Walter, Christopher. IC XC NI KA, 209, 220 (Abb. 8). Das älteste bekannte Beispiel für
dieses Epigramm dürfte auf der Rückseite einer in den Zeitraum 1180–1200 zu datierenden Ikone
des Propheten Elias, die im Byzantinischen Museum in Kastoria (Inv.-Nr. 164) aubewahrt wird,
zu inden sein: Strati, Angeliki. Icon with the Prophet Elĳah. In: Anastasia Drandaki, Demetra
Papanikola-Bakirzi, Anastasia Tourta (eds.). Heaven and Earth. Art of Byzantium from Greek
Collections. Athen, 2013, 132-133 (das Kreuz auf der Rückseite ist auch mit den gängigen Tetra-
grammen IC XC NI KA, ΦΧΦΠ und ΧΧΧΧ versehen). Das Tetragramm ϚϚΔΠΤ ist auch in der
Peribleptos-Kirche (auch Bogorodica Preslavna und Sveti Kliment) in Ohrid, deren Fresken an
den Beginn des 14. Jahrhunderts zu datieren sind, überliefert: siehe Poposka, Jana. Church Mother
of God Peribleptos (St. Clement). Ohrid, 2006, Abb. (ohne Nummerierung; Π mit eingeschrie-
benem T, wobei der obere Teil des Tau und dessen Dach oberhalb des Pi liegen). Eine mögliche
Aulösung des Tetragramms könnte Σταυρωθέντος σταυρὸς δαιμόνων πτῶσις („Das Kreuz
des Gekreuzigten ist der Fall der Dämonen“) sein, eventuell auch Σταυρῷ σταυρωθεὶς δόξα
Πατρός: so Moutafov, Emmanuel. Kriptogramite i bilingvizmŭt, 256.
48 Dazu oben S. 64.
83
schrift sein können. In diesem Fall geht es nicht darum, einen Be-
trachter der Handschrift mit dem Tetragramm zu konfrontieren,
sondern es ist der Kopist (oder ein späterer Benuzer) selbst, der
sich ganz persönlich Schuz durch das Kreuz und die begleitende
Inschrift erhoft.
III. Abschließende Bemerkungen

Wie gezeigt werden konnte, war die Motivation, Kreuze mit Tetra-
grammen in byzantinischen Handschriften anzubringen, eine viel-
fache: Kreuze und Tetragramme markieren den Beginn einer Hand-
schrift oder eines Texts, bieten Schuz, wehren das Böse ab und
verdeutlichen die Präsenz Christi. Sie sind aber auch im Inneren von
Handschriften zu inden, indem sie von einem Text zum anderen
überleiten oder in prunkvoller Ausstatung einen neuen Text, wie
etwa im Cod. D. gr. 212 des Dujčev-Zentrums in Soia das nächste
Evangelium, einleiten. Da auch Kopisten auf den Schuz von Kreu-
zen und Tetragrammen vertrauten, fügten sie diese in Handschrif-
ten an verschiedenen Stellen ein. Kreuze (mit Tetragrammen) haben
aber auch dekorativen Charakter: Sie sind Bestandteil des Layouts
einer Handschrift, was wiederum allgemein an die Relevanz des
Designs von Inschriften für die Wirkung im Raum erinnert49.
49 Siehe Agosti, Gianfranco. La mise en page come elemento signiicante nell’epigraia greca
tardoantica. In: Marilena Maniaci, Pasquale Orsini (eds.). Scritura epigraica e scritura libraria:
fra Oriente e Occidente. Cassino, 2015, 45-86; Bedos-Rezak, Brigite Miriam. Hamburger, Jefrey F.
(eds.). Sign and Design. Script as Image in Cross-Cultural Perspective (300–1600). Washington,
D.C., 2016; Rhoby, Andreas. Text as Art? Byzantine Inscriptions and Their Display. In: Irene Berti,
Katharina Bolle, Fanny Opdenhof, Fabian Stroth (eds.). Writing Maters. Presenting and Perceiv-
ing Monumental Inscriptions in Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Berlin – Boston, 2017, 265-283.
Online unter htps://www.degruyter.com/viewbooktoc/product/484185; Garipzanov, Ildar. Goodson,
Caroline. Maguire, Henry. Graphic Signs of Identity, Faith, and Power in Late Antiquity and the
Early Middle Ages, passim.
84
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89
„Христовата светлина озарява всичко“ –
форма и функция на кръстовете с тетраграми
във византийските и поствизантийските
ръкописи
Андреас Роби
Кръстове с т.нар. тетраграми (с четири букви или с четири двойки от буквени

знаци) се свързват не само със стенописи, икони или преносими предмети,
но могат да се открият и изписани във византийски и поствизантийски ръ-
кописи. Кръстовете с тетраграми най-често се разполагат в началото на ръ-
кописите или текстовете, но се срещат и на други места в тях. За автора те
имат мултифункционална роля: кръстовете с тетраграми предпазват пред-
мета от злото, те охраняват съществуването му, но и понякога служат и като
декоративно средство. Тази статия предлага обзорен поглед върху кръстовете
с тетраграми във византийските и поствизантийски ръкописи, поставяйки
си за цел да дискутира целия културен феномен на тяхното съществуване и
функция.
90
Between Princes and Labourers:
The Legacy of Hosios Christodoulos
and his Successors in the Aegean Sea
(11th–13th Centuries)
Angeliki Katsioti1
Greek Ministry of Culture and Sports.
Ephorate of Antiquities of the Dodecanese
Abstract. This paper aims to explore the inluence gained by the monastery of
Patmos in the Aegean Sea in the 11th–13th centuries, during which its properties
became symbols of imperial patronage and the foci of setlements linked to the
local Church and to agrarian communities. This gradual concentration of power
ofers the opportunity to read into the landscape of other Aegean islands under its
inluence, and deine identities in the region. These issues have been approached
through both religious monuments and surviving mural decoration, which consti-
tute a visual vocabulary open to interpretation.
Key words: Medieval Patmos, Cos, Leros, Kalymnos, Dodecanese, frescoes.
By the late 10th century imperial Byzantine control had been re-es-
tablished in the Aegean. In this context, the central administration
invested in outpost monasteries and churches on several of the is-
lands in order to foster political, economic, ecclesiastical and cultur-
al links with the provinces.
This paper aims to explore the inluence gained by the monastery of
1 Dr Angeliki Katsioti works for the Greek Ministry of Culture and Sports at the Ephorate of
Antiquities of the Dodecanese as Head of the Department of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Sites,
Monuments, Resarch and Museums. Research interests: Late Roman – early Byzantine art and
iconography.
91
Patmos in the Aegean Sea in the 11th–13th centuries, when its prop-
erties became symbols of imperial patronage and the foci of setle-
ments linked to the local Church and to agrarian communities. This
gradual concentration of power ofers the opportunity to look into
the landscape of other Aegean islands under the inluence of Pat-
mos and deine identities in the region. These issues have been ap-
proached through both religious monuments and surviving mural
decoration, which constitute a visual vocabulary open to interpre-
tation.
In the ‘transitional’ period between the late 7th and the 10th century,
the Aegean had been seriously afected by the breakdown and frag-
mentation of the Mediterranean “system”. A dearth of information
concerning the region in contemporary histories, and modern schol-
arly interpretations dominated by the preoccupations of particular
authors, have left the available archaeological evidence loating in a
vacuum. Generalisation has often led to the establishment of views
that may not even be valid for particular regions.
Up to the 10th century, the central government was generally inter-
ested in the operational potential of the leet, but its maintenance
was not seen as beneicial to the population of the nautical themes,
at least in the short term. The islands were only mentioned in rela-
tion with raids, naval batles and rebellions – incidental information
that is not particularly useful here.
In 961 the reconquest of Crete, a triumph for the Empire, recovered
control of the Aegean, restored the safety of sea-lanes and enabled
the repopulation of coastal setlements. The defeat at Manzikert in
1071 initiated another period of raids, which were nonetheless re-
pulsed without the depopulation of the islands. By 1081 cultural
investment, political instability and the multiplication of oices and
privileges had led to the reduction of state revenues. Economic and
political advantage required access to oicials in the capital. By this
means Hosios Christodoulos established the monastery of St John
the Theologian on Patmos, at a period when the central authority
could only ofer mild palliatives for the pressing needs of the prov-
inces2, while constantly rising taxes drove peasants into serfdom3,
2 Angold, Michael. The Byzantine Empire 1025–1204: A Political History. London and New York,
1984, 73-74.
3 Hendy, Michael. Coinage and Money in the Byzantine Empire (1081–1261). Washington D.C.,
92
as the documents of Patmos amply illustrate.
When absent on campaign, Alexios Ι Komnenos (1081–1118) relied
on his relatives, most notably his mother Anna Dalassene, for con-
trol of the capital4. Her role, severely criticized by historians, seems
to have been decisive in dealing with domestic instability. She was
a patron of Hosios Christodoulos and their interactions were a key
factor for administrative developments on the islands.
In 1079, after many wanderings, Christodoulos left the monasteries
of Latros under Turkoman pressure and for a while setled in Strovi-
los, a coastal town of Asia Minor. There, he was warmly received by
the monk Arsenios Scenourios, a scion of a noble Coan family, who
prompted him to cross the sea and found a monastery on Cos. In
1080 Christodoulos was already established on Cos, in his monas-
tery dedicated to the Virgin on the rocky hill of Pyli. This was, in his
own words, “an uninhabited” place, and part of the extensive prop-
erties of Arsenios. Christodoulos’ charismatic personality atracted
donations by monks, like Nikon Askepes and Arsenios Scenouris,
who ofered him land on Mount Dikaios before April 1079, and lay-
men, like the Kavallouris siblings5. However, he soon grew disillu-
sioned. After he delivered in person a petition to Constantinople,
he quit his foundation on Cos, and in 1087 he obtained by chysobull
the island of Patmos. In addition to this island, he recieved Partheni
and Temenia on Leros, largely farm lands, and half of the castle of
Panteli as well as the island of Leipsoi6. In exchange, Christodoulos
turned over to the imperial treasury the property he had acquired
in Strovilos and Cos.
Around August 1088 the Hosios was setled in Patmos, where he be-
gan the construction of his monastery of St John (Fig. 1), which, af-
ter diicult early years, would develop into a major religious centre.
Τies between this institution and the imperial capital were always
strong, and the visits of its monks to the city were regular. Indeed,
from its foundation in 1088, the monastery enjoyed imperial status,
1969, 54-55.
4 Vranoussi, Era. Βυζαντινά έγγραφα της μονής Πάτμου, Α΄ Αυτοκρατορικά. Athens, 1980, 49.
Angold. The Byzantine, 131.
5 See analytically Oikonomidès, Nikolaos, Fiscalité et exemption iscale à Byzance (IXe–XIe s.).
Athens, 1996. 205.
6 The imperial chrysobull was followed by the pitakia of Alexios I and his mother, see Vranoussi.
Βυζαντινά έγγραφα, 40-54, 327-335.
93
Fig. 1. Patmos, the monastery of St John the Theologian
as shown by the term σεβασμία μονή, which was most often used in
the imperial chrysobulls.
From the 11th to the 13th century, the monastery developed special
ties with a number of other islands through the acquisition of prop-
erty.
94
Relation between the monastery and its dependencies
in the islands
Documents show that there were often tensions between the mon-
astery and its subjects. The welfare of these subjects was never
much of a priority for the monastery as an insitution, since imperial
foundation, endowments and protection guaranteed its privileges7.
This advantage pushed its indiference towards the inhabitants to
extremes, and mitigation was only sought on the grounds of charity
or through interpersonal relations. Christodoulos in his Rule had
ordained that all candidate monks should be rejected if their sole
motive was to avoid extreme poverty8. He felt that safeguarding his
monks from sexual temptation was much more important than the
needs of monastic laymen9. Thus, when he founded the monastery
(it should probably be considered a coenobium with independent
anchorites rather than a lavra), against the recommendation of the
Emperor Alexios, he refused to allow laymen to setle on Patmos
in order to preserve his own ideal – traditional poverty and coeno-
bitic monasticism. A shortage of labour10 forced him to reconsider
and, soon, lay families setled on Patmos. However, laymen were
restricted to the northern part of the island and permited to visit
their families only at weekends; in cases of violation, severe penal-
ties were to be imposed11. These prohibitions were so strict that it is
still unclear whether in case of danger women and children could
seek refuge within the walls of the monastery. In any case, these
prohibitions did not outlive Christodoulos himself.
The “urban noise” that supposedly drove Christodoulos from Cos12
7 The privileges derived from imperial grant are well documented. Cf. Morris, Rosemary. Divine
Diplomacy in the Late Eleventh Century. – Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, 1992, No. 16,
147-156.
8 Miklosich, Franz, Müller, Joseph. Acta et Diplomata Graeca Medii Aevi Sacra et Profana. 6.
Vienna, 1890. 78-79, henceforth MM.
9 Karlin-Hayter, Patricia (trans.). Christodoulos: Rule, Testament and Codicil of Christodoulos
for the Monastery of St John the Theologian on Patmos. In: John Thomas, Angela Constantinides
Hero, Giles Constable (eds.). Byzantine Monastic Foundation Documents. A Complete Transla-
tion of Surviving Founders’ Typika and Testaments, 2, DOS XXXV. Washington D.C., 2000, 576.
10 On the population of the island of Patmos and its status see Karlin-Hayter, Patricia. Notes sur
les archives de Patmos comme source pour la demographie et l’ economie de l’ile. – Byzantinis-
che Forschungen, 1977, No. 5, 193. See also Vranoussi. Βυζαντινά έγγραφα, 37*, 44*-45*; Angold.
Church, 360-361; and most recently Smyrlis, Konstantinos. La fortune des grandes monastères
byzantins (in du Xe – milieu du XIVe siècle). Paris, 2006, 73-74.
11 Cf. comparison of the Patmian rule with other typika, Karlin-Hayter. Christodoulos, 570-571.
12 Vranoussi. Βυζαντινά έγγραφα, *17–*18. Pertinently, Kollias, Elias. Οικισμοί, κάστρα και
95
may not have been the actual reason for his leaving the island. Al-
though the Coans had welcomed him with gifts, which his monas-
tic community accepted gladly, it seems that his building activities
caused property disputes with the locals13. Similarly, as early as
1089, the monastery came into conlict with the humble peasants
of Leros, when the monks demanded exclusive use of the land they
were granted, depriving the locals from their communal rights.
The same happened with the inhabitants of the fortress of Pante-
li, forcibly removed to Lepida. In this case, the intervention of the
empress-mother herself was sought in order to setle the dispute
and persuade inhabitants to resign from their rights. Eventually,
the diferences between the monks and the laity for the use of land
at Partheni and for the relocation to Lepida were reconciled14. In
the 10th and 11th centuries, oppressed farmers often had to confront
monastic communities for their rights and the monastery of St John
was not an exception15.
These conlicts, detailed in the documents, were not the only ones
caused by Christodoulos. Diferences between the monastic com-
munity, landowners and local bishops on Cos also igure in the ar-
chives16. Furthermore, after the praktikon for the suburbs of Leros
and Leipsoi was drawn by the notary Ioannis Anzas, acting un-
der the order of Eustathios Charsianeites, strategos and pronoites of
Samos, a new praktikon was added by the notary Ioannes Theolog-
μοναστήρια της μεσαιωνικής Κω. In: Georgia Kokkorou-Aleura, Anna Laimou, Eva Simanto-
ni-Bournia (eds.). Ιστορία, Τέχνη και Αρχαιολογία της Κω, Α´ ∆ιεθνές Επιστημονικό Συνέδριο,
Κως 2 – 4 Μαϊου 1997. Athens, 2001, 294, it is fairly surpising how in eight years the formely
“deserted” region of Pyli had become a noisy and lively spot. It has been assumed that either
Pyli was never abandoned (evidently neither was Patmos when Christodoulos arrived), or that a
cluster of habitation formed there rather quickly, rousing the ire of the Hosios, and explaining his
eforts to prevent the setlement of laymen on Patmos.
13 ΜΜ. 6, 59 f; Malamut, Elisabeth. Les Îles de l’empire byzantine, VIII–XIVe siècles. Paris, 1988,
147, 280.
14 Kollias, Elias. Ιστορικές πληροφορίες από το αρχείο της μονής Πάτμου για τη μεσαιωνι-
κή Λέρο. In: Ιωνίας Άκρον, τόμος αφιερωμένος στη μνήμη του Δ. Οικονομοπούλου. Athens,
1993, 84-85.
15 Morris, Rosemary. Monks and laymen in Byzantium, 843–1118. Cambridge University Press,
1995, passim.
16 See for instance the leter of 1263, Nystazopoulou-Pelekidou, Maria. Βυζαντινὰ ἔγγραφα τῆς
μονῆς Πάτμου. Β΄, Δημοσίων λειτουργῶν. Athens, 1980, 191 f. In a sigillium of 1267 (ΜΜ. 6,
221-224) in which the patriarch enumerates the injustices oppressing the monastery of Spondon,
though he is actually espousing the views of the monastery. The controversies between the mon-
astery and the bishops of Kos are clearly illustrated in the release of Michael Vatikiotis (1271) and
the document of Andronikos II Palaiologos (1290), Nystazopoulou-Pelekidou. Βυζαντινὰ ἔγγραφα,
198 f. Vranoussi. Βυζαντινά έγγραφα, 310-312.
96
ites. The new praktikon granted the monastery more estates in the
same region for pasture. This increased the monastery’s claims and
rights although the Hosios had repudiated most of them in his will.
The confrontational, albeit charismatic, personality of Christodou-
los17, left people with mixed feelings18. The view that “Christodoulos
was not prepared to withdraw from the world himself; the world had to be
excluded”19 best describes his aspirations.
Charitable obligations were intentionally omited by Christodou-
los himself because, as he stated in his Rule20, the struggle for the
survival of the monastic community was so arduous that it left no
room for such work. This was certainly true in the 11th century, but
atitudes did not change in the course of the 12th, when the monas-
tery was prospering through highly proitable business ventures,
when produce carried to markets by its own ships free of dues and
the revenues from dependencies scatered over the Aegean islands,
Asia Minor and Crete contributed to its enrichment. The accumu-
lation of wealth is relected in the building programmes, improve-
ments and embellishment of the initial constructions21 and in a list
of treasures looted around 1220 by Latin pirates22.
Usually, the laymen mentioned in the documents are treated as
property by the monastery and the State or are related to resetle-
17 His inlexible character is evident in the disputes with his monks when he left Cos, and a litle
later in Patmos, or when he left for Euboea. His light from Latros was probably due to the hostili-
ty of the monks, see Codicil, MM. 6, 31.8-10, 19-21 and 87. He was also accused of misconduct and
embezzlement at Latros, of which he was acquited by archibishop Nikolaos III Grammatikos in
1087, Ragia, Ei. Ένα άγνωστο μοναστικό κέντρο στη Δυτική Μικρά Ασία. Thessaloniki, 2008,
83-88. On the disputes of Christodoulos and his monks, Vranoussi, Era. Τα αγιολογικά κείμενα
του οσίου Χριστοδούλου. Athens, 1966, 92, 94-96,
18 Cf. the local tradition on Leros that Cristodoulos was actually expelled due to his “monkish
greed”, see Oikonomopoulos, Demetrios. Λεριακά, ήτοι Χωρογραφία της νήσου Λέρου. Athens,
1888 (Leros, 2002), 17, n. 1, 103. If indeed Patmos was ecclesiastically subordinate to Leros in Late
Antiquity, something reversed by the monastery, tension between Patmos and Leros might an-
tedate Christodoulos, see Destephen, Sylvain. Prosopographie chrétienne du Bas-Empire, Proso-
pographie du diocèse d᾽Asie (325–641). Paris, 2008, 268, 383.
19 Morris, Rosemary. Monasteries and their Patrons in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries. – Byz-
antinische Forschungen, 1985, No. 10, 201.
20 Karlin-Hayter. Christodoulos, [575-576].
21 Bouras, Charalambos. Αρχιτεκτονική. In: Οι θησαυροί της μονής Πάτμου (ed. A. Kominis).
Athens, 1988, 27-28.
22 Saint-Guillain, Guillaume. L’Apocalypse et le sens des afaires. Les moines de Saint-Jean de
Patmos, leurs activités économoques et leurs relations avec les latins (XIIIe et XIVe siècles). In:
Chemins d’outre-mer. Études d’histoire sur la Méditerranée médiévale ofertes à Michel Ballard
(eds. Damien Coulon, Catherine Oten-Froux, Paul Pagès, Dominique Valérian), II. Publications
de la Sorbonne, 2004, 769-771.
97
ment or tax exemptions23. The monastery intervened on their be-
half in the mater of the strateia, the obligation to serve in the army,
as mentioned in a document of 1089. Christodoulos requested an
exemption for his subjects on the island who had joined the army
the previous year. In exchange, he proposed an equal number of
men to be recruited from his former estates on Cos, although the
later were public property24. The only beneit the natives received
from the monastery was protection from raiders: from a document
of 1307 we learn that the monastery had redeemed from pirates and
resetled 39 Patmian villani and 39 more people to its metochion of St
John the Theologian at Stylos in Crete25.
The expansionist drive of the monastery

The main objective of the monastery had always been the increase
of its holdings, which undoubtedly greatly afected the inhabitants
of the areas involved, from the least serf to the most prominent ec-
clesiastical leader. This can be traced in the writings of Christodou-
los who, although setled on Patmos by 1088, had brought with him
various documents of Latros, which he had left in 1079. Not only did
he continue as the protos of Latros until 108726, but he also extend-
ed assistance to them; he kept some of the books he had brought
with him by permission of the patriarch Nikolaos III27. This caused
a series of problems for the monastery of Stylos at Latros, because
along with the manuscripts oicial documents concerning its every-
day administration were also removed28. Christodoulos hoped that
23 Cf. the 11th-century grant by Alexios I regarding four peasants exempt from the tax to each
of the three estates of the monastery on Leros, Vranoussi, Era. Κεκυρωμένη συλλογή επισήμων
εγγράφων της εν Πάτμο μονής εις ειλητόν του ΙΑ᾽αιώνος. – Σύμμεικτα, 1966, 107-108. This
exemption was augmented by the 1145 grant of Manuel I by six more, to a total of 18 peasants,
Vranoussi. Κεκυρωμένη, 109.
24 Nystazopoulou-Pelekidou. Βυζαντινὰ ἔγγραφα, 76-79.6, n. 54.
25 ΜΜ. 6, 390; Saint-Guillain. L’Apocalypse, 773-774.
26 As shown by the sigillium of Nicholaos Grammatikos (ΜΜ. 6, 30-31).
27 He took great care to salvage the manuscripts of Latros after the Turkish occupation of the
region, having them carried to Constantinople by boat, ΜΜ. 6, 87, 13-31. Christodoulos states
in the Codicil that some of those books were bought during his abbacy at Stylos. Eventually, the
partiarch allowed him to keep those that were not lavishly decorated, but it seems that he actu-
ally held onto some of the later, as the 12th century inventory includes illustrated manuscripts,
chrysobulls and documents of the monastery of Stylos. If we believe Christodoulos, those should
have been handed over the Patriarchate or to the monastery of Stylos after its reconstitution, see
Ragia. Ένα άγνωστο, 89, 92.
28 Ragia. Ένα άγνωστο, 266.
98
some day he might either return there or annexe the Latrian monas-
teries to the institution of Patmos and he eventually sent back to La-
tros the documents concerning its holdings29. Likewise, although he
had willingly received the barren island of Patmos, he never ceased
to aim for the re-acquisition of the dependencies of Strovilos and
Cos. It is no coincidence that several documents from the later were
also taken by Christodoulos to Patmos30. In a most telling citation
in his Codicil, the Hosios bids his charistikarios Theodosios Kastrisios
to take care of the monastery of Kastrianon, despite the fact that
he no longer owned it31. The desire to regain the Coan privileges
never left him and he wrote the Codicil only to request from em-
peror Alexios I the recovery of the properties he had ceded to the
State32. As far as Strovilos is concerned, when Christodoulos was in
Cos, he had providently atracted lavish donations, among others
that of the vestarch Constantine Cavalloures and his sister Maria,
of doubtful value in view of the Turkoman advance in Asia Minor33.
Christodoulos was equally provident on behalf of the Patmian
monastery, although the pursuit of his plans there materialized in
a chrysobull by Andronikos Palaiologos in 132934. By this time the
island had been conquered by the Hospitalliers, but apparently the
monks still hoped that this unfortunate political situation could be
overturned.
The Komnenoi had tried to contain and regularize monastic privi-
leges35, and here the case of Patmos is fairly instructive. In the 12th
century, the prohibition of fresh grants by Alexios I Komnenos was
observed by his successors, despite the rising reputation of Patmos.
Provisioning and cash rather than new estates alleviated the dif-
iculties, which were undoubtedly encountered. The terms of the
1088 grant were violated in 1196, when Alexios III Angelos (1195–
1203) granted to Patmos a metochion on Crete36. The prosperity of
29 Vranoussi, Era. Ανέκδοτος κατάλογος εγγράφων της εν Πάτμω μονής (ΙΒ΄– IΓ´ αι.). –
Σύμμεικτα, 1966, No. 1, 151-152.
30 Vranoussi. Τα αγιολογικά, 66.
31 Vranoussi. Βυζαντινά έγγραφα, 7*-8*.
32 Vranoussi. Τα αγιολογικά, 147, n. 4; Vranoussi. Βυζαντινά έγγραφα, 38*, 114.
33 See analytically in Oikonomidès, Nikolaos. Fiscalité et exemption iscale à Byzance (IXe–XIe
s.). Athens, 1996, 205.
34 Vranoussi. Βυζαντινά έγγραφα, n. 17.34-40.
35 Smyrlis. La fortune, 175-176.
36 ΜΜ 6, 132, n. 36.
99
the 12th century and the economic growth of the monastery began
with the chrysobull of 1197, which freed its ships of custom dues.
This seems to have had the efect of not only strengthening com-
munications with the monastery’s dependencies, but also advanc-
ing its commercial interests37. In the turbulent 13th century, Patmos
annexed the monastery of St George Dyssikos at Phygela between
1201 and 1216. The metochion of Pyrgos, and probably the monas-
tery of Kechionismeni at Palatia (Miletus) followed in 121638. Suc-
cessive petitions of abbot Germanos brought Patmos more metochia
on Cos in 125839.
The concentration of private wealth at the expense of the State, com-
mon throughout the period, is clearly described in the release act
of Stylos, the Cretan metochion, to the monastery40: its inalienable
status as an imperial estate was lost when it was turned over to the
locals and was then granted in perpetuity to a pronoiarios. After the
later’s death, the estate came into hands of the local governor along
with its revenues, both of which were lost fovever to the beneit of
Patmos.
The lengths to which the monastery would go in order to take over
estates and other monasteries are revealed in forged documents like
the sigillium of the exisotes Joseph Pagkalos. According to this text,
while Christodoulos was still living, that is before 1093, the monas-
tery was allegedly using the revenues from its metochion, the monas-
tery of Spondon in Cos41. The Patriarch Arsenios Autoreianos used
that document to cede Spondon to Patmos between 1254 and 1264.
Yet, when Christodoulos was granted the island of Patmos, he had
37 Nystazopoulou-Pelekidou, Maria. Τα πλοία της μονής Πάτμου (11ος –13ος αιώνας). In: Διεθνές
συμπόσιο, Πρακτικά, Ι. Μονή Αγ. Ιωάννου του Θεολόγου 900 χρόνια ιστορικής μαρτυρίας
(1088–1988), Patmos, Sept. 1988. Athens, 1989, 452; Laiou, Exchange and trade, 741-742.
38 Nystazopoulou, Maria. Ο επί του Κανικλείου και η Εφορεία της εν Πάτμω Μονής. – Σύμ-
μεικτα 1966, No. 1, 81; Vranoussi. Βυζαντινά έγγραφα, 86*-87*, 94*-95*.
39 Nystazopoulou, Maria. Γράμμα του ιερέως και νομικού των Παλατίων Νικήτα Καραντηνού
προς τον ηγούμενον της εν Πάτμω μονής. In: Χαριστήριον εις Ορλάνδον, Β᾽. Athens, 1965,
306. The drastically altered catholicon – identiied with certainty with the Church of the Virgin in
the village of Asphendiou- is evidently older than the mention found in the sigillium of Patriarch
Arsenios (1254–1260/ 1261–1264).
40 Oikonomides, Nikolaos. Η διανομή των βασιλικών “επισκέψεων” της Κρήτης (1170/1)
και η δημοσιονομική πολιτική του Μανουήλ Α Κομνηνού. In: Πεπραγμένα του Β᾽ Διεθνούς
Κρητολογικού συνεδρίου, Γ᾽. Athens, 1968, 195-201; Vranoussi. Βυζαντινά έγγραφα, 212-214.
41 Nystazopoulou-Pelekidou. Βυζαντινὰ ἔγγραφα, 241.1-4, mainly 244-246. After 1259, Michael
IX Palaiologos conirmed forged titles or claims by granting to the monastery several estates
which the later never had possessed, Vranoussi. Βυζαντινά έγγραφα, 241.
100
agreed to return to the isc the Virgin of Kastrianon, a monastery he
had founded, along with the rest of his estates on Cos. They did not
include a metochion at Asphendiou, where the monastery of Spondon
is located. Additionally, in another false chrysobull of 1087, forged
soon after 145342, the monastery of Kastrianon was mentioned as the
property of Patmos, relecting either wishful thinking or an already
established and arbitrary seizure, the later very atractive as a pos-
sibility if we consider how many of its metochia actually came into
the possession of Patmos43.
The cultural impact of the Patmian monastery

It is useful to investigate Patmos before the time of Christodoulos.
Observations will be strictly limited to possible initiatives, concern-
ing the foundation and embellishment of its metochia. Christodou-
los’ writings and Vitae imply that the island was completely desert-
ed when the Hosios got there. However, cross-checking the sources
easily shows this as untrue for Patmos44. It is most likely simply a
hagiographic topos. The 8th-century lead seal of a certain Epiphani-
os, abbot of a monastery on Patmos45 indicates that other institu-
tions existed long before the foundation of the Theologos. It follows
that there were inhabitants on the island. From the limited corpus
of architectural members found on Patmos, some marble pieces
may be dated to the 11th century46, before the three-year sojourn
of Christodoulos there. This points to the same conclusion. Their
provenance, although unknown, is likely to be the oratory which,
42 Vranoussi. Βυζαντινά έγγραφα, 157.

43 Kollias. Οικισμοί, 294. The forged chrysobull could possibly be related to two other suspi-
cious chrysobulls of 1326 and 1331 which maintained that the construction of buildings in the
castle of Pyli by the bishop of Cos was irregular, Vranoussi. Βυζαντινά έγγραφα, 37, 170. From
time to time the bishops of Cos were in dispute with the monastery, see Nystazopoulou-Pelekidou.
Βυζαντινὰ ἔγγραφα, n. 70 (1271), 189-205. During that period the relations of Patmos with the
Bishops of Leros luctuated; besides bishop Nikolaos atested in 1082 and 1089, see below, the
cultured “pro-Patmian” Bishop of Leros Constantios was among the ratiiers of the will of the
Abbot Theoktistos of Patmos (1158); served as intermediary of the monastery according to docu-
ments; and also donated books, portable icons and vessels to its library, see Vranoussi. Βυζαντινά
έγγραφα, 202-205.
44 Vranoussi. Βυζαντινά έγγραφα, 37*.
45 Cotsonis, John. The contribution of Byzantine Lead Seals to the Study of the Cult of the Saints
(6th–12th c.). Byzantion, 2005, No. 75, 422-423.
46 Kefala, Konstantia. “Inside the Holy Chancelli”: Byzantine Architectural Sculptures from
Patmos. In: Επιστημονική συνάντηση προς τιμήν των ομ. καθηγητριών Σοφίας Καλοπίση-
Βέρτη και της Μαρίας Παναγιωτίδη-Κεσίσογλου, Αθήνα 2014, forthcoming, ig. 1-3.
101
according to the enumerator Nikolaos Tzanzes, stood on the ruins
of the imposing Early Christian basilica of the island47. Given the
pressing need for residential quarters and fortiication, these pieces
are unlikely to belong to an embellishment of the catholicon church
by its founder. More importantly, these decorative elements do not
form a coherent group with their few companions dated to the 12th
century and thus cannot be assigned to his direct successors either.
Besides, the mention of a sanctuary screen in the Hypotyposis48 for
the enthronement ceremony of the abbot may relect the ritual that
was in use rather than a speciic marble sanctuary screen set up for
this purpose in the catholicon of Patmos. If such a screen did indeed
exist, it would have been composed of spolia from the basilica and
the eukterion, unless those marbles had been brought to Patmos from
its satellite islands. Whatever the case, apart from a screen colonete
of exquisite 12th century workmanship49, the rest are of merely mod-
erate quality, inappropriate at least for the irst half of the 12th centu-
ry; the view that “they were commissioned to workshops from the
Capital, as notable works...”50 must be rejected.
The catholicon of Patmos, built by Christodoulos, belongs to the
four column variant of the cross-in-square plan. It is a building of
humble intentions, frugal, quite small and the work of masons of
limited ability. Scholars have noted its spare and rustic air51, at a
period when other rather ambitious cross-in-square churches were
competing in reinement and elaboration. His earlier Cos founda-
tion, the Kastrianon monastery, was similar in construction. Chris-
todoulos, devoted to his books and the holy icons he carried about,
although exposed to artefacts of high artistic merit in his visits to
Constantinople, remained indiferent to them. On Patmos he was
responsible for the catholicon, the cistern beneath, the timber-roof
refectory, a number of cells in the south wing, and a large part of
the walls.
47 Nystazopoulou-Pelekidou. Βυζαντινὰ ἔγγραφα, 39.

48 Kyrillos Voinis. Ακολουθία Ιερά του Οσίου και Θεοφόρου Πατρός ημών Χριστοδούλου.
Athens, 1884, 91-92.
49 This piece is exhibited in St Nikolaos ho Geros, in Chora Patmos, Kefala. Inside the Holy
Chancelli, forthcoming.
50 Chazidakis, Manolis. Εικόνες της Πάτμου. Ζητήματα βυζαντινής και μεταβυζαντινής ζω-
γραφικής. Athens, 1977, 20.
51 See mainly Bouras, Charalambos. Αρχιτεκτονική. In: A. Kominis (ed.). Οι θησαυροί της
μονής Πάτμου. Athens, 1988, 26.
102
Major building programs were launched by his successors. In the
prosperous 12th century, the Patmian monastery mostly renovated
and embellished existing structures. Examples of such projects in-
clude the narthex, perhaps also the exonarthex and the two chapels
of Christodoulos and Leontios52. To Arsenios (1185–1203 or 1206),
the most distinguished of the abbots of Patmos, dedicated to the
enhancement of the reputation of the monastery, should be ascribed
the building programmes carried out during his time in oice and
the expansion of estates and privileges. Works of art of unparal-
leled importance, like the sophisticated murals of the Chapel of
the Virgin or those in the Cave of the Apocalypse and perhaps the
irst phase of the Refectory, graced his abbacy. His frequent visits
to Constantinople probably point to the provenance of the artists
employed in his projects. However, the available evidence does not
support the notion that he was responsible for similar activity in
the dependencies on the other islands53. It should be remembered
that his building activities might have predated his accession to the
abbacy, possibly to as early as 1176. According to the Vita of his
predecessor Hosios Leontios54, he was the later’s spiritual son, be-
ing appointed oikononos and head of the monastery when Leontios
was away.
Was the exceptional quality of the works executed at the monastery
accompanied by work of similar ambition at the metochia? It has to
be admited that it would be diicult to believe that Christodoulos,
or any of his successors, intended to establish monasteries on the
other islands for any other reasons than the production of an agri-
cultural surplus. Until the end of the 13th century, new construction
on behalf of the monastery was rare, with a few exceptions55 such as
the Asomatos monastery on Patmos, founded by abbot Savvas after
his resignation in 1127/2856.
52 Bouras. Αρχιτεκτονική, 27-28.

53 Mouriki. Οι τοιχογραφίες, 258. See also the view that buildings were erected or restored
by the monastery in Leros, Michaelidou, Maria. Παλαιοχριστιανική βασιλική στο Παρθένι της
Λέρου. In: Ιωνίας Άκρον, τόμος αφιερωμένος στη μνήμη του Δ. Οικονομοπούλου. Athens,
1993, 12.
54 Mouriki. Οι τοιχογραφίες, 248. For the personality of Hosios Leontios, a holy fool with ex-
treme behaviour, see mainly Tsougarakis, Dimitrios (Ed.). The life of Leontios, Patriarh of Jerusa-
lem. Leiden, New York, Cologne, 1993.
55 Cf. the buildings in the metochion of Pyrgos in Asia Minor in the 13th century, see Vranoussi.
Βυζαντινά έγγραφα, 94*.
56 Vranoussi, Era. Σάββας καθηγούμενος της μονής Πάτμου, Χρονολογικά και προσωπο-
103
Fig. 2. Leros. The suburb of Partheni
Of the island of Leros, the communities of Temenia and Partheni

were granted to Christodoulos in 1087. But are there any buildings,
which could be ascribed to Christodoulos and his successors before
the end of the 13th century? We possess detailed accounts for both
γραφικά ζητήματα. – Hellenika, 1966, No. 19, 224, suggests that these were quite distant from
the monastery, presumably where the kathisma of Evangelismos is today, where surviving buil-
dings are much later.
104
Temenia and Partheni,
but none of these build-
ings can be dated to the
period between the 11th
and 13th centuries. At
Partheni, the landscape
remained unchanged
from antiquity to the
present as habitation
had always been scarce
and located exclusively
on the shoreline (Fig. 2);
its agricultural character
was left unaltered un-
til the 1980s. Recent ar-
chaeological excavation
of the Early Christian
basilica57 and setlement
has identiied with rea-
sonable conidence even
the potistikon, a wide,
masonry ‘well’ recorded
in the release praktikon,
whose opening was sup-
ported by four arches58. Fig. 3. Leipsi. The bilateral icon of the Virgin Hodegetria/St.
John the Theologian and Hosios Christodoulos, 14th century
At Temenia, the existing
houses, tower and church
of the Virgin and a church of Sts Anargyroi, decorated with murals
and a marble templon, had all been recorded in detail in the 11th cen-
tury59. In the 13th-century reports, no additions were made by the
apographeis, presumably because everything had already been cov-
ered by earlier documents60.
Besides Leipsoi and part of Leros, the monastery is likely to have
57 Michaelidou. Παλαιοχριστιανική, 9-65, with topographical information.

58 Unpublished.
59 Nystazopoulou-Pelekidou. Βυζαντινὰ ἔγγραφα, 54-55. The location of the tower and church
are unknown. The church of Hagioi Anargyroi is heavily restored, see Kollias. Ιστορικές πληρο-
φορίες, 18-19.
60 Nystazopoulou-Pelekidou. Βυζαντινὰ ἔγγραφα, 165-166, 185-186.
105
owned the islets of Pharmakousa, Arkioi and Agathonisi61. These
were arid for the most part, but nonetheless able to support locks of
sheep on their mountainous slopes. The most prominent monument
on Leipsoi is the Middle Byzantine church of the Virgin of Charos, of
a transitional variant of the cross-in-square plan. Its special features
include the low pendantive dome and the sanctuary, cut of from its
eastern corner bays that are today used as autonomous chapels. It is
highly likely that the church predates the grant to Christodoulos, as
specialists have proposed for it a construction date between c. 950
and 105062. However, no atempt has been made to look for fresco
decoration, which might conirm this. On the other hand, although
the church was omited from the release report of the pedantic enu-
merators, where only the Church of St Nicholas is mentioned, it
should be noted that there seems to have been a lost separate docu-
ment – possibly more detailed – for the island of Leipsoi63. No other
buildings that could be ascribed to an initiative of the monastery
exist. The only piece of work that could possibly be regarded as a
Patmian gift is the 14th-century two-sided icon of the Virgin Hode-
getria/St. John the Theologian and Hosios Christodoulos64 (Fig. 3).
As far as the islets are concerned, no buildings dating from the pe-
riod of Christodoulos and his successors are known. The huge gra-
naries preserved on Pharmakousa, Arkioi and Agathonisi65 (Fig. 4)
are linked to the 6th century transport of the annona. Presumably,
the monastery needed these small islands for its active, tax-free leet
that could, in peacetime, use their depots in its regional and insular
network. Such an interpretation would underline the dynamism of
the monastery through the highly proitable transportation of its
goods.
The catholicon Christodoulos built at Kastrianoi, Cos, his irst stop
after Strovilos, was dedicated to the Virgin (Fig. 5). Central to Chris-
todoulos’ plan was the establishment of a monastery with cells and
enclosure. The church was a single aisled squat building built by
61 Vranoussi. Βυζαντινά έγγραφα, 51-52; Smyrlis. La fortune, 73, n. 73.

62 Kollias. Σχεδίασμα, 33.
63 Nystazopoulou-Pelekidou. Βυζαντινὰ ἔγγραφα, 63.
64 Katsioti, Angeliki, Παρατηρήσεις στην τοπική λατρεία αγίων στα Δωδεκάνησα. –
Δωδεκανησιακά Χρονικά, 2012, No. 25, 667, ig. 1.
65 Triantafyllidis, Pavlos. Agathonisi on the frontier. The Archaeological Investigetions at Kas-
traki (2006–2010). Athens, 2010, 16, ig. 9, 10.
106
Fig. 4. Agathonissi. The granaries
masons of limited ability with cheap materials, incorporating nu-

merous spolia66. His description of it as “ναόν...περικαλλή τε και
ωραιότατον...”, an example of the eulogistic manner frequent in
Byzantine literature, may be an atempt to enhance his own work.
Archaeological survey of the area has brought to light recycled
sculptures, datable to the Middle Byzantine period, suggesting that
the Kastrianon is earlier than the advent of Christodoulos at Pyli67.
Unfortunately, the surviving murals of the church are of no use for
dating purposes as the earliest layer, a fresco of the Virgin and Child
lanked by two angels, is variously dated either to the 12th or the 13th
century68 and may be a commission by an unknown donor - possi-
66 ΜΜ 6, 85 f; Kollias. Οικισμοί, 292-293. For the catholicon see also Androudis, Paschalis – Did-
ioumi, Soia. Παναγία Καστριανών. Το καθολικό της μονής του Οσίου Χριστόδουλου στο
Παλιό Πυλί της Κω. – ΔΧΑΕ, 2009, No. 30, 47-54.
67 Militsi, Evangelia. Μεσοβυζαντινά γλυπτά από την ανασκαφή στο καθολικό της μονής
της Παναγίας των Καστριανών στο Παλαιό Πυλί της Κω. – ΔΧΑΕ, 2009, No. 30, 126-128.
68 Katsioti, Angeliki, Οι παλαιότερες τοιχογραφίες του Αγίου Γεωργίου του Πλακωτού στη
107
Fig. 5. Cos. Kastrianon monastery. The catholicon
bly an abbot of the Kastrianon – executed by an itinerant workshop

(Fig. 6). It is impossible to identify it as a sponsorship of Patmos,
since the later did not then own the Kastrianon.
According to the Codicil, Christodoulos is thought to have found-
ed a castle at Pyli69; this is an exaggeration, since it has been prov-
en70, that there was already a fortress there, which he presumably
repaired. After these properties were handed over to the state, its
oicials took measures to improve the defence of the site and a new
complex with a gate was added between c. 1100–1130. Scholars be-
lieve that the gatehouse was constructed by an important imperial
oicial71. Its masonry with the recessed brick technique, often used
Μαλώνα της Ρόδου. Παρατηρήσεις στην τέχνη του 11ου αιώνα στα Δωδεκάνησα. – ΔΧΑΕ,
2002, No. 23, 113-114, and n. 55.
69 MM. 6, 88.
70 Kollias. Οικισμοί, 295-296; Tsouris, Konstantinos. Το κάστρο στο Παλαιό Πυλί και ο όσι-
ος Χριστόδουλος ο Λατρηνός. In: Georgia Kokkorou-Aleura, Anna Laimou, Eva Simantoni-
Bournia (eds.). Ιστορία, Τέχνη και Αρχαιολογία της Κω, Α´ ∆ιεθνές Επιστημονικό Συνέδριο,
Κως 2 – 4 Mαΐου 1997. Athens, 2001, 365-378.
71 Tsouris. Το κάστρο, 372-373, expresses his doubts as there are no other building phases that
can be identiied and thinks he may have been the extremely active general and pronoites of
Samos Eustathios Charsianeites who belonged to the millieu of Anna Dalassene.
108
in the Capital, indicates the presence of the central government no
mater how problematic and fragmented the later might have been;
in Pyli it acted promptly and eiciently.
The systematic eforts of the monastery to regain rights on Cos, and
through them to farmland, only bore fruit in the second half of the
13th century, under the versatile abbot Germanos (before 1258 to
1280), a close friend of patriach Arsenios. However, the internal cri-
sis caused by the Arsenite schism (1259–1310)72 drove a lot of monks
out of Patmos and the rest were unable to hold on to the Coan prop-
erties, with the exception of the small metochion of the Saviour. By
1292, when order was restored, all properties and goods had been
seized by the locals who took advantage of the disfavour into which
the monastery had fallen73.
Concerning the artistic aspect of the Coan possessions, at the moun-
tainous village of Zia in the region of Asphendiou, a church of the
four-column variant of the cross-in-square plan has been identiied
as the catholicon of the Spondon monastery. This was granted to Pat-
mos along with its estates in 1258 by a sigillium of Patriarch Arsenios.
Spondon had a long autonomous existence before its annexation by
Patmos74. Later repairs and a complete renovation in 1919 prevent
further investigation of its development75. According to 20th century
scholars, it was probably painted76 before the advent of the Patmian
monks, in spite of what their documents suggest77. Revisiting the
72 On the schism see mainly Gounaridis, Paris. Το κίνημα των Αρσενιατών (1261–1310). Ιδε-
ολογικές διαμάχες στην εποχή των πρώτων Παλαιολόγων. Athens, 1999; Kontogiannopoulou,
Anastasia. Το σχίσμα των Αρσενιατών (1265–1310). Συμβολή στην μελέτη της πορείας και της
φύσης του κινήματος. – Βυζαντιακά, 1998, No. 18, 177-235.
73 See mainly Gerolymatou, Maria. À propos des origines des monastères de la Vierge de l’Al-
sos et de la Vierge tôn Spondôn sur l’île de Cos. – Travaux et Mémoires, Mélanges Cécile Morris-
son. Paris, 2010, No. 16, 397.
74 According to the brief chronicle of the monastery, Kollias. Οικισμοί, 257-259. See also Geroly-
matou. À propos, 392–394, who dates the Spondon monastery to the 12th century; but that does
not exclude an earlier dating for the catholicon.
75 Kappas, Michalis, Η εφαρμογή του σταυροειδούς εγγεγραμμένου στη μέση και την ύστερη
βυζαντινή περίοδο. Το παράδειγμα του απλού τετρακιόνιου/τετράστυλου, ΑΠΘ, unpublished
PhDiss. Thessaloniki, 2009, 234-235, n. 72, associates the monument with the intensive building
activity of the 11th century, which was further boosted under Alexios I. The mention of the
Spondon monastery in the Patmos document of 1258 is a terminus ante quem for its existence.
Kollias. Οικισμοί, 299.
76 According to Gerola, Giuseppe. I monumenti medioevali delle Tredici Sporadi, Parte
seconda. – Annuario della regia scuola archeologica di Atene e delle missioni italiane in Oriente,
1914, No. 2, 46.
77 MM. 6, 193, n. 72.
109
Fig. 6. Cos. Kastrianon catholicon: fresco of the Virgin and Child lanked by two Angels
sources has revealed that the pretended contributions to Spondon

by the monastery of Patmos were merely ammunition serving their
campaign to acquire the catholicon oicially78. The concession, how-
ever, was inactive from 1263 to 1292, when Patmos was in disarray.
Patmos’ Coan possessions were again augmented when the Em-
press Theodora, spouse of Michael VIII Palaiologos, transferred to
them the monastery of Christ the Saviour at Mount Dikaios. This
has been identiied with a small monastery founded and owned by
Arsenios Scenouris79, a companion and benefactor of Christodoulos.
78 According to Kollias. Οικισμοί, 301, in a handwriten catalogue of the monastery dated 1200
and in a library loan note of 1229 or 1244 it is mentioned that: “εδόθησαν εις την Κω εις το
μετόχιον βιβλία δέκα”. Thus a metochion was already in existence before the year 1229 or 1244,
but which one was meant is uncertain.
79 Mastoropoulos, Georgios. Ταύτιση (;) του επί του Όρους Δικαίου της Κω μονυδρίου Αρσε-
νίου του Σκηνούρη (11ος αι.). In: Ιστορία, Τέχνη και Αρχαιολογία της Κω, Α´ ∆ιεθνές Επιστη-
110
Fig. 7. Cos. Alsos catholicon. A fresco fragment of a Bishop
The earlier cruciform church was abandoned and the cistern con-
verted into a chapel, to which the surviving sculptural decoration
of the 11th –12th century (spolia?) was incorporated. Even though the
decoration and the building of the cruciform church cannot be at-
tributed to Patmos, the same cannot be said of the fresco decoration
of the conch80 where the painting of a Deesis survives.
Another monastery associated with Patmos81 before 1292 is the Dor-
mition of the Virgin at Alsos. The Alsos monastery was situated in
μονικό Συνέδριο, Κως 2 – 4 Μαϊου 1997 (eds. Georgia Kokkorou-Aleura, Anna Laimou, Eva
Simantoni-Bournia), Athens, 2001, 333-356.
80 Mastoropoulos. Ταύτιση, ig. 20-24, 26, 28.
81 Probably after 1263 as Gerolymatou. À propos, 397, suggests. However, Nystazopoulou-Pe-
lekidou. Βυζαντινὰ ἔγγραφα, 2, 232, thinks that the evidence is inconclusive for such a postula-
tion before 1292, when the act of Patriarch Athanasius citing the Alsos as property of the monas-
tery was issued.
111
Fig. 8. Leros. Lakki. Church of St John the Theologian. A fresco fragment of a Saint
the grove of the Asklepieion and its remnants were swept away
during the excavations at the beginning of the 20th century82. The
argument for this association is that the Alsos monastery was irst
granted to Spondon and then, through it, to Patmos83. However,
the records of its abbots put this into question. A remarkable recon-
struction of its history84 has shown that the monastery was of great
importance before being ceded to Patmos as, before 1271, some of
its abbots became bishops of Ataleia and a certain Gerasimos from
82 Herzog, Rudolf – Schazmann, Paul. Asklepieion. Baubeschrei-bung und Baugeschichte, Kos, I.
Berlin, 1932, 28, ig. 2, 5-9.
83 Gerolymatou. À propos, 389.
84 Gerolymatou. À propos, 387-399.
112
Fig. 9. Leros. Lakki. Church of St John the Theologian
Alsos was Bishop of Leros in 128285.

The catholicon of Alsos was built before 124186. Arguments placing
the foundation of the church between the 10th and 12th centuries,
based on the architectural elements87 are ill-supported, since many
of them may have been spolia88. Besides, in the document, named
85 Nystazopoulou-Pelekidou. Βυζαντινὰ ἔγγραφα, 234.

86 According to the monastery chronicle atached to the Deesis document of the peasants of Cos
(1288) which cites the empress Irene (†1241), spouse of the emperor John III Vatazes. On the
monastery, Kollias. Οικισμοί, 299-301; Gerolymatou. À propos, 389.
87 Kollias. Οικισμοί, 300-301; Militsi, Evangelia, Τμήματα μεσοβυζαντινών τέμπλων από την
Κω. In: Charalambos Pennas, Catherine Vanderheyde (eds.). La sculpture byzantine VIIe–XIIe
siècles. Actes du colloque international organisé par la 2nd Éphorie des antiquités byzantines et l
École française d Athènes (6 – 8 septembre 2000) . Athens, 2008, 422-429; Gerolymatou. À propos,
398.
88 Besides, according to Militsi, Τμήματα, 423, ig. 1, the cubical capital found there was meant
to support a dome while the catholicon is single-aisled and barrel-vaulted. Even though these
sculpted members have been dated to the irst half of the 11th century, they do not constitute an
ensemble.
113
Deesis ton epoikon tes Co, the Spondon monastery (c. 1050–1100) is
acknowledged as older than that of Alsos. A fresco fragment of
a bishop from Alsos (Fig. 7) which bears stylistic ainities to the
remains of the fresco of the Holy Fathers in the church of St John
the Theologian at Lakki on Leros (Fig. 8), probably executed by the
same hand, assists our understanding of its history and the possible
intervention of Patmos89.
A parenthesis is needed at this point to disentangle the relations of
the fresco decoration of Alsos with that of the imposing three-aisled
domed basilica at Lakki on Leros (Fig. 9). Recent restoration has
revealed an inscription on a marble lintel, stating that it was built as
an Episcopal church by one Bishop Nikolaos, in 108290. In its earliest
phase it had no murals: its walls and openings were decorated by
tile courses on both faces. In the 13th century the church, perhaps
after an earthquake, was drastically remodelled, acquiring vaulted
rooing and a dome. Judging from the fragments of the fresco dec-
oration, which survive mostly in the north aisle dedicated to Hosi-
os Christodoulos, the painted program was of a special character,
some of its features traceable to the iconographic program of the
Patmos Refectory91. The same features are also present in the frag-
ment with the bishop from the now lost decoration of Alsos.
Are there links other than stylistic associating the remaining prelate
of Alsos with those of St John the Theologian at Lakki? A Gerasi-
mos, Bishop of Leros, had previousluy in 1222 been abbot of the
then independent Alsos. He was a cultured man with an impres-
sive network of contacts including churchmen, nobles of the exiled
empire and even the Empress Irene (1222–1241). He may also have
been responsible for the decoration of the catholicon92. Conversely
Neilos, the ambitious Bishop of Leros (c. 1258) who, having accu-
mulated considerable power, sought to abolish the self-government
of Patmos, may also have been among the sponsors93. The fragment
89 Citation in Katsioti. Επισκόπηση, 295.

90 Katsioti, Angeliki, Kiourzian, Georges. L᾽église de Saint Jean le Theologien de Leros (Dodéca-
nèse) et la dédicace de l’évêque Nikolaos JOB 2018, forthcoming.
91 The style of those frescoes recalls some Rhodian monuments: the irst layer of St Phanou-
rios (1210–1220), the 13th century layer (1240–1250) of the catholicon of the Archangel Michael
at Thari, Laerma, see Kefala, Konstantia. Οι τοιχογραφίες του 13ου αιώνα στις εκκλησίες της
Ρόδου, Christian Archaeological Society e-press/1. Athens 2015, passim.
92 As cited in Δέησιν των εποίκων της Κω, Nystazopoulou-Pelekidou. Βυζαντινὰ ἔγγραφα, 234.
93 Vranoussi. Βυζαντινά έγγραφα, 94*, 68; Vranoussi, Era. Πατριαρχικά έγγραφα της Πάτμου
114
from Alsos and the frescoes of Lakki share common features with
the second layer of the Patmos Refectory, which probably relects
the assimilation of artistic developments in the Byzantine Empire
of Nicaea by independent workshops. Albeit imbued by spiritual
and doctrinal subtleties also encountered in the murals of the mon-
astery, these paintings express, in all likelihood, the aspirations of
abbots and local bishops collaborating with local landowners. Thus,
even though the paintings of Alsos and Lakki are related to those of
Patmos, this is the result of an indirect process, and not evidence of
Patmian initiatives.
The oral tradition concerning churches connected to Patmos, even
unsupported by the writen sources, should not be neglected, as it
may contain historical clues or reveal artistic links. As evidence is
lacking, it is likely that monastery acquired them through the usual
method of forged documents. Some of the oldest churches of the re-
gion belong to this group, such as St John the Theologian at Lakki94,
mentioned above, or the Holy Apostles on Kalymnos.
Only a couple of indications show that the monastery was active in
Kalymnos: a book donation to an anchorite on Kalymnos might pos-
sibly signify he was a protégé of the monastery95; also, the sigillium of
1263 of Leo Eskammatismenos, enumerator of Rhodes and the Cy-
cladic islands, mentions property of the monastery on Kalymnos96.
Local tradition relates the foundation of the Holy Apostles, the
most important monument of Kalymnos97, a tetrastyle variant of the
cross-in-square plan, dated c. 950–1000, to Christodoulos himself.
Assumptions98 that a series of additions belong to the second half
of the 12th century, are not supported by the surviving architectural
evidence or the study of the painted decoration; the late 12th-century
painting of the apostle Peter99 or that of the mid-13th century with
αχρονολόγητα, αταύτιστα ή λανθάνοντα. Γύρω από την αυτονομία της μονής. – Σύμμεικτα,
1983, No. 5, 29-47.
94 Vranoussi. Τα αγιολογικά, 107, n. 1, where popular traditions for the foundation of church
by Christodoulos are cited.
95 Vranoussi. Βυζαντινά έγγραφα, 88*-89*.
96 Nystazopoulou-Pelekidou. Βυζαντινὰ ἔγγραφα, 191-197, no. 69.
97 Kollias, Σχεδίασμα, 23-50; Kappas, Michalis, Η αρχιτεκτονική του ναού των Αγίων Αποστό-
λων στο Άργος Καλύμνου. – ΔΧΑΕ, 2009, No. 30, 55-66.
98 Kappas. Η αρχιτεκτονική, 65.
99 Katsioti, Angeliki, Archontopoulos, Theodoros. Tο παρεκκλήσιο της οικογένειας των Aρμε-
115
the Virgin Hodegetria100 have no ainities with contemporary lay-
ers at Patmos. The annexation of Leros and Kalymnos by the Nicene
Empire in 1249 under Vatazes, and their administrative reorganisa-
tion in 1254, for which purpose was sent an apographeus and exisotes
named Constantine Diogenes101, make it plausible that the mid-13th
century murals may have had state sponsorship.
Finally, we turn to the possessions of the monastery in the region of
Stylos at Apocoronas on Crete, beyond the Dodecanese. There are
references in the documents to gifts of produce and later to a meto-
chion, both of which were crucial for the survival of the monastery.
These should be identiied with the Stylos possessions granted to
Patmos by Alexios I102. The importance of the Cretan metochion en-
dured thanks to the warm relations the monastery maintained with
the Venetian masters of Crete as well as with the Nicene emper-
ors103. The structural remnants of the metochion consist of the twin-
nave church of St John the Theologian and St Nicholas, a complex of
granaries, and four successive buildings, heavily altered and there-
fore of uncertain date. The church104, located at the northwest end
of the setlement, could in all probability be identiied with the one
mentioned in a list of book loans from Patmos of the mid-13th centu-
ry105, where it is noted that the monastery had sent three books ‘eis
ton Psychron’, obviously meaning the metochion of Stylos106.
The site now occupied by the north nave of the church was once
occupied by a single-aisled church. Excavation has brought to light
the foundations of at least two successive churches. The surviving
νόπουλων στη Pόδο του 12ου αιώνα. In: Πρακτικά συνεδρίου, Pόδος 2400 χρόνια. H πόλη της
Pόδου από την ίδρυσή της μέχρι την κατάληψή της από τους Tούρκους (1523), B΄. Athens,
2000, 380-381, pl. 155α.
100 Kollias. Σχεδίασμα, 37, ig. 5; Katsioti. Επισκόπηση, 280-281, ig. 69b.
101 Angold, Michael. A Byzantine Government in Exile. Government and Society under the Las-
karides of Nikaea, 1204–1261. Oxford, 1975, 211.
102 For details on the metochia in Crete, Kallivretakis, Leonidas. Το μετόχι της Πάτμου στο Στύ-
λο Αποκορώνου και η αυτοκρατορική λύσις του 1196. In: Vasilis Panagiotopoulos, Leonidas
Kallivretakis, Demetrios Dimitropoulos, Michalis Kokolakis, Evdokia Olympitou (eds.). Πλη-
θυσμοί και οικισμοί του ελληνικού χώρου: ιστορικά μελετήματα. Institute for Neohellenic
Research/ National Hellenic Research Foundation. Athens, 2003, 93-132.
103 Saint-Guillain. L Apocalypse, 771-773.
104 Briely mentioned in Andrianakis, Michalis, Giapitsoglou, Konstantinos. Χριστιανικά μνημεία
της Κρήτης. Heraklion, 2012, 360-361.
105 Vranoussi. Βυζαντινά έγγραφα, 216.
106 As Kallivretakis. Το μετόχι, 100, concludes.
116
Fig. 10. Crete. Stylos metochion, Theologos nave. The Baptism of Christ
building has an older part, the south wall of the north church (the
Theologos nave) with paintings of the mid-13th century. Between
1271 and 1280, according to the now lost dedicatory inscription, a
narthex was added and decorated. Part of the church was remod-
elled in the irst half of the 15th century; according to the dedication,
the monk Nikodemos added the south St Nicholas nave then.
It is hard to trace any ainities between the mid-13th century lay-
er of the north nave and the contemporary murals of Patmos due
to their bad state of preservation107. However, the head of St Peter
107 Andrianakis, Giapitsoglou. Χριστιανικά μνημεία, 360-361. Nothing relevant is mentioned

for the painted decoration (1271–1280) of the narthex. Suggestions for the mural painting are
confused as in Gallas, Klaus, Wessel, Klaus, Borboudakis Manolis. Byzantinisches Kreta. Munich,
117
from the scene of the Baptism of Christ (Fig. 10) recalls the same
igure from the Communion of the Apostles, Patmos (1230–1240)108.
An initiative from Patmos for the decoration of the Cretan metochion
church using a local workshop is very likely, but taking into account
the nearby church of St Nicholas at Kyriakosellia (1230–1236)109, it
would be beter justiied to connect such high quality work with the
presence of the expeditionary forces of John III Doukas Vatazes110
in the Aegean and Crete: it is no coincidence that John III was a keen
supporter of the monastery.
So far, some economic, social but mostly artistic phenomena until
the end of the 13th century, possibly connected to the monastery of
Patmos and its possessions, have been explored. Works initiated by
Christodoulos himself were modest, but in the 12th and 13th centu-
ries Patmos expanded in every possible way thanks to competent
abbots who proited from the goodwill of emperors and patriarchs.
However, their estate management was proit-oriented.
The same tendency is detected in the relations of the monastery
with the local bishops. Its eforts to gain metochia and churches were
often successful, thanks to the acumen of its leaders. Clearly, the
monastic ideal was not a priority when the chance arose to augment
its properties to the detriment of local communities.
If the 13th-century murals detailed above were not sponsored by the
monastery, the Nicene Empire would be the most likely source of
patronage111. Taking into account the political network developed
by the Laskarids, we should consider the likelihood of state invest-
ment in the islands. The artists of Nicaea could be employed either
1983, 244-245, who claim without proof that Patmos is associated to the 15th century high quality
frescoes of the south nave.
108 See for instance, Kollias. Πάτμος, ig. 34. On the dating Vocotopoulos, Panagiotis. Παρατηρή-
σεις στις βυζαντινές τοιχογραφίες της Μονής του Αγίου Ιωάννου του Θεολόγου στην Πάτμο.
In: Διεθνές συμπόσιο, Πρακτικά, Ι. Μονή Αγ. Ιωάννου του Θεολόγου 900 χρόνια ιστορικής
μαρτυρίας (1088–1988), Πάτμος, Σεπτ. 1988, Athens, 1989, 193; Djurić, Vojislav. La peinture mu-
rale byzantine. ΧΙΙe et XIIIe siècles. In: Actes du XVe Congrès International d’Ètudes Byzantines, I,
Αθήνα 1976. Athens, 1979, 202.
109 On the fresco decoration, see mainly Borboudakis, Manolis. Ο ναός του Αγίου Νικολάου στα
Κυριακοσέλλια Αποκορώνου. In: Πεπραγμένα Ι’ Διεθνούς Κρητολογικού Συνεδρίου, Χανιά
1-8 Οκτωβρίου 2006, B2. Chania, 2011, 273-316; Kefala. Οι τοιχογραφίες, 54 ff.
110 Katsioti, Επισκόπηση, 277-278; Acheimastou-Potamianou, Myrtali. Στο Θάρι της Ρόδου. Ath-
ens, 2006, 111-112; Kefala. Οι τοιχογραφίες, 59-90.
111 Artistic relations with the Empire of Nicaea have not yet been fully explored. See mainly
Kefala. Οι τοιχογραφίες, 273-300.
118
by the Laskarid and Vatazes clan or from the nobility, who courted
the goodwill of the powerful monastic communities, which in turn
served as as outposts of the Empire. It seems that much of the artistic
production of the 13th century, possibly in a higher proportion than
in the preceding 12th, should be atributed to an external initiative,
which, nonetheless, had interests in common with the monastery.
Cases such as the decoration of Lakki and Alsos may relect rivalries
between monastic communities and the local ecclesiastical leader-
ship. This rivalry was exacerbated112 by the voracious appetite of
the monastery for the acquisition of churches or lesser monastic
foundations, provoking the distrust and hostility of local oicials.
From the 11th century onwards, the monks, who had succeeded in
becoming spiritual guides of the emperors, were a real threat to the
reputation and role of local bishops. Nevertheless, this did not pro-
hibit easier interactions between the venerable monastery of Patmos
and churchmen or state oicials, because the artistic inspiration of
Patmos served as the point of reference par excellence both ideologi-
cally and spiritually.
112 It is well known that the bishops of the neighbouring islands tried to subjugate the monas-
tery, Vranoussi. Βυζαντινά έγγραφα, 64*-67*, 94*.
119
Appendix
Abbots of the monastery of Patmos

until the end of the 13th century113
Hosios Christodoulos April 1088 – 16 March 1093

Joseph Iasitis after 1094 – before 1118
[Neophytos before 1127]
Savvas before 1118–1127 (?)
Theoktistos c. 1127–1157/8
Hosios Leontios 1157/8–1176 (or 1183)114
[Epiphanios 1176–1183]115
Arsenios 1183–1203 or before 1206116
Euthymios 1206
(?) Neophytos
from Cappadocia 1214
Nikodemos 1229 (?) 1244 (?)
Germanos 1256 (?), before 1258–1280
Gregorios 1307
113 According to Vranoussi. Βυζαντινά έγγραφα, 59*-60*, 82*, 91*, 98*, 113*.
114 According to Tsougarakis. The life, 196, n. 67,1.
115 According to Tsougarakis. The life, 196, n. 67.1, no abbot Epiphanios existed.
116 Tsougarakis. The life, 208, dates the abbacy of Arsenios to 1186 – before 1206.
120
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126
Между статута на господари и слуги: влиянието
на св. Христодул и неговите последователи върху
егейските острови ΧΙ–ΧΙΙΙ век
Ангелики Кациоти
Манастирът „Св. Йоан Богослов“ за своето съществуване през повече от

девет столетия запазва водещата си роля в историята на Егейско море и
по-специално на Додеканезите. Богатият архив на обителта позволява да
се черпят данни за историята и обществото, за икономиката и изкуството
през епохата, когато в столицата всеки се е стремял да си осигури дял в
благополучието или да влияе върху политическите събития.
След дълго странстване Христодул напуска през 1079 г. манастирите на Латрос,
където служи като монах до нахлуването на турците, и се установява за малко
в Стровилос, πόλιν παραθαλασσίαν (крайморски град) на малоазийския бряг.
Там бива приет от своя познат, монаха Арсений Скинурис, произхождащ
от знатно семейство от о. Кос, който го мотивира да построи манастир
върху негов имот. Действително, през м. март 1080 г. Христодул основава
монашеската обител Кастриани върху скалистия хълм Пилион на незаселен,
както го определя, терен от имота на Арсений. Светецът бързо обаче се
разочаровал, отишъл в Константинопол и поискал с императорски хрисовул
през 1087 г. да му се даде о. Патмос заедно с Липсу и προάστια (предградията)
Партени и Темения, както и половината от крепостта Пандели на о. Лерос.
Получавайки тези владения, светецът връща на империята имотите си на о.
Кос.
В тази статия се прави опит за изследване на отношенията на манастира
с егейските острови, на които обителта притежава имоти през XI–XIII в.
Впоследствие се описва състоянието на островите преди и след появата на
светеца, както и през периода, в който се изявяват неговите наследници.
Изследват се и въпроси, свързани с художественото влияние на манастира, и
се предлагат наблюдения върху последиците от това влияние върху неговите
метоси.
Харизматичната, но и конфликтна личност на светеца предизвиква смесени
чувства у жителите на районите, които владее. Подобно е поведението и на
неговите следовници. Връзките на манастира с метосите протичат в спорове
със селяните и местната църква, в насилствени изселвания и конфискации
посредством намесата на държавата. Основна грижа за манастира става
събирането на състояние и привилегии чрез непривични способи и в
повечето случаи в ущърб на империята, което се превръща в явление,
127
белязало съществено всички обитатели на островите – от феодалния селянин
до водачите на местния клир.
Обект на изследване впоследствие става и влиянието на инициативата,
осъществявана от патмоския манастир, върху основаването и украсата на
църквите по островите, където обителта притежава метоси.
Скромните строителни инициативи, предприети на първо време от светеца
в манастира Кастриани на о. Кос, а след това и в католикона на Патмос, са
огледало на номадския, неспокоен характер на Христодул, който по всяка
вероятност е уважавал иконите и свещените книги, които събирал по време
на странстванията си, заради което, пристигайки на Кос и Патмос, полага
известни усилия за тяхното непретенциозно приютяване. Очевидно, че при
честите си посещения в Константинопол Христодул не обръща внимание
на високите естетически тенденции в столицата. За разлика от тези първи
произведения на изкуството, лишени от особено качество, които просто
задоволяват практическите нужди на манастира в Патмос, действията на
следващия игумен Арсений (1185–1203 или 1206) са далеч по-блестящи,
без обаче да са съпоставими с друга по-сериозна художествена активност
в метосите. През XII и XIII в. имотите и влиянието на Патмос се разрастват
неимоверно заради просветените игумени на манастира, които намират
подкрепата на императори и патриарси за увеличаване на своята власт.
Според авторката художествената активност от ΧΙΙΙ в., доста повече в
сравнение с тази от ΧΙΙ в., се дължи на фактори, чужди на манастира,
въпреки засвидетелстваните амбиции на братството. Това обаче не означава,
че патмоският манастир престава да диктува тенденции в развитието на
държавния и църковния живот, тъй като тази обител никога не спира да
играе водеща роля в идеологията и духовността на Византия
128
Essay on a Visual Perspective
of Medieval Writing1
Vincent Debiais
CNRS, Centre d’études supérieures
de civilisation médiévale – Poitiers2
Abstract. This paper aims to explore the visual and epigraphic properties of
medieval writing as well as considering writing medium, technique, and com-
municative status. The boundaries between diferent auxiliary disciplines in
Medieval Studies (paleography, epigraphy, numismatics, sigillography) have
created separate categories of writings and scripts within the writing culture
of the Middle Ages, even if the leterforms, functions, and types of writing
actually do not difer from one medium to another. A strong case for remov-
ing the disciplinary boundaries rests on the facts that writing was executed
by scribes sharing training, tools and know-how, and that the iconic value of
script and its visual aspects were activated primarily in the display of leters
regardless of the variations in the content of the text, in its location, or its lin-
guistic form. “Epigraphic” forms are used in manuscript tituli; “manuscript”
abbreviations are found in stone inscriptions; seals show “epigraphic” mise en
page; calamus-like features are inscribed on coins… Beyond the obvious inac-
curacy of terminology, what do those commonalities between writen objects
show? How could we address the porosity of medieval literacy?
Key words: Paleography, Epigraphy, Literacy, Digital Humanities, Jean Mal-
lon, Medieval Studies.
1 This text summarizes the talk given in Soia, in April 2017. It is based on my exploration of the
two footages of Jean Mallon’s movies quoted in the last section of this article. I wish to express
my gratitude to Marc Smith for providing me with a copy of these movies.
2 Vincent Debiais (PhD in Medieval History in 2004) is a senior research associate at the Cen-
tre national de la recherche scientiique (France), Centre d’études supérieures de civilisation
médiévale, University of Poitiers, where he leads the research team preparing Corpus des inscrip-
tions de la France médiévale. He has published on Medieval Epigraphy and Art History, and has re-
cently completed his “Habilitation à diriger les recherches” on the relationships between text and
image in Romanesque works of art, and on Latin Ekphraseis (La croisée des signes, Paris, 2016).
129
Introduction
Medieval writing possesses a fundamental visual dimension that is
evident both in the forms and shapes of letering in manuscripts or
inscriptions, and in the content of the texts3. Thus, the products of
writing must always be considered as objects, i.e. material entities
deined by their form, area, location, material, and technique4. While
such an approach does not preclude the need for a paleographic
analysis, inscribed objects also belong to medieval visual culture.
Moreover, we should bear in mind that these two categories, writen
culture and visual culture, have been produced by heuristic necessi-
ties of medievalism and that, as such, they do not necessarily corre-
spond to medieval practices that often mixed and merged one with
the other. Following in the footsteps of Augustine, who established
the “irst semiotics” of leters as essential elements5, Isidore of Se-
ville states that each leter possesses a sound, but also a name, as
well as a form6. According to this grammarian, none of these three
components is arbitrary; rather, they can be explained by the mean-
ing of the leter and the function of the alphabet in the shaping and
knowledge of the world as it has been created by God in princip-
io7. Viewed in this way, writing in the Middle Ages, and especially
during the Carolingian times, signiied a visual and material forma
generating the content of language and its capacity to reproduce
knowledge, wisdom, and the divine will. Such a visual dimension
of writing can be clearly observed for example in the cloister of
Moissac (France, ca. 1100) where a complex epigraphic composi-
3 The bibliography on the visuality of script is abundant. See, among others, Kendrick, Laura.
Animating the Leter. The Figurative Embodiment of Writing from Late Antiquity to the Renais-
sance. Columbus, 1999; Sparrow, John. Visible Words: A Study of Inscriptions in and as Books and
Works of Art. Cambridge, 1969.
4 The word “object” is used here in a very simple deinition of “something tangible”. On this
concept, see Bartholeyns, Gyl. “Objets”, Dictionnaire Tolkien. Paris, 2012, 455-457; Bartholeyns,
Gyl. Quand l’objet donne l’exemple. La vie d’un moine au Moyen Âge, une spiritualité toute
matérielle. – Archives des sciences sociales des religions, 2016, No. 174, 149-168; Bonnot, Thierry.
L’ethnographie au musée: valeur des objets et science sociale. – Ethnographie.org 11 (october
2006) [online]; Harman, Graham. The Quadruple Object. Winchester, 2011.
5 Vecchio, Sebastiano. La parole como segni. Introduzione alla linguistica agostiniana. Palermo,
1994.
6 On these questions, see Trefort, Cécile, De inventoribus literarum. L’histoire de l’écriture vue
par les savants carolingiens”. – Summa, 2013, No. 1, 38-53; Trefort, Cécile, Tissages textuels et
transcendance du signe: autour des poésies visuelles du Haut Moyen Âge. – Revista de poética
medieval, 2013, No. 27, 45-59.
7 Stiernemann, Patricia. L’inscription alphabétique: de la consécration de l’église à l’apprentis-
sage de la lecture et autres usages. – Bulletin monumental, 2011, No. 169-1, 73-76.
130
Fig. 1. Moissac (France), cloister. Alphabetic capital (c. 1100). © CIFM/CESCM
tion has been inscribed on the abacus of a capital decorated with

vegetation representing an image of nature created by God (Fig.
1)8. The inscription forms a “string of leters” by irst reproducing a
complete Latin alphabet, then a graphic construction combining the
irst leter of the alphabet with the last one, the second leter with
the penultimate one and so on (AX, BV, CT…), and inally the be-
ginning of a psalm (DEUS IN DOMINE TUO SALVUM). The visual
features and the location of the inscription on the vegetal sculpture
8 Cazes, Quiterie. Le cloître de Moissac, chef-d’œuvre de la sculpture romane. Toulouse, 2001;

Corpus des inscriptions de la France médiévale [from now on CIFM] 8, TG 28, 153-154, ill. 152-
155.
131
harmoniously merge the concepts of Creation and writing, and pro-
duce a synthetic image of the two modes of existence in the world:
1) the form, and 2) its translation in writen language.
The alphabetical capital in Moissac challenges the disciplines of Me-
dieval Studies in their ability to analyze such visually and textually
rich objects. How can we deine what is displayed in the cloister?
How can we characterize the actions that have shaped this piece of
stone? Has the capital been inscribed? Has it been sculpted? Should
one distinguish the act of writing from that of decorative carving?
In what follows, this paper will briely discuss medieval objects,
considering both their decorative and epigraphic features, in order
to measure the indomitable character of writing during the Mid-
dle Ages and its propensity to escape modern methods of analysis.
Such a focus does not shed any new light on the material under
scrutiny but instead points out to the methodological constraints of
modern medieval scholarship. Ultimately, it invites a return to, and
focus on, the evidence provided by the objects themselves.
Material and image

Medieval manuscripts are illed with vivid compositions show-
ing the blurring of semiotic boundaries between leters and iconic
signs. Many initials depicting animal or vegetable igures cannot be
described by the traditional vocabulary of paleography and their
ductus, i.e. the sequence of lines and curves designing the leter,
cannot be viewed in isolation. As a mater of fact, these initials rath-
er belong to the ield of art history; they are studied by scholars
working on miniature and illumination (and generally not by pale-
ographers), without questioning the semiotic nature of these signs
that “look like” images, and are studied as such. Scholars often omit
to note that the implementation of color, the in-depth treatment of
the surface of the parchment, and a meaningful relation of the let-
ter with the entire page produce a visual and material trace as the
result of the writing process: that by engaging in this process, medi-
eval scribes and illuminators compose a form designed, staged, and
set in motion on the writing surface (Fig. 2).
Tracing alphabetical signs consists either of adding material onto a
surface (producing chromatic shifts or contrasts, in most cases) or of
removing material from a surface (in the case of inscriptions, for ex-
132
Fig. 2. Lichield (England), cathedral, St Chad Gospels (c. 730), fol. 5r. © Lichield Cathedral
ample). Thus, alphabetical traces should not be considered only as

drawings that do not alter the surface, but also as forms and prod-
ucts of mechanical actions transforming blank or virgin materials
into inscribed objects9. The visual and formal dimension of writing
is not, therefore, derived from the fact that the leter can be formed
9 On these important aspects, see the seminal work of Christin, Anne-Marie. Poétique du blanc.
Vide et intervalle dans la civilisation de l’alphabet. Paris, 2009.
133
from images or that it can itself receive images, but rather that it re-
sulted from shaping and modeling material, and thus from chang-
ing its nature. For example, the initial B in the opening words Beatus
vir in Carolingian psalters is often traced with a compass matching
geometric proportions employed in the contemporary, often illu-
minated, manuscripts of music theory. (Fig. 3)10. Such a mechanical
and theoretical display shows the highly graphic and visual design
of the B in the psalter, and more generally of alphabetical signs;
it also demonstrates how well trained the scribes were, and how
and closely engaged in such complex writing processes. If text and
image merge within the same composition, both share the physical
and visual dimension. The leter does not only allow the ixation of
language but also gives it a meaningful shape.
Such a formal conception of writing and the subsequent atribution
of aesthetic properties to its shape go a long way towards explain-
ing why many medieval works of art combine alphabetical and
iconic signs, leters and images11. This rarely happens for the sake
of explaining or commenting on the image by means of words –
names and sentences – but more frequently as a way to build a sin-
gle visual object in which writing crosses the border of linguistic
constraints to serve the narrative and sense of the image. This is
the case, for example, with the inscription on the outer edge of the
tympanum of the old church of Mervilliers (France, 12th century)12.
The sculpted group above the door is a donor scene with the patron,
who is a knight, and St George (Fig. 4). On the right-hand side, a
scribe is also showed recording a transaction on a piece of parch-
ment placed on a writing table. The inscription, carved in relief,
gives the identity of the characters and describes the legal action
as it is represented in the sculpture: RENBAULDUS MILES MICHI
CONTULIT EJUSQUE HERES GAZAS PRESENTES UT HABERET
SINE CARENTES13. The end of the text is placed on the scribe’s ta-
10 Marchesin, Isabelle. L’image organum: la représentation de la musique dans les psautiers mé-
diévaux, 800–1200. Turnhout, 2000.
11 On this topic, see Debiais, Vincent. La croisée des signes. L’écriture et l’image médiévale (800–
1200). Paris, 2017.
12 Voyer, Cécile. Le geste eicace: le don du chevalier au saint sur le tympan de Mervilliers (XII e
siècle). – Aurell, Martin (dir.). Chevalerie et christianisme aux XII e et XIII e siècle. Rennes, 2011,
101-122.
13 Translation: Renbauldus the knight and his heir, brought me these treasures, so he can him-
self obtain unlimited treasures.
134
Fig. 3. Paris (France), Bibliothèque nationale de France, Vivien Bible-BnF, ms. lat. 1 (c. 845),
fol. 216v. © BNF Paris
ble and his stylus touches the last leter, as if he were rendering it
in both media, stone and parchment. The inscription recording the
legal process relates to the very structure of the image: it encloses,
delineates, and separates the scene just as the oicial document is-
sued at the time served as a legal framework for the act of donation.
There is thus a deliberately wide-ranging semiotic arrangement on
the tympanum: the record of the act of donation as it is ixed in
135
Fig. 4. Mervilliers (France), tympanum of the old church (12th c.). © CIFM/CESCM
the sculpture references the composition of the document as it is

represented in images and in writing. Here, it is impossible to dis-
tinguish between the visual and verbal aspects of writing, and it
would be futile to atempt any such distinction. Carved in stone,
they act in unison to convey the complex message of the legal pro-
cess of donation.
Medieval writing thus functions as a “system”, evoking all the as-
pects of the material display of the word (its shape, sound, location,
meaning…). This is the reason why similar formal arrangements
and mise en page can be found on very diferent media in the visual
culture of the Middle Ages. These similarities should not collective-
ly be considered as the products of copying, inluence or imitation14;
they also relect the existence of shared graphic practices mobilizing
the verbal and material elements of writing regardless of the surfac-
es on which they feature, but according to the demands of commu-
nication in diverse contexts and the choices of the scriptores. Many
examples could be listed here, such as: epigraphic letering in the
titles of manuscripts; manuscript layout in the epigraphic domain
14 On the phenomena of imitation and copying, see Smith, Marc, Stiernemann, Patricia. Forme et
fonction des écritures d’apparat dans les manuscrits latins (VIII e–XVe siècle). – Bibliothèque de
l’École des chartes, 2007, No. 165, 67-100.
136
and vice versa; mandorla-shape of writing in sculpture and in seals…
These similarities will remain diicult to notice and study as long as
diferent scholarly disciplines examine them separately, and work
independently using their respective tools and methods. Today, it
seems appropriate – and, more importantly, possible – to consid-
er that a global science of writing could assess these phenomena,
not only in terms of their similarity/dissimilarity, but in terms of
what they mean within medieval literacy. This idea is by no means
new: already in 1982, the great paleographer Jean Mallon called for
such an approach by stressing the fundamental importance of the
ways in which writing has been displayed in a physical space, as
evidence for such a universal practice15. At the point where visuality
and materiality meet, writing transcends the limits of our respective
disciplines and invites a consideration of the leter as a forma, such
as it has been deined by Isidore of Seville.
Leter as a forma
In the top most register of the scene of donation on the tympanum
of Mervilliers, Christ holds in his right hand an open book inscribed
with the leters alpha and omega. According to the ontological dei-
nition of God in the Book of Revelation, in which the Judge deines
himself as a litera (Ego sum alpha and omega), the two Greek leters
should not be writen on the Book of Life containing the name of the
elected ones16. It is, however, a common feature of Western art, of
which Mervilliers is but one example. This placement and distance
from what should be a “literal” image of the Apocalypse strip the
alphabetic signs of their linguistic essence. The leters are no longer
meant to be pronounced. They become an iconic sign, a formal at-
tribute participating in the visual constitution of an iconographic
type. In the maiestas Domini, the book, the mandorla, the throne, the
clouds, and the leters constitute the visual index of the divine, and
its ethereal presence in this world17.
The formal dimension of such leters emphasizing their visual and
15 Mallon, Jean. De l’écriture. Recueil d’études publiées de 1937 à 1981. Paris, 1986.
16 Rev 3:5: He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his
name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.
17 Poilpré, Anne-Orange. Majestas Domini. Une image de l’Église en Occident (Ve–IX e siècle).
Paris, 2005.
137
symbolic value has been more thoroughly studied in historiography
in relation to the insular production of manuscripts and luxurious
liturgical books in the Carolingian period; here, the alphabetic com-
ponent of the sign seems to disappear into the ornamental ensemble.
The leter is above all a geometrical or loral composition; blurred in
the abundance of colors, paterns, motives, and shapes; it becomes a
monumental living object, ixed in a form marking and harmonizing
the entire manuscript. When deployed on parchment, the leter is
both a sign and an object in its own right, both subtracted from and
included in the book. In many well-known manuscripts of the Com-
mentary on the Apocalypse by Beatus of Liebana for example18, Greek
leters alpha and omega frame the text of John’s vision and his gloss
by Beatus. The Girona Beatus (copied and illuminated in the monas-
tery of San Salvador de Tábara, Spain, ca. 975) shows undoubtedly
the most monumental version of these leters19. In folio 19, Christ sits
on a throne placed on the horizontal bar of a gigantic alpha drawn
in the form of a capital A (Fig. 5). The leter is richly embellished
with tree, plant and lower motifs: it is the leter of life. Two birds
feeding on the stem placed vertically above the throne reinforce this
reading. The leter thus provides a structure for the page. On both
sides of the monumental A the quotation is inscribed from Rev 1: 8:
Ego sum alpha and omega. In the inscription, the A has the same form
as the monumental leter. There are therefore three complementary,
rather than redundant, modalities to represent Christ on this page:
the image of the enthroned king, which anticipates the image of
the f. 107r, the form of the monumental leter, and the quotation of
Rev 1:8. In the Girona Beatus, the monumental omega is placed in
f. 284v, after closing paragraph, on the page of the colophon. Just
as the omega concludes the alphabet, it marks a boundary between
the end of John’s Vision and the beginning of the commentary. In
the ive manuscripts of the Commentary on the Apocalypse showing
monumental versions of the alpha and omega, the two leters scale
the deinition of Christ’s alphabetic dimension down to the manu-
script: the book is Christ himself, as the exegesis of the Book of Rev-
elation constantly reminds the reader20. Writing should therefore
18 Williams, John. The Illustrated Beatus: A corpus of the illustrations of the Commentary on
Apocalypse. London, 1994.
19 On this manuscript, see García Lobo, Vicente, Williams, John. Beato de Tábara. Madrid, 2005
(facsimile and introduction).
20 On the exegesis of the Book of Revelation, see Christe, Yves. L’Apocalypse de Jean. Sens et
138
not only be consid-
ered as an image be-
cause it possesses a
strong visual dimen-
sion, as, for example,
in Irish manuscripts
or in the copies of
the Commentary on
the Apocalypse, but
because its visual
and formal qualities
comprise the mean-
ing of what has been
writen. In liturgical
books, the initial T of
Te igitur has the shape
of a cross because it
opens the Canon of
the Mass in which
Christ’s sacriice is
commemorated (Fig.
6); the initials V and
D of Vere dignum com- Fig. 5. Girona (Spain), cathedral, Beatus (c. 975), fol. 19r.
bine an open form (V) © Girona Cathedral
and a closed ductus
(D) because this design brings together the two natures of Christ21.
In this context, writing becomes iconic and its meaning emerges
from the form of leters.
The fact that a igurative capacity lies in the form of the leter im-
plicitly suggests that the iconography of writing exists; it also
implies a fruitful and necessary synergy between art history and
paleography. The potential to extract additional linguistic meaning
from a graphic composition is obvious, particularly if focusing on
the choice of graphic types and fonts. The use of imperial Roman
capitals in the epitaph of Pope Hadrian I (died in 785) – remarka-
développements de ses visions synthétiques. Paris, 1996.

21 Recently, Herbert L. Kessler renewed entirely what we knew about this leter plays: Kes-
sler, Herbert L. Dynamic Signs and Spiritual Design. In: Hamburger, Jefrey, Bedos-Rezak, Bri-
gite-Myriam (eds.). Sign and Design. Script as Image in Cross-cultural Perspective (300–1600
CE). Washington, 2016, 111-134.
139
ble evidence of antiquarian palatine tastes – produces a Carolingian
“image” in the heart of Rome22. The iconography of writing can also
be seen in the choice of colour: the use of gold for the angel’s words
in The Annunciation by Van Eyck (dated 1434-1436) associates the
salutation of the Incarnation with the light coming from outside the
painting23. It can be based on the layout of the text on the page: the
format of the stone slab, the density of lines, and the number of ab-
breviations transforms the inscription mentioning the rights grant-
ed to the city of Étoile-sur-Rhône into a true diplomatic document.
Although it has no actual legal function or efect, it imprints the
image of a stone charter into the visual landscape of the city (Fig.
7)24. The content of the text, its vocabulary and prosodic features do
not disappear in the above-listed examples; nor can they be said to
be secondary in the perception of the objects in so far as the condi-
tions of their reception in the Middle Ages are largely unknown.
We must however note that this atachment to the image of the text
– the form of writing, created by its visual efect – is at the heart of
the epigraphic choices made by medieval patrons, scribes or stone
cuters who always consider the interaction between the form and
the character of writing and its surroundings. Consequently, medi-
eval writing often crosses the boundaries of the alphabetical system
by which it is governed.
On the cover of book held by the apostle Thomas carved on the
facade of the church of Saint-Gilles-du-Gard (France, c. 1180), an in-
scription gives the following Biblical quotation (Fig. 8)25: NISI VI-
DERO IN MANIBUS EJUS FIXURAM CLAVORUM AND
MITTAM DIGITUM MEUM IN LOCUM CLAVORUM
AND MANUM IN LATUS EJUS NON CREDAM 26. The text
is inscribed in the space between the apostle’s ingers, just as on the
books engraved at Saint-Gilles-du-Gard. In the last line, however,
22 On this epitaph, see recently Trefort, Cécile. Mémoires carolingiennes. L’épitaphe entre
célébration mémorielle, genre littéraire et manifeste politique (milieu VIII e – début XI e siècle).
Rennes, 2007.
23 Ferrari, Simone. Van Eyck. Munich, 2013, 88-89.
24 CIFM 16, D 30, 135-137, ill. 88.
25 CIFM 13, G 67-73, 76-82. On the façade of the abbey church, see Hartmann-Virnich, Andreas.
La façade de l’abbatiale de Saint-Gilles-du-Gard. – Congrès archéologique de France. Gard, 1999,
No. 157, 271-292; Fishhof, Gil. Reconsidering the Sculptural Program of Saint-Gilles-du-Gard. –
Verzar Bornstein, Christine (dir.). Liber Amicorum Nurith Kenaan-Kedar. Tel Aviv, 2006, 93-118.
26 Jn 20:25: Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my inger into the place of
the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.
140
Fig. 6. Paris (France), Bibliothèque nationale de France, Gélone Sacramentary-BnF, ms. lat. 12048
(8th c.), fol. 143v. © BNF Paris
141
Fig. 7. Etoile-sur-Rhône (France), church, stone charter (1245). © CIFM/CESCM
the alphabetical signs are inscribed on the cloth covering the hand
holding the book (this is the only sculptural evidence of such an
iconographic feature). It is tempting to interpret the inscription on
the cloth as a sign of incompetent ordinatio: by failing to write on or
between the ingers of the igure, the sculptor would have lacked
epigraphic space at the botom of the book. It would be tempting,
but probably not convincing, to ofer the management of space as
an explanation for this composition. It would, however, be diicult
not to link the forma of the inscription and the visual importance of
the gestures of touching and gripping with the contents of the text.
How could we not consider that the device of the book is here as a
means of combining writing, as the narrative of a dramatic event,
and the anatomical details of the ingers? How can we not recognize
in the motif of the book the igure of Christ seized by Thomas’s left
hand near his body, and venerated by his right hand in his yearning
of the divine? In the case of this sculptural composition, writing
only acts as a system in its material, object-like, and formal dimen-
sion, and in the content of the text and the image. In Saint-Gilles-
du-Gard and in every other medieval sample of letering, writing
produces an artefact, a product of the encounter between a surface
and a gesture.
142
Writing as gesture
When considering the Mid-
dle Ages, the relationship
between gesture and writ-
ing – between a leter and a
body – can be approached
in many ways. The con-
tent of the colophons in
which the scribes describe
the sufering endured dur-
ing copying, the pain of
their muscles, the fatigue
of their bodies, constitutes
a promising and exciting
dossier27. The form of the
leter results from the trace
left by the movement of a
writing instrument, from
a kinetic relationship be-
tween the surface and the
actor, and from a choreo-
graphed embellishment of
the language. The ductus,
the order and the direction
8. Saint-Gilles-du-Gard (France), abbey church, Thomas
of each stroke makes up Fig. sculpture (c. 1180). © CIFM/CESCM
the index of this movement
binding the product, the actor, and the process of writing in one
shape (forma) of a leter. This creative and anthropological dimen-
sion takes writing outside the limits of the auxiliary sciences of Me-
dieval Studies (epigraphy, paleography, heraldry…), and institutes
it as a historical object, and therefore a historical subject.
Jean Mallon, a French paleographer, who died in 1982, was the irst
to draw our atention to the ductus as a fundamental product of
writing gestures. In addition to his vast scholarly output, Jean Mal-
lon wrote and directed two documentaries: La Letre in 1937, a vi-
sionary account of the evolution of writing seen through the scribes’
27 Reynhout, Lucien. Formules latines de colophons. Turnhout, 2006; Caramello, Eva. Si tu ne sais
pas ce qu’est l’écriture. La corporalité de l’acte d’écrire à travers l’iconographie romane. – Revue
d’Auvergne, 2014, 161-173.
143
body and gestures; Ductus in 1976, a kind of testament summariz-
ing all his thoughts on the subject. The two ilms show an evolution
in Mallon’s thinking, but also in his understanding of the concept
of the writen form. If in La Letre, the writen trace is ontologically
linked to the hand producing it (Fig. 9), Ductus ofers a vision of
the “life of the leter”, a life on its own terms, in which the sign is
autonomous, independent from the surface and gesture (Fig. 10). It
becomes a pure object, and Mallon’s movie makes the leters move
and live in the same way the scribes’ hands in the Middle Ages did.
Between the two documentaries, there is an undeniable aesthetic
shift that departs from the realm of paleographic discipline and its
approaches. The leter as a product of an ancient ars, as an object of
history, returns to its artistic dimension because it is a forma shaped
into a material: what the parchment or the stone were for the Middle
Ages, the medium of ilm was for Jean Mallon. In this shift, which
resembles a restitution of the semiotic essence of the leter, writing
persists as a visual work of art. Paleography, on the other hand,
disappears as a goal in its own right; it is only a tool. In the preface
to the collection of his articles, a few months before his death, Jean
Mallon called for the creation of a universal science of writing not to
advance paleography but to replace it, because all these objects, all
these leters are “pure history”28.
Conclusion
Ultimately, medieval writing could be the subject of a multidisci-
plinary, interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary approach. Speciic
methods would then have to be applied to facilitate the study of
leters, and the specialists of diferent ields would pass the texts
through the sieve of their own research questions. It would give us
all the opportunity to know more or understand beter what writ-
ing meant in medieval culture, and to ind new words or concepts
to describe the shape of leters and the scribal gestures. The devel-
opment of Digital Humanities and computer-based paleographical
28 Mallon, Jean. De l’écriture. Recueil d’études publiées de 1937 à 1981. Paris, 1986: “It is essential
to lay the foundations for another science, the science of all extern characters of all the monu-
ments which, without any exception nor distinction of language, show some writen records, on
any sorts of materials, whether hard, soft, lexible, or stif, long-lasting in every case where they
lasted […]. We should stop quartering the objects of this science with no name, somewhere in
between epigraphy, papyrology, paleography, and codicology.”
144
Fig. 9. Screenshot of Jean Mallon’s documentary La Letre
Fig. 10. Screenshot of Jean Mallon’s documentary Ductus
145
analysis in the last ten years have completely transformed this ield
of research, making descriptions more objective and accurate, and
inding beyond the variation of shapes and scripts some constants
in medieval literacy29. Simultaneously, the interpretation of scripts
by optic recognition systems and factorial approaches have led
paleographers to elaborate on the forms of leters according to their
textual or cultural contexts, taking them as shapes or visual objects
and not only resulting from particular gestures. This trend makes
Jean Mallon’s intuitions so modern, and it helps us to perceive writ-
ing as it as it was perceived during the Middle Ages, i.e. as an ob-
ject. In Christian Orthodox practices that deine God as logos and
litera, writing is a mater of theology; its use, however pragmatic,
contains some transcendence; its result, whatever the content, al-
ways includes the essence of the sacred that links scripture and the
Scriptures. The crossing of boundaries results from insubordination
and breaching of discipline. Medieval scholarship, especially when
it questions the ultimate practices of medieval culture, such as writ-
ing, art or liturgy, must also exhibit the same noncompliance. Only
in that way would we begin to understand the true status and deep
meaning of complex graphic objects.
29 The bibliography on this topic is vast. See, among others, Stokes, Peter. Digital Approaches to
Palaeography and Book History: Some Challenges, Present and Future. – Frontiers in Digital Hu-
manities 2:5 (2015); see also the websites presenting the purposes and results of the ORIFLAMMS
project (htp://orilamms.hypotheses.org/) and the DigiPal project (htp://www.digipal.eu/).
146
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Опит върху визуалната перспектива на
средновековното писане
Венсан Дебие
Тази статия изследва визуалните измерения на средновековните писмени

практики в Западна Европа. В нея се предлага тезата, че буквите са възпри-
емани от писачите и като азбучни знаци, но най-вече като форми, появяващи
се в резултат от конкретен жест върху или в материала. Подобна формал-
на и материална концепция за писането предразполага към „размиване“ на
границите между отделните дисциплини в медиевистиката – палеография,
кодикология, епиграфика, сигилография (сфрагистика)…, което подпомага
разбирането на уникалния и сложен подход към феномена на писането. Съ-
четавайки прозренията на големия френски палеограф Жан Мало и методи-
те на дигиталната хуманитаристика, статията предлага някои нови разсъжде-
ния върху средновековната визуална и писмена култура.
149
The Inner Portal
of St Mark’s Basilica in Venice
between East and West
Valentina Cantone1
University of Padua, Italy
Abstract: Above the main door of the inner portal of St Mark’s Basilica in Venice
there is a 16th century mosaic of St Mark in episcopal robes. This igure has been
considered an invention of the mosaicists who renovated this part of the church
during the Renaissance, when the Medieval decorations were changed. Neverthe-
less, after reconsidering local ideology, the inscription above the mosaic and the
function of this part of the church, it is possible to demonstrate that this mosaic was
renovated conserving the previous iconography, respecting the original decorative
plan of the portal.
Key words: Byzantine Art, Western Art, Byzantine Mosaic, Renaissance Mosaic,
Byzantine Iconography.
This paper focuses on the Renaissance mosaic of St Mark in episco-

pal robes placed above the main entrance in the narthex of the Do-
gal Chapel of Venice (Fig. 1), rebuilt in 1063, under Doge Domenico
Contarini, according to the Chronicle of Stefano Magno2. This mosa-
1 Dr Valentina Cantone is Associate Professor in the History of Medieval Art; she works at the
Department of Cultural Heritage: Archaeology, History of Art, Film and Music of the University
of Padua. A member of the Doctoral School, she specialises in Byzantine Art, Early Christian Art,
History of Byzantine Illumination, and takes a multi-methodological approach to Early Christian
and Medieval mosaics.
2 Stefano Magno. Annali. Venezia, Museo Correr, Biblioteca, BMCVe, ms. Cicogna 3530, Vol. 2,
c. 113 v.
151
ic, set in a gilded background, is placed in an apse above two rows
divided into many niches (Fig. 2). In the row below the apse there
are mosaic igures of the Virgin and Child between the Apostles.
In the lower row, are placed the four Evangelists. These two rows
received mosaic decoration in the late 11th or early 12th century3. In
the opinion of the inluential art historian Oto Demus, the current
portrait of St Mark was a later addition which did not correspond to
the original decorative composition of the church. The main argu-
ment used by Demus, followed by other scholars, was that it would
be inconceivable for a Byzantine artist to place a portrait of St Mark
above the igure of the Virgin and Child. Only the Pantokrator could
be placed in this position. In the irst part of the paper, this state-
ment is put under discussion. In Early Christian and Byzantine Art,
the igure of Christ is depicted above the main gates of the churches,
whilst local saints are often to be found above lateral, minor doors,
forming a precise hierarchy. However, on occasion the icon of the
patron saint of a church is found placed above the main entrance.
Even if the architecture and the use of mosaic decoration laid out by
Byzantine artists in St Mark’s Basilica is still considered a copy of
eastern models, in particular the copy of the Holy Apostles church
(Apostoleion) in Constantinople, there are elements in this church
which innovated away from Byzantine tradition and took into con-
sideration local religious needs. In the second part of this paper the
local western elements are considered in order to demonstrate that
even if the main mosaicist was a Byzantine, a claim which Liz James
has placed under fresh scrutiny4, there are also western elements
that have previously been ignored. First: the frequent use of the ig-
ure of the patron saint above the gates of this church, which serves
as a Cathedral church annexed to the Dogal Palace. Second: the Latin
inscription above the mosaic of St Mark, restored in the 16th century,
is a copy of an earlier medieval inscription. The paper inishes with
a discussion about the role of the mosaic of St Mark’s igure in the li-
turgical and funereal function of the space over which it commands.
Above the main inner entrance of the Dogal Chapel, is the standing
igure of St Mark in episcopal robes, orant and pointing towards
3 Demus, Oto. The mosaics of S. Marco in Venice, I, The Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries. Vol-
ume One: Text. Chicago and London, 1984, 21.
4 James, Liz. Mosaic Maters. Questions of Manufacturing and Mosaicists in the Mosaics of
San Marco, Venice. In: Henry Maguire, Robert S. Nelson (eds.). San Marco, Byzantium and the
Miths of Venice. Washington, 2010, 227-243.
152
the central bay of the narthex,
completed in 1545 by the broth-
ers Francesco and Valerio Zuccati
(Fig. 1). They had probably em-
ployed a cartoon, a large and very
detailed drawing used to create
paintings, frescoes and mosaics,
drawn by their friend Tiziano Ve-
cellio5 (Fig. 2).
The role of the 16th century igure
of St Mark in this location was
an important one, as the inner
portal was used as the main en-
trance for the public processions
into the Cathedral, when all citi-
zens and important guests such
as Emperors, Popes and Ambas-
sadors, were invited to partici- Fig. 1. Venice, St Mark, western atrium, main inner portal
pate in religious feasts and civil
events held there. Between the
16th and 19th centuries, the mosaic
of St Mark was thought by some
as the “most unforgetable, noble,
perfect igure ever made in mosa-
ic, in the opinion of everyone in
every part of the world”6. There
are now two main theories about
the origins of St Mark mosaic. The
irst one is by Etore Merkel7, Pro-
fessor of History of Modern Art
5 Suida, Wilhelm. Tiziano. Roma, 1933, 67.

Merkel, Etore. Tiziano e i mosaicisti a San Mar-
co. In: Tiziano e Venezia/ Ati del convegno di
studi. Vicenza, 1976, 275-283. Longhi, Roberto.
Calepino veneziano. – Arte Veneta, 1947, No. 3,
192-194.
6 Sansovino, Francesco. Venetia cità nobilissi-
ma et singolare. Venezia, 1581, I, 98.
7 Merkel, Etore. I mosaici del Cinquecento ve-
neziano. Prima parte. – Saggi e memorie di sto- Fig. 2. Venice, St Mark, western atrium, main inner portal,
ria dell’arte, 1994, No. 19, 73-140, 130. apse, mosaic, detail, St Mark orant in episcopal robes
153
Fig. 3. Venice, St Mark, western facade, lunete above the door of St Alypius, mosaic, detail,
Traslatio corporis S. Marci
in Venice, who asserted that the mosaic was a copy of a 12th century
igure, which in turn replaced the original image of the Pantokrator.
The second theory was put forward by Oto Demus8 and Renato
Polacco9, who thought that the actual mosaic was inished after a
campaign of reconstruction which subverted the original architec-
tural structure of the portal and its decorative plan by opening the
large lightwell, called the “pozzo”, corresponding to the central bay
of the atrium, once covered by a vault built in the 12th century. De-
mus and Polacco agreed that the original inner portal was lower
than the current one and decorated by a mosaic of the Pantokrator
placed at the top of the arrangement, above the Apostles and the
Virgin Mary and Child, as shown by the 13th century mosaic above
8 Demus. The mosaics of S. Marco in Venice, I, 21.

9 Polacco, Renato. La basilica d’oro. Venezia, 1991, 31-32, 204.
154
Fig. 4. Hosios Loukas, atrium, lunete above the main inner door, mosaic, Christ Pantokrator
the door of St Alypius on the western façade of the church (Fig. 3)10.
They came to this conclusion because of the hierarchy of the igures:
only Christ Pantokrator could stay in this honoured position, in the
lunete above the main inner door (Fig. 4), like in the catholicon of
Hosios Loukas.
There is a long textual and symbolic tradition which assigns the
igure of Christ to this particular position11. Such examples include
Christ as a Good Shepherd in the lunete above the entrance of the so-
called Mausoleum of Galla Placidia12, in Ravenna and Christ tread-
10 Tigler, Guido. La facciata ovest di San Marco a Venezia: progeto e decorazione. In: Flaminia
Bardati, Anna Rossellini (eds.). Arte e architetura. Le cornici della storia. Milano, 2007, 60.
11 Spieser, Jean-Michel. Rélexions sur décor et fonctions des portes monumentales. In: Antonio
Iacobini (ed.). Le porte del paradiso: arte e tecnologia bizantina tra Italia e Mediterraneo. Roma,
2009, 65-79.
12 Bovini, Giuseppe. Ediici di culto di Ravenna di età preteodoriciana. Bologna, 1969, 176. Dei-
chmann, Friedrich Wilhelm. Ravenna Hauptstadt des spätantiken Abendlandes, Kommentar II, 1.
155
ing on the snake and the
lion in the mosaics above
the door of the Archiepis-
copal Chapel of Ravenna13,
where he shows an open
book in which it is writen
that he is the way and the
truth and the life (John 14:
6), enhancing the symbolic
meaning of the gate as a
transitum toward salvation.
In the illumination of the
folio 2v (= p. 4) of the Co-
dex purpureus Rossanensis,
Christ himself opens the
doors to the wise women
holding the lamps, leaving
the foolish outside the Gar-
den of Eden (Mathew 25:
1-13)14.
Byzantine church doors
were meant to represent
Teil. Die Bauten bis zum Tode Theode-

richs des Großen. Wiesbaden, 1974, 71.
Rizzardi, Clementina. Mosaici parietali
esistenti e scomparsi di età placidiana
a Ravenna: iconograie imperiali ed
apocalitiche. – Corso di cultura sull’ar-
te ravennate e bizantina, 1993, No. 40,
395.
13 Deichmann. Ravenna Hauptstadt
des spätantiken Abendlandes, 199-204.
Grabar, André, L’empereur dans l’art
byzantin. Paris, 1936, 189.
14 De Mafei, Fernanda. Il Codice Pur-
pureo di Rossano Calabro: la sua pro-
blematica e alcuni risultati di ricerca.
In: Testimonianze cristiane antiche ed
altomedievali nella Sibaritide/Ati del
Convegno Nazionale. Corigliano –
Rossano, 1978. Bari, 1980, 121-264. De
Fig. 5. Venice, St Mark, western atrium, Mafei, Fernanda. Il Codice Purpureo di
main inner portal, irst row, mosaic, Rossano Calabro. In: Ati del Congres-
detail, St Mark the Evangelist so Internazionale su S. Nilo di Rossano,
Rossano 1986. Rossano, 1989, 365-376.
156
Fig. 6. Venice, St Mark, western atrium, central bay,
mosaic, St Mark the Evangelist
the gate between two dimensions: the earthly one and the heaven-
ly one; sin and mercy and between the Old and New Testaments.
From this point of view, it is not diicult to understand the pres-
ence of the Virgin Mary above church doors post-Iconoclasm. She
is depicted in this position in the frontispiece of the Lectionary in
the Vatican Library, ms. Vat. Gr. 1156 (f. 1r) of the 12th century15; in
the paintings of the Panagia Asinou (Cyprus)16; in the mosaics on
the western wall of the church of Santa Maria Assunta in Torcel-
lo (Venice)17, a few amongst many examples. Above the doors, it
15 D’Aiuto, Francesco. Lezionario dei Vangeli. Greco (Vat. Gr.1156). In: Francesco D’Aiuto, Gio-
vanni Morello, Ambrogio M. Piazzoni (eds.). I vangeli dei popoli. La parola e l’immagine del
Cristo nelle culture e nella storia/Catalogo della mostra (Cità del Vaticano, Palazzo della Cancel-
leria, 21 giugno – 10 dicembre 2000). Cità del Vaticano, 2000, 244-248.
16 Weyl Carr, Annemarie. Nicolaidès, Andréas. Asinou across time: studies in the architecture and
murals of the Panagia Phorbiotissa, Cyprus. Washington, 2012.
17 Piano, Natacha. I mosaici della catedrale di Torcello: l’interazione fra architetura e iconogra-
157
Fig. 7. Venice, St Mark, western atrium, main inner portal,
door of Leo da Molino, panel, St Mark the Evangelist with the donor
is also possible to ind other intercessors between the earthly and

heavenly dimensions. This role could be assigned to a patron saint
of a church, like for example at St George of Kurbinovo18.
In the above scholars’ opinions19, it is necessary to consider that the
ia atraverso il tema della porta. – Arte Veneta, 2005, No. 62, 6-13.
18 Hadermann-Misguich, Lydie. Une longue tradition byzantine. La décoration extérieure des
églises. – Zograf, 1977, No. 7, 5-10.
19 Demus. The mosaics of S. Marco, 21; Polacco, Renato. La basilica d’oro. Venezia, 1991, 31-32,
204.
158
portrait of St Mark (end of the 11th c. – beginning of 12th c.) was al-
ready present in the portal in one of the niches in the irst register of
the exedra (Fig. 5). They thought that the double portrait, one on the
apse, the other on the niche, was evidence that the later Renaissance
mosaic was an invention, which subverted the original decorative
program. Nevertheless, it is necessary to consider that this repeti-
tion of Mark’s portrait is perhaps not an unusual exception in the
church, as shown by the sheer number of the portraits of St Mark
in the Dogal Chapel. In total, there are currently 44 portraits of the
Evangelist, but that number is probably an incomplete one and the
true, original number would have been higher.
Considering only the portraits above the gates of the Dogal Chapel,
St Mark appears above ive doors. In the vestibule of the atrium, in
front of the inner entrance, there are four images of Mark: two on
the exedra20 (Figs. 1 and 5), one in the “pozzo”21 (Fig. 6) and one on
the door of Leo da Molino (1117)22 (Fig. 7). Another portrait stands
near the Virgin in the northern atrium (Fig. 8), above the Madon-
na’s door (also called St John’s door)23, in front of the St Alypius’
door, where the lunete was decorated with the mosaic depicting
the traslatio corporis of Mark in the basilica24 (Fig. 3). The mosaic of
Mark giving a blessing is above the door in the southern transept25
(Fig. 9). This door directly connected the church with the palace and
was used by the Doge and their families. Mark replaced John the
Baptist in the Deesis mosaic (13th century) above the main exit (Fig.
10), where the open book held by Christ declares his role as the gate
for salvation, and reminds us that the door of the church is the tran-
situm for the eternal life in the heavenly garden: “Ego sum ostium
per me si quis introierit salvabitur et pascua inveniet” (John 10:9)26.
20 Andaloro, Maria. Da Villa Urbani, Maria et alii. San Marco. Basilica patriarcale in Venezia. I mo-
saici, le iscrizioni, la Pala d’Oro. Milano, 1991, 149-150, ig. 3 and ig. without number on the left.
21 Andaloro, Da Villa Urbani, et alii. San Marco, 152, ig. 7a.
22 Paribeni, Andrea. Le porte ageminate della basilica di S. Marco a Venezia tra storia e commit-
tenza. In: Antonio Iacobini (ed.). Le porte del paradiso: arte e tecnologia bizantina tra Italia e
Mediterraneo. Roma, 2009, 301-318. Vio, Etore. Le porte bizantine di Venezia: storia e restauro.
In: Antonio Iacobini (ed.). Le porte del Paradiso, 283-300. Forlati, Ferdinando. Le porte bizantine
di San Marco. Venezia 1969.
23 Andaloro, Da Villa Urbani, et alii. San Marco, 178, ig. 8
24 Andaloro, Da Villa Urbani, et alii. San Marco, 209, ig. 4.
25 Andaloro, Da Villa Urbani, et alii. San Marco, 103, ig. 4.
26 “I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and
ind pasture”. Andaloro, Da Villa Urbani, et alii. San Marco, 121.
159
The ubiquitous presence of St Mark’s portrait in the basilica, espe-
cially above the doors, suggests that between the 11th and 13th cen-
turies his cult was considered as a gate to Christ, and his mercy
was necessary to obtain salvation. From a Byzantinists point of view
which considers Byzantine iconography as the model for the Do-
gal chapel, it is diicult to reconcile the high position assigned to
St Mark in the church with a standard model of Byzantine icono-
graphic practices.
St Mark’s Basilica is decorated with more than 8000 m2 of mosaic on
a gilded background, like the most beautiful Byzantine churches,
but it is vital to remember that the Dogal Chapel is not an Orthodox
church. It used the Latin Catholic liturgy27. The iconographic com-
positional design of the church takes Early Christian mosaic deco-
rations from Rome and the Northern Adriatic traditions as a mod-
el28. The iconography celebrates the heritage of Peter in the Italian
peninsula and the role of St Clement, St Hermagoras and St Mark
in converting the population, as shown in the main apse decoration
in St Mark’s Basilica, with the help of the local saints represented
in the transept29. Of course, there are some interesting elements
derived from Byzantine Art, which were considered useful for the
local ideology and incorporated into it. The mosaics of the church
often show the portraits of the four Evangelists among the twelve
Apostles, as in the portal, where St Mark, Luke, Mathew and John
are in the lower row, and Philip, Simon, James, Peter, Paul, Andrew,
Thomas and Bartholomew are in the second row. This is evidence
that the mosaicists used the Greek list of the Apostles where the
Evangelists are included30. In Venice, the use of this list was very
signiicant. During the 11th century, the relics of St Mark and St
Luke (in the church of St Justine in Padua) were amongst the most
27 Arlt, Wulf, Catin, Giulio (eds.). Itinerari e stratiicazioni dei tropi. San Marco, l’Italia seten-
trionale e le regioni transalpine/Testi d’un convegno e di sessioni di studio negli anni 1992–1995
presso la Fondazione Ugo e Olga Levi. Venezia, 2008. Catin, Giulio (ed.) Da Bisanzio a San Mar-
co. Musica e liturgia. Venezia, 1997. Catin, Giulio. Musica e liturgia a San Marco. Venezia, 1990.
28 Zuliani, Fulvio. Considerazioni sul lessico architetonico della San Marco contariniana. – Arte
Veneta, 1975, No. 29, 50-59. Tigler. La facciata ovest, 47.
29 Ødegard, Åse, Sinding-Larsen, Staale. Osservazioni sul mosaico dell’abside maggiore di San
Marco. In: Renato Polacco (ed.). Storia dell’arte marciana: i mosaici. Venezia, 1997, 56-73.
30 Guignard, Christophe. La tradition grecque de la liste d’apôtres “Anonyme I” (BHG 153c),
avec un appendice sur la liste BHG 152n. – Apocrypha. International Journal of Apocryphal Li-
terature, 2015, No. 26, 171-209. Dolbeau, François. Listes d’apôtres et de disciples. In: Prophètes,
apôtres et disciples dans les traditions chrétiennes d’Occident. Vies brèves et listes en latin (Sub-
sidia hagiographica 92). Bruxelles, 2012, 171-198.
160
Fig. 8. Venice,
St Mark, northern
atrium, Madonna
door (also called
St John door), lunete
above the door,
mosaic,
The Virgin and Child
between St Mark and
St John
Fig. 9. Venice,
St Mark, southern
transept, lunete
above the door,
St Mark the
Evangelist blessing
Fig. 10. Venice,

St Mark, central
nave, western main
door, lunete, mosaic,
Deesis with Christ
between St Mark and
the Virgin Mary
important conserved in the North-Eastern area of Italy and became
the building-blocks of local devotion and identity.
The comparison with the mosaic of the Pantokrator above the in-
ner door of the narthex of the catholicon of Hosios Loukas, already
shown by Oto Demus in 193131, is an interesting one, but it is vital
to examine the mosaics in their context; taking into account the in-
scriptions as well as the rituals and the architecture of the buildings
in which they are displayed. This part constitutes the last paragraph
of this contribution, in which I propose a new reading of the in-
scription above the monumental image of St Mark (Fig. 1). As the
inscription demonstrates, the Renaissance mosaic of St Mark con-
serves the shape and the memory of the earlier Medieval one.
On the extrados of the arch of the semicircular space where the ig-
ure expansis manibus of St Mark is standing, there is an inscription
with a metric composition, which corresponds to a double hexam-
eter called leonine verse. Leonine verse was a type of versiication,
which rhymes in the middle, common to Latin verse in the 11th and
12th centuries32.
The original medieval inscription was copied by the Zuccati broth-
ers when they completed the mosaic in 1545. The fact that the Zuc-
cati’s preserved this important and integral part of the original mo-
saic was not recognized by earlier scholarship of the mosaic. They
considered the inscription to be a later addition, not a copy of a me-
dieval prototype, just as they had with the actual image of St Mark.
The inscription from the 16th century writen in capital leters was
an invocation divided into two hexameters, separated by a round-
ed dark blue piece of glass. It says: ALAPIS MARCE DELICTA
PRECANTIBUS ARCE UT SURGA[N]T PER TE FACTORE SUO
MISERANTE. The internal rhyme underlies the salviic action of
the Patron Saint with the invocation Marce-arce, which means “Oh
Mark, remove the sins from those who are praying, so that they re-
suscitate through you thanks to the mercy of their creator”.
There are two problems with the word alapis, which must be read
àlapis. It is a plural Ablative of the word àlapa, which means “slap”.
31 Diez Ernst. Demus, Oto. Byzantine Mosaics in Greece. Hosios Lucas & Daphni. Cambridge,
1931, 100.
32 Brogan, Terry V.F. Leonine rhyme, verse. In: Roland Greene, Stephen Cushman (eds.). The
Princeton Encyclopedia of poetry & poetics. Princeton, 2012, 796.
162
Nevertheless, the word àlapis does not it in at this point, because
in hexameter it is necessary that the irst accent falls on the second
syllable. Maybe this is the reason why this short verse, atested in
literary sources from the 17th century, is corrected in the Grant Al-
len’s guide of Venice of 1902 as A-lapis33. This solution corrects the
right metric of the hexameter, but it makes no sense once translated,
because it is incorrect from a grammatical point of view34.
Even if scholars have already found that mosaicists made some
mistakes when copying the medieval inscriptions during the 16th
century, nobody has considered before this word as a corruption.
All scholars working on this material from 1604 to 1984 accept this
form35, which was also curiously omited from two important vol-
umes on the mosaics of St Mark published in 199136, whose author
does not translate this word.
A solution for correcting the verse might be to consider that the orig-
inal words in the incipit of this hexameter were A LAPSIS not ÁLA-
PIS. A LAPSIS means “from the fallen” or “from the dead”. In the
hexameter, this works because of its rhythmic features and it makes
sense considering the funeral function of the atrium of the Dogal
Chapel. From the 11th century, the narthex of the church served as
a burial place for the Doges and their families37, who hoped for res-
urrection guaranteed by the patron saint. Moreover, this part of the
Cathedral played an important role in the Easter procession of the
Visitatio sepulcri, which precedes the celebration of the resurrection
of Christ who guaranties the salvation of all believers38. The funeral
compositional design is conirmed by the other 16th century mosaics
carried out by the Zuccati brothers which decorate the pozzo. The
33 Allen, Grant. Venice. Grant Allen’s historical guides books to the principal cities of Europe
treating concisely and thoroughly of the principal historic and artistic points of interest therein,
New York, 1902, 262.
34 It should be a lapide (a + ablative).
35 See the literary tradition in Cantone, Valentina. Deiana, Rita. Valenzano, Giovanna. Nuove pro-
spetive di ricerca sul portale centrale dell’atrio di San Marco, dalla storia dell’arte alle tecnologie
applicate ai beni culturali. In: Etore Vio (ed.). La Basilica di San Marco, un libro aperto. Venezia,
pp. 401-410, in press.
36 Andaloro. Da Villa Urbani et alii. San Marco. Basilica patriarcale in Venezia.
37 Brenk, Beat. Zur Funktion des Atriums von San Marco in Venedig. In: Martin Büchsel, Herbert
Kessler, Rebecca Müller (eds.). The Atrium of San Marco in Venice. The Genesis and Medieval
Reality of the Genesis Mosaics. Berlin, 2014, 49-72.
38 Catin, Giulio. Musica e liturgia a San Marco, 32. See also: Rankin, Susan. “Quem queritis”
en voyage in Italy. In: Wulf Arlt, Giulio Catin (eds.). Itinerari e stratiicazioni dei tropi, 177, 309.
163
mosaics are placed inside the vestibule in front of the inner portal,
where there are other leonine verses, too. They show the Death of the
Virgin, The Cruciixion and the Entombment of Christ, iconographies
clearly coherent with the funeral function of this part of the atrium.
The frequency of St Mark’s portrait above the doors in the Dogal
Chapel demonstrates the importance of local ideology in the mo-
saics of this Cathedral. Saint Mark was the saint who guaranteed
Venetian fortunes in the Mediterranean and, at the same time, was
the Patron who provided the gate for the Salvation of the Doges and
their families buried in the narthex. To celebrate the church which
represents the power of the Venetian State, which also conserves
the relics of the patron saint, the Doges had used Early Christian
models and the Byzantine tradition of mosaic decoration39, but the
decorative design of its composition only in part corresponds to the
methods of Byzantine artists, as already demonstrated in the ar-
chitecture and the sculptures of this church40. The Latin inscription
combined with the 16th century igure of St Mark above the inner
door of the narthex conserves the original medieval plan, copying
the previous iconography, renovating its style, and remaining co-
herent with the original funeral function of the narthex.
39 Demus, Oto. Byzantine Mosaic Decoration. Aspects of monumental art in Byzantium. Boston,
1955, 19, 27, 68-73.
40 See note 26.
164
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168
Вътрешната порта на „Сан Марко“
във Венеция между Изтока и Запада
Валентина Кантоне
Тази статия е посветена на част от резултатите от проучване, реализирано от

Университета в Падуа, което беше координирано от автора. Мозайките в парак-
лиса на дожите във Венеция, посветен на св. Марко, тук са преосмислени във вся-
какъв аспект като материали, техника, иконография, надписи, литургия и архи-
тектурен контекст. Статията представя изводите от този подход към мозаечната
декорация, като търси отговори, свързани със значимостта на вътрешната порта
в базиликата „Сан Марко“ в граничната ѝ роля между византийската традиция
и западното изкуство, фокусирана в изображението на св. Марко в молитвена
поза над входа и придружаващия я надпис.
Въпреки че през периода XVI–XVIII в. портретът на св. Марко е възприеман като

„най-незабравимата, изискана и перфектна фигура, правена някога с мозаечна
техника, по мнението на всеки от всички краища на света“, през XIX в. изображе-
нието се приема за непохватно подобие на оригинала.
Византолозите смятат за сигурно, че мозайката, представяща Пантократор, пър-

воначално е била разположена в най-висота част на портала, над апостолите и
св. Богородица с младенеца. Причината да достигнат до това заключение е йе-
рархичното достойнство на фигурите: само Христос Вседържител би могъл да
се изобрази на това място, както е например в католикона на „Осиос Лукас“, т.е.
в люнета, над централния вход на нартекса. По тази причина в раннохристиян-
ските и ранновизантийските църкви Христос се изобразява над основния вход на
храмовете. Над тях се разполагат и портрети на Дева Мария, на местни светци,
следващи прецизна йерархия.
Въпреки това не бива да се забравя, че параклисът на дожите не е православна

църква. На място се отслужва латинска грегорианска литургия, а иконографска-
та програма отбелязва появата на св. Петър на Апенинския полуостров, както
и ролята на св. Климент, св. Хермагор и св. Марко в покръстването на местното
население. Това е държавнически параклис, който би трябвало да изразява ло-
калната идеология и нейното отстояние от византийската култура. Чрез анализа
на промяната в надписа на мозайката и архитектурния контекст, сред който мо-
зайките съществуват, авторът показва, че фигурата на св. Марко, независимо от
ренесансовия си стил, запазва спомена за оригиналната декоративна програма,
която е резултат от иконографски хибрид между източната и западната тради-
ция, вкупом ангажирани да отбележат ролята на св. Марко в параклиса на дър-
жавниците – архитектурна метафора на венецианската мощ и идентичност.
169
Images and Texts across Time:
The Three Layers of Mural Paintings
in the Church of St George in Soia
Elka Bakalova1
Tsvetan Vasilev2
Soia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”
Abstract. With a history stretching back about sixteen centuries, the church of St
George in Soia is one of the most emblematic landmarks of the city. The three
mural layers represent the leading trends in the Byzantine art of the period when
they were created: from the eleventh to the fourteenth century. This study ofers a
new interpretation of the epigraphic data from the scrolls of the saints, which are
depicted in the second layer. By analyzing the relevant literary sources – wherever
possible – the study reveals the importance of these texts for the spiritual aspira-
tions of their reading publics.
Key words: Byzantine art, wall painting, Byzantine epigraphy, Greek inscriptions.
The church of St George in Soia is one of the oldest structures with

a central plan in the territory of Bulgaria. The church is a monumen-
tal brick building on a square foundation with four semi-circular
1 Prof. Dsc. Elka Bakalova is a corresponding member of the Bulgarian Academy of Scienc-
es. All her research, teaching, and public activities focus on medieval Bulgarian and Byzantine
art, Christian rites, as well as on the preservation of the monuments of culture.
2 Dr. Tsvetan Vasilev is an Assistant Professor in Classics at the Department of Classical Philolo-
gy at Soia University “St Kliment Ohridski”. His research interests focus on Medieval Greek and
Medieval Latin epigraphy and palaeography.
171
Fig. 1. The Church of St George, general view
niches at the corners of the square and a large rectangular niche

on the eastern wall; when it was converted into a church, the niche
became an altar apse. The upper part of the building is shaped as
a cylinder (the actual rotunda) with a diameter of 9.5 m; it is com-
pleted with a semi-spherical dome. The total height of the church is
about 14 m (Fig. 1).
The initial function and the dating of the building is still under dis-
cussion. According to some scholars, it was constructed as a Roman
bathhouse between the second to the beginning of the fourth cen-
tury. They regard the remains of a hypocaust system found in the
course of excavations as evidence in support of their theory. Others
believe that the building was originally a cult structure – a martyrion
or a baptisterion, – dating from the irst half of the fourth century,
and that the system of the rectangular pools were not a hypocaust
but there for ventilation and drainage purposes. The earliest pub-
172
lication on the subject is by Bogdan Filov3, but he mainly focuses
on the architecture and the architectural context of the monument.
André Grabar accepted Filov’s conclusion that the original function
of the Rotunda was as a bathhouse. He noted that the dedication to
St George could have been inluenced by the round church with the
same dedication in Thessalonica, although the original function of
the two difered, making the similarity of the architectural design
purely accidental4.
The exact time when the building started to be used as a church is
unknown. The irst two layers were discovered during restoration
work completed in 1971. Until then, only the third layer of the mu-
ral paintings and a few older fragments, previously published by B.
Filov, were known. Following this stage of restoration, several fur-
ther studies were published, revealing data about the newly found
mural paintings5.
The most recent study on the church of St George was carried out
by Asen Kirin. His opinion was that the Rotunda of St George is the
oldest standing structure in the city of Soia (ancient Serdica). Built
in the early 300s C.E., the structure has been in nearly continuous
use for sixteen centuries. Originally a part of a Roman bath, by the
second half of the ifth century it was converted into a church. This
church served Serdica as its cathedral between the ifth and the six-
teenth century, when it was converted into a mosque. The Rotunda
became a church again in 1878.
At the time of its construction in the early fourth century, the Rotun-
da was part of a large architectural complex that comprised the im-
perial palace in Serdica. In all likelihood, this was the residence of
Emperor Constantine the Great during his lengthy stays in Serdica
3 Filov, Bogdan. Софийската църква „Св. Георги” [Sofiyskata tsarkva “Sv. Georgi”]. – Мате-
риали за историята на София [Materiali za istoriyata na Sofiya], 1933, No. 7, 103.
4 Grabar, André. La peinture religieuse en Bulgarie. Paris, 1928, 86-88.
5 Prashkov, Lyuben. Нови данни за стенописите в църквата „Св. Георги“ в София [Novi
danni za stenopisite v tsarkvata “Sv. Georgi” v Soiya]. – Изкуство [Izkustvo], 1966, No. 10, 32-
35; Krasovska-Raynova, Lyuba. Нови проучвания и консервация на стенописите в църквата
„Св. Георги“ в София [Novi prouchvaniya i konservatsiya na stenopisite v tsarkvata “Sv.
Georgi” v Soiya]. – Музеи и паметници на културата [Muzei i pametnitsi na kulturata], 1971,
No. 4, 38-40; Prashkov, Lyuben. За средновековната живопис в църквата „Св. Георги“ в София
[Za srednovekovnata zhivopis v tsarkvata “Sv. Georgi” v Soiya]. – Изкуство [Izkustvo], 1971,
No. 4, 12-13; Kandarasheva, Irina. Стенописите от първия живописен слой в църквата „Св.
Георги“ в София [Stenopisite ot parviya zhivopisen sloy v tsarkvata “Sv. Georgi” v Soiya]. –
Palaeobulgarica, 1995, No. 4, 94-113.
173
Fig. 2. The irst layer of the mural paintings
at diferent times between 316 and 321 C.E. The late antique impe-
rial palace in Serdica is virtually unknown and has never received
suicient atention from scholars6.
In her latest book, Ani Dancheva-Vasileva presents key data on the
early history of Serdica. Based on an analysis of all source data, as
well as of scholarly views, the author made the following assump-
tion: “A number of historians believe that the Episcopal church of
Serdica Triaditsa that initially contained St John of Rila’s relics was
indeed the church of St George, the Rotunda…” And further on:
“… after four centuries, upon their return to Soia, the holy relics
will be deposited in the Church of St George. One could assume
6 Kirin, Asen. The Rotunda of St George and Late Antique Serdica: From Imperial Palace to
Episcopal Complex. Ph.D. Dissertation directed by Prof. Slobodan Curcic. Princeton University,
2000.
174
Fig. 3. An angel’s face, irst layer
that the temple where the relics were deposited the irst time would
be used again to house them for seven days before their delivery to
Rila Monastery”7.
A general description of the murals in the church can be found in L.
Mavrodinova and M. Tsoncheva’s publications8.
The irst layer of the mural paintings consists of the images in the
drum and in the large semi-spherical dome (Fig. 2). These repre-
sent six angels as a part of a composition of heavenly forces adoring
Christ, whose igure was probably at the top of the dome (the exist-
7 Dancheva-Vasileva, Ani. История на средновековна София IV–XIV век [Istoriya na srednove-

kovna Soiya IV–XIV vek]. Soia, 2017, 433-434.
8 Tsoncheva, Mara. Църквата „Св. Георги“ в София [Tsarkvata “Sv. Georgi” v Soiya]. Soia,
1979; Mavrodinova, Lilyana. Стенната живопис в България до края на XIV век [Stennata zhivo-
pis v Balgariya do kraya na XIV vek]. Soia, 1995, 21-22, 35.
175
ing image belongs to the third layer and dates back to the fourteenth
century).
For ive of the angels’ images, only the lower part survives; on the
last image, the face is preserved and it is exquisitely painted (Fig.
3). Insofar as we can judge from the present state of the wall paint-
ing, the color range was generally light and pastel – light blue, light
brown, light grey, light pink.
The faded images of four prophets adorn the wall between the win-
dows. Three of them are beter preserved: Jonah (judging by Filov’s
photograph), John the Forerunner and a third prophet that remains
unidentiied. Modern scholars unanimously atribute these igures
to the eleventh century, but their opinions difer regarding the more
precise dating within the eleventh century. We strongly believe that
the imposing monumental features of the igures; the marked relief
of the forms; the heavy folds of the drapery that enhance the bodies’
stereometric element, and above all the archangel’s face, with its
exquisite beauty and modeling, all correspond to the classicizing
style in Byzantine Art such as can be found in the eleventh-century
mosaics in Daphne near Athens, Greece.
The wall paintings from the second layer include images of church
feasts and several igures in full length. Above all, there are eight
igures of prophets, depicted two by two between the windows of
the drum. L. Mavrodinova has published a study focusing on the
prophets’ images from the irst and second painting layers of the
church9.
Below the igures of the monks on the western wall, fragments of
a donor’s composition are preserved; its upper part consists of a
igure in bishop’s garments holding the model the church and is
of particular interest. The donor in this layer of the mural paint-
ing could be the Bishop of Serdica. The large circular inscription in
Greek at the base of the drum also belongs to this layer. It is very
likely that the name of the Bishop of Serdica was also mentioned in
it, but this does not survive in the present state of preservation.
E. Pezopoulos and K. Konstantopoulos have provided a more com-
plete reading of the inscription, revealing that in reality it is a piece
9 Mavrodinova, Liliana. Les prophètes des deux premières couches de peinture à l’église St.
Georges à Sofia. In: Αφιέρωμα στη μνήμη του Σωτήρη Κίσσα. Θεσσαλονίκη, 2001, 283-290.
176
Fig. 4. The full-length images of the ive monks, western wall
of poetry composed in the iambic meter. The poetic topoi identiied

by Pezopulos indicate that the author of the epigram was well ac-
quainted with the works of Middle Byzantine Constantinopolitan
literature10.
After the completion of the general restoration of the church and its
wall paintings, it became clear that the iconographic program of the
second wall-painting layer was not changed much in comparison
with the irst one, as the fragments of images and haloes respective-
ly of prophets and monks from the irst layer can be distinguished
beneath the frieze with the prophets on the drum and the monks
above the western entrance. Restoration provided evidence that the
irst layer was removed before applying the decoration of the sec-
10 Konstantopoulos, Konstantinos. Επιγραφή δυσανάγνωστος. – Επετηρίς Εταιρείας

Βυζαντινών Σπουδών, 1935, Έτος ΙΑ’, 416-420; Pezopoylos, Εmmanouil. Επιγραφής δυσανα-
γνώστου ανάγνωσις. – Επετηρίς Εταιρείας Βυζαντινών Σπουδών, 1936, Έτος ΙΒ’, 433-438.
For the updated edition of the epigram, see: Rhoby, Andreas. Byzantinische Epigramme auf Fre-
sken und Mosaiken (= Byzantinische Epigramme in inschriftlicher Überlieferung, eds. Wolfram
Hörandner, Andreas Rhoby, Anneliese Paul, Vol. 1). Vienna, 2009, Nr. 5.
177
ond layer. However, the dome base with the angel-painted frieze
was not decorated anew at that period of time, as the wall paint-
ings of the third layer from the fourteenth century cover the angels’
igures directly. Apparently, the dome was partially destroyed and
rebuilt in the period between the irst and the third painting of the
church.
The images of the Holy Virgin and of Archangel Gabriel that con-
stitute the composition of the Annunciation were depicted on both
sides of the altar apse, while the remaining feast scenes are situated,
two by two, in the four niches of the church. The Dormition of the
Virgin scene is situated on the southern wall, and the scene of the
Cruciixion on the northern one.
The images of the four Evangelists belong to the same layer, as well
as the full-length images of ive holy monks that occupy the entire
area above the entrance on the western wall. Four of the monks hold
scrolls with inscriptions; the later have still not been deciphered
properly in scientiic publications (Fig. 4). At present these images
lack identifying inscriptions; it has not been established with cer-
tainty whether such inscriptions were writen at all and the subject
is still debatable, as the upper section of almost all the images is
damaged.
The irst atempt to read the four inscriptions on the scrolls of the
full-length images of the monks was made at the beginning of the
twentieth century (1901) by Eftim Sprostranov11. In his comments
on E. Sprostranov’s readings about 30 years later, Bogdan Filov con-
cluded that Sprostranov was wrong, and that the inscriptions were
unreadable12.
The third atempt to decipher the inscriptions was made by Ivan
Dujčev, who identiied the second monk from south to north as St
Arsenius the Great; however, he could not identify with certainty
the monk displayed to the north of Arsenius. He suggested that it
could be St Euthymius the Great13.
11 Sprostranov, Evtim. Вести и оценки: Старовизантийски надписи в черквата св. Георги в
София [Vesti i otsenki: Starovizantiyski nadpisi v cherkvata sv. Georgi v Soiya]. – Периодическо
списание на Българското книжовно дружество в София [Periodichesko spisanie na Balgar-
skoto knizhovno druzhestvo v Soiya], 1901, No. 62, 410-413.
12 Filov, Bogdan. Софийската църква Св. Георги [Soiyskata tsarkva Sv. Georgi.]. Soia, 1933,
56.
13 Tsoncheva. Църквата „Св. Георги“ в София, 188-190.
178
Irina Kandarasheva has published the most recent publication re-
garding the monks’ identity that also contains some observations
about the inscriptions; her contribution is the discovery of the text
of the inscription on St Anthony the Great’s scroll in the famous
Painter’s Manual of Dionysius of Fourna14. Accordingly, Kandarashe-
va has suggested that the irst igure in the row is St Sabbas the
Sanctiied, and that the ifth belongs to St John Kalybites. Howev-
er, her assumptions have been based on stylistic parallels with the
Bachkovo Ossuary and Boyana Church, and not on a detailed anal-
ysis of the epigraphic data, which lay outside the scope of her study.
After these, there have been no further publications of the four in-
scriptions nor have their literary sources been identiied, in spite of
the vital signiicance that such
an investigation would have
for a proper interpretation of
this epigraphic material. The
present contribution aims to
ill the gap in this regard.
The southernmost monk (or
the irst igure from left to
right when looking in west di-
rection) is depicted holding a
scroll (Fig. 5), which reads as
follows:
Diplomatic transcription: +
καλὸν φαγῖν κραί|α κὲ πυῆν
Fig. 5 The scroll of the irst monk (scroll Nr. 1)
14 Kandarasheva, Irina. Некоторые иконографические проблемы второй росписи церкви

Св. Георгия в Софии [Nekotoryye ikonograicheskiye problemy vtoroy rospisi tserkvi Sv.
Georgiya v Soii]. In: Древнерусское изкуство, Русь и страны византийского мира XII век
[Drevnerusskoye izkustvo, Rus’ i strany vizantiyskogo mira XII vek]. Sanct-Petersburg, 2002,
78-80.
179
ὖνον κὲ | μὴ ἐν καταλαληὲ|ς σάρκας ἀδελ|φῶν.
Edited text: Καλὸν φαγεῖν κρέα καὶ πιεῖν οἶνον, καὶ μὴ ἐν
καταλαλιαῖς σάρκας ἀδελφῶν.
Translation: It is beter to eat meat and drink wine and not to eat the lesh
of one’s brethren through slander15.
The source of the text is the well-know work, the Apophthegmata
Patrum or The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, more speciically – the
section listing the sayings of St Hyperechius16.
Such an atribution could lead to the conclusion that the depicted
monk is St Hyperechius.
Here, an important note should be made concerning all similar cas-
es of problematic identiication associated with images of prophets
and saints: in the case of missing or obliterated identifying inscrip-
tions, the process of identiication is possible only through the in-
terpretation of the texts on the scrolls or in the open books that the
igures hold. Even if the sources of these texts are properly identi-
ied – a diicult task in itself – the saints’ identity could still remain
uncertain, as the same source-text could be displayed on the scrolls
of diferent saints. Such discrepancies between image and inscrip-
tion have been observed in Byzantine art, yet they grow signiicant-
ly in number during the Post-Byzantine period17.
For instance, although rarely used in inscriptions, the above-men-
tioned text is writen in Old Church Slavonic on St Mark of Thrace’s
scroll on the façade of the church Resurrection of God in the Monas-
tery of Suceviţa18.
15 According to the edition by Ward, Benedicta. The Sayings of the Desert Fathers. Cistercian
Publications, 1975, 238.
16 Περὶ τοῦ ἀββᾶ Ὑπερεχίου, De abbate Hyperechio, PG 65, col. 429 C: Εἶπε πἀλιν· Καλὸν
φαγεῖν κρέα καὶ πιεῖν οἶνον, καὶ μὴ φαγεῖν ἐν καταλαλιαῖς σάρκας ἀδελφῶν.
17 Byzantine inscriptional epigrams can ofer some vivid cases pointing out the discrepancy
between text and image. For further investigation on this mater, see: Maguire, Henry. Image and
Imagination: the Byzantine Epigram as Evidence for Viewer Response. Toronto, 1996; Hörandner,
Wolfram. Customs and Beliefs as Relected in Occasional Poetry. Some considerations. Byzan-
tinische Forschungen 12, 1987, 235-247; Rhoby, Andreas. On the Interaction of Word and Im-
age in Byzantium: The Case of the Epigrams on the Florence Reliquary. In: P.Ł. Grotowski, Sł.
Skrzyniarz (eds.). Towards Rewriting? New Approaches to Byzantine Archaeology and Art. Pro-
ceedings of the Symposium on Byzantine Art and Archaeology, Cracow, September 8 – 10, 2008.
Warsaw, 2010 (= Series Byzantina. Studies on Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Art, Vol. 8), 101-115.
18 Ciobanu, Constantin. Les sources des Citations peintes sur les phylactères des Saints de la
rangée inférieure de la façade de l’Eglise de La Résurrection de Dieu du Monastère de Suceviţa.
180
In general, this phenomenon is an element of a more complex issue;
namely, the accurate atribution of a text to an author and the sig-
niicance of this atribution in the particular church, the particular
region and/or the particular period. In essence, such research ques-
tions are inevitably associated with two other important aspects of
medieval culture: anonymity and literacy19.
However, the names of the second and the third monk from south
to north are writen precisely on the scrolls that they hold: on them,
we read the names Ἀρσένηε (in the Vocative case) and Εὐθύμιος
(in the Nominative case) respectively.
The name Ἀρσένηε has led I.
Dujčev to conclude that this
scroll belonged to the igure
of St Arsenius the Great. The
monk holds a scroll with the
following text (Fig. 6):
Diplomatic transcription: +
Ἀρσέ[ν]ηε δἰ ὅν | ἐξῆλθες
ἐκ τοῦ | βείου φεύγε σιό|πα
ἡσίχαζα[ι] | κὲ σόζου.
Edited text: Ἀρσένιε, δἰ ὅν
ἐξῆλθες ἐκ τοῦ βίου· φεῦγε,
σιώπα, ἡσύχαζε καὶ σώζου.
Translation: Arsenius, why have
In: Ivanka Gergova, Emmanuel Moutafov Fig. 6. The scroll of St Arsenius the Great (scroll Nr. 2)
(eds.). Heroes. Cults. Saints / Art Readings
I.2015. Soia, 2015, 173.
19 Similar topics are discussed by Henry Maguire: cf. Maguire, Henry. Eufrasius and Friends:
On Names and Their Absence in Byzantine Art. In: Liz James (ed.). Art and Text in Byzantine
Culture. Cambridge University Press, 2007, 139-160.
181
you left the world? Flee, be silent, be at peace and save yourself! (TsV20).
This text also comes from the Apophthegmata Patrum, but here the
inscription is a combination of two sentences that cannot be found
together verbatim in the literary source. The irst sentence quotes the
words of St Arsenius talking to himself toward the end of his life21,
and the second is a command given to him by God at the beginning
of his ascetic deeds22.
The text on the scroll held
by the third monk in the
row begins with the name
Eὐθύμιος. This should be
regarded as a direct invita-
tion to the reader to prop-
erly identify the saint’s im-
age. The saint’s name is not
syntactically connected to
the rest of the inscription, as
is the case with St Arsenius
the Great’s scroll. The text
reads as follows (Fig. 7):
Diplomatic transcription:
+ Eὐθύμηος· εὐ|θὺ στῆτε

δακρύ(ειν) | χαίρετε δὲ Fig. 7. The scroll of St Euthymius the Great
(scroll Nr. 3)
20 Translations with the initials ‘TsV’ throughout the article are done by Tsvetan Vasilev.
21 Note: The underlined words are present both in the inscription and in the sources. Οὗτος δὲ
ὁ λόγος τοῦ γέροντος ἦν· Ἀρσένιε, διὸ ἐξῆλθες; λαλήσας, πολλάκις μετεμελήθην, σιωπήσας
δὲ οὐδέποτε. PG 65, col. 105 C. Translation: The old man used to say to himself: ‘Arsenius, why have
you left the world? I have often repented of having spoken, but never of having been silent.’ (Ward. The
Sayings of the Desert Fathers, 18).
22 Κύριε, ὀδήγησόν με πώς σωθῶ. Καὶ ἦλθεν αὐτῷ φωνή λέγουσα· φεῦγε, σιώπα, ἡσύχαζε,
αὗται γάρ εἰσιν αἱ ῥίζαι τῆς ἀναμαρτησίας. PG 65, col. 88 B. Translation: ‘Lord, lead me in the way
of salvation.’ And a voice came saying to him, ‘Arsenius, lee, be silent, pray always, for these are the source
of sinlessness.’ (Ward. The sayings of the Desert Fathers, 9.)
182
ἐ(ν)|κ(υρί)ῳ ἱ ἐλπὴς αὐ|τοῦ.
Edited text: + Eὐθύμιος· εὐθὺ στῆτε δακρύ(ειν), χαίρετε δὲ ἐ(ν̣)
κ(υρί)ῳ ἡ ἐλπὶς αὐτοῦ.
Translation: Euthymius: Stop crying immediately, but be happy instead,
as his hope lies in the Lord (TsV).
In the story of St Euthymius’s life, compiled by hagiographer Syme-
on Metaphrastes, St Euthymius gathered his disciples and followers
when he was about to die; he prophesied the day of his own death,
consoled them and appointed a new abbot. At his funeral “the suf-
fering because of the loss of Euthymius was the cause of much lam-
entation23”. Thus, the inscription could be regarded as advice to-
wards the lamenting crowd, and an allusion to the saint’s salvation
– the ‘hope’ in the Lord.
It is tempting to assume that this particular inscription could allude
to another saint’s salvation – namely, the most highly revered Bul-
garian saint, St John of Rila, whose wonderworking relics were ini-
tially brought to the town of Sredets, and may have been placed in
the church of St George for some time during the reign of Emperor
Romanos IV Diogenes (1067–1071). This, of course, is only a spec-
ulation based on the fact that, to our best knowledge, the text on St
Euthymius’ scroll has not ever been recorded in any other church
either in this period or at any time later, as well as on the inluential
content of the message, which may have been directed toward the
Christian crowds that sought consolation, guidance, healing and
help from St John of Rila24.
If the above assumptions are not true, the admonition on St Eu-
thymius’ scroll could be regarded as a source of inspiration for the
faithful in their hope of salvation, conveying a universal message
resonating strongly even today. The fourth monk to the north holds
a scroll with the following text (Fig. 8):
23 Πᾶσι μὲν οὖν τὸ πάθος τῆς Εὐθυμίου στερήσεως, πολλῶν δακρύων αἴτιον ἦν. PG 114,
col. 692 A.
24 The author of one of the oldest stories of St John’s life is Γεώργιος ὁ Σκυλίτζης, an oicial
and governor of Sredez in the late 12th century during the reign of Emperor Manuel I Komnenos
(1143–1180); according to his own account, he was miraculously cured with the help of the saint’s
relics. By his account the Emperor himself was cured of a disease by St John’s relics with help
from the local bishop. For further reading, see Zlatarski, Vasil. Георги Скилица и написаното от
него житие на св. Иван Рилски [Georgi Skilitsa i napisanoto ot nego zhitie na sv. Ivan Rilski]. –
Buletin de la société historique à Soia, 1933, Vol. XIII, 49-80.
183
Diplomatic transcription:
ἦδον τὰς πα|γίδα(ς) τοῦ
δη|αβόλου ἡπ[λω]μένας |
κα(ὶ) στενάξ(ας) | τ(ίς) ἄρα
δ(ε?)
Edited text: Εἶδον τὰς πα-
γίδας τοῦ διαβόλου ἡπλω-
μένας καὶ στενάξας· Τίς
ἄρα δ(ε?)
Fig. 8. The scroll of the fourth monk (scroll Nr. 4)
Translation: I saw the snares
that the devil spreads out and
(I said) groaning: “Who…?” (TsV).
The source of the text is a saying atributed to St Anthony the Great
in the Apophthegmata Patrum, which safely conirms the identiica-
tion of the saintly igure25, especially because this text is more ‘sta-
ble’ and standardized, as well as being commonly atested in other
churches on the scroll of the same saint26. This allows us to concur
with the conclusion already been made by other researchers that
25 The words that appear in the inscription are underlined: Εἶπεν ὁ ἀββᾶς Ἀντώνιος· Εἶδον
πάσας τὰς παγίδας τοῦ ἐχθροῦ ἡπλωμένας ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς· καὶ στενάξας εἶπον· Τίς ἄρα
παρέρχεται ταύτας; Καὶ ἤκουσα φωνῆς λεγούσης μοι· Ἡ ταπεινοφροσύνη (PG 65, 77B). Trans-
lation: ‘I saw the snares that the enemy spreads out over the world and I said groaning, “What
can get through from such snares?” Then I heard a voice saying to me, “Humility.” ’ (Ward. The
Sayings of the Desert Fathers, 2). The text, slightly changed, is mentioned in the Painter’s Manual
of Dionysius of Fourna and is atributed to St Anthony the Great, cf. DF, 162.
26 For instance, the same text rendered in Old Church Slavonic is writen on St Anthony’s scroll
in Bulgarian churches dating from the seventeenth century, which goes a long way towards
conirming this atribution. The churches are: St Theodore Tyron and St Theodore Stratelates
Church, Dobarsko, cf. Kuneva, Tsveta. „Св. Теодор Тирон и Теодор Стратилат“, Добърско
[“Sv. Teodor Tiron i Teodor Stratilat”, Dobarsko]. In: Corpus of Seventeenth Century Wall Paint-
ings in Bulgaria. Soia, 2012, 35; Seslavtsi Monastery St Nicholas, cf. Gergova, Ivanka. Сеславски
манастир „Св. Никола“ [Seslavski manastir “Sv. Nikola”]. In: Corpus of Seventeenth Century
Wall Paintings in Bulgaria, 51.
184
the monk is indeed St Anthony the Great; moreover, this leads us to
propose the identity of the remaining two saints from this group as
St Arsenius and St Euthymius.
St Anthony is regarded as the father of monastic life and the irst
monk to go to live in the desert; he was the leader of the so-called
Desert Fathers, the most prominent ascetic igure of fourth-century
monasticism in Egypt.
St Arsenius the Great was also an Egyptian monk from the same
period, another of the Desert Fathers.
St Euthymius is regarded as the father of Palestinian monasticism,
so it is no surprise that the three monks are usually depicted togeth-
er. The fact that St Hyperechius is also one of the Desert Fathers
from the fourth century probably justiies his inclusion within this
group.
Returning to the inscription, the source-text is rendered with omis-
sions, which prove extremely helpful in recreating the process of
transferring the source-text to the inscription, or in other words –
in discovering the ‘transfer’ of the literary text to the church wall,
where it assumes the role of an inscription with a completely dif-
ferent expressive function. Despite the syntactic simpliication – the
omission of the adjective πάσας, the verb εἶπον, and the phrase
ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς – the content and the main idea of the original text are
entirely alive and discernible for the reading recipient27.
The level of the Greek language in the four inscriptions discussed
here contributes to an easier comprehension by the audience. An
oral pronunciation is detected on the basis of certain language char-
acteristics such as:
1. Itacism
<Η> = <Ι> in δηαβόλου, ἐλπής; scriptio inversa in ἱ;
<Υ> = <Ι> in πυῆν; scriptio inversa in ἡσίχαζα[ι];
2. Isochronism
<Ο> = <Ω> in σόζου, σιόπα;
3. Monophthongisation
27 Regarding the problem of readability and visibility of the medieval inscriptions, see: Eastmond,
Antony (ed.). Viewing Inscriptions in the Late Antique and Medieval World. Cambridge, 2015.
185
<Ε> = <ΑΙ> in κέ; καταλαληές; scriptio inversa in κραία;
<Η> = <ΕΙ> in πυῆν; ἦδον;
<Ι> = <ΕΙ> in φαγῖν; scriptio inversa in βείου;
<Υ> = <OI> in ὖνον.
Lastly, the content of the texts writen on the scrolls of the four
monks reveals their powerful message and their intransient Chris-
tian value: the true meaning of fasting and the power of words
(scroll Nr. 1)28, of earnest prayer utered in silence (scroll Nr. 2), of
the future salvation (scroll Nr. 3), and of the irst and foremost vir-
tue: humility (scroll Nr. 4).
The frescoes of the second layer in the Church of St George repre-
sent the most typical features of wall painting between the twelfth
and the thirteenth century with regard to both their iconography,
as well as their style, and all authors are unanimous about their dat-
ing. The linear-rhythmic structure of the compositions and the psy-
chological expression of the images – which, according to research-
ers, express the tragic pathos and the dramatic tension of the times,
– link these wall paintings with the greatest monuments from the
Late Komnenian period. This trend is visible in monuments from
the second half of the twelfth century, namely on the wall paintings
of churches such as St Panteleimon at Nerezi, commissioned by one
of the Komnenos family, the church of the Virgin Mary at Lagoude-
ra in Cyprus, and elsewhere.
The best-preserved wall paintings in the church can be found in the
third layer of the murals. It includes the images of prophets with
scrolls and the image of Christ Pantokrator, dating from the 1380s,
prior to the Otoman conquest of Serdica.
In conclusion, we would like to emphasize that the wall paintings in
the Church of St George from the period between the eleventh and
the fourteenth centuries are in line with the leading trends of their
time and possess high artistic qualities. Together with the inluen-
tial message of the inscribed texts, discussed in this article, they
contribute signiicantly to the status of the Rotunda of St George as
a monument of culture of national signiicance.
28 Cf. Jesus Christ’s words in the Gospel of Mathew: It is not what goes into the mouth that deiles
a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that deiles (Mat. 15:11 NRSV).
186
Abbreviations
DF Διονυσίου τοῦ ἐκ Φουρνά ἑρμηνεία τῆς ζωγραφικῆς

τέχνης, ἐκδιδομένη ὑπὸ Ἀ. Παπαδοπούλου-Κεραμέως, ἐν
Πετρουπόλει, 1909.
NRSV Coogan, M., M. Bretler, C. Newsom, Ph. Perkins (ed.)
The New Oxford Annotated Bible. New Revised Standard
Version with the Apocrypha: an Ecumenical Study Bible. Ox-
ford, 2010.
PG Migne, J.-P. Patrologiae cursus completus. Series graeca,
I–CLXI. Parisiis, 1857–1866.
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Изображения и текстове във времето:
трите стенописни слоя в църквата
„Св. Георги“ в София
Елка Бакалова
Цветан Василев
Ротондата „Св. Георги“, една от най-старите постройки в България с центри-

чен план, и до днес запазва положението си на важна културна средищна
точка в модерна София и е автентично свидетелство за значимостта на града
като епископски център през Средновековието. По някои въпроси, свързани
с паметника, все още няма достатъчна яснота, като например: кога сградата
започва да функционира като християнски храм, каква е точната датировка
на трите запазени стенописни слоя и др.
В настоящата статия въз основа на иконографски и стилов анализ предлага-
ме нашата гледна точка за датиране на стенописите, представяме прочит и
интерпретация на епиграфския материал в свитъците на четири монашески
фигури от втория живописен слой, изобразени на западната стена на наоса, а
също и нови идеи за идентификация на някои от монашеските изображения,
доколкото наличните данни на средновековен език позволяват това.
Със своите езикови особености представените гръцки надписи предоставят
ценна информация за нивото на образованост на пишещите и посетителите
на храма в рамките на конкретния хронологичен период на изписване на вто-
рия стенописен слой. Анализът на литературните източници на надписите
показва връзката им със средновековни византийски аскетични съчинения,
което разкрива литературните предпочитания и вкусове както на среднове-
ковните зографи, така и на поръчителите на стенописната декорация.
191
The Balkans
and the Renaissance World
Jelena Erdeljan1
University of Belgrade, Serbia
Abstract. This text discusses relations between the Balkans and the Renaissance
world and argues the case the question: Did the Balkans have a Renaissance?
Answering yes, this paper calls for a new, changed optic, and an updated meth-
odological approach in viewing the known facts. It presents just a few of many
examples from the Balkans, mostly surviving in elements of visual culture, and
examines them in the context of the cross-cultural and trans-cultural interactions,
connectivity, migrations and social networks, and (self)fashioning of identities in
the early modern world.
Key words: Renaissance, Balkans, methodology, Katarina Kotromanić Kosača, An-

dronika Kastrioti, Angelina Branković, Sandalj Hranić Kosača.
“Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears…

O judgment! Thou art led to brutish beasts, and men have lost their reason. Bear with me”
William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar
Speech of Marc Anthony at Caesar’s funeral
The words of Shakespeare are here to solicit the reader’s patience as

I atempt to present the issue of relations between the Balkans and
1 Dr Jelena Erdeljan is an Associate Professor at the Department of Art History, Faculty of Phi-
losophy, University of Belgrade; Director of the Center for the Study of Jewish Art and Culture
at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade; an art historian working in the ields of me-
dieval and early modern history of art and visual culture in the Balkans and the Mediterranean
world; research alumna of University of Konstanz, Germany; Decorated Kavalyera del Ladino al
nombe de Don Yichak Navon bestowed by the Autoridad Nasionala del Ladino of Israel and the
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
193
the Renaissance world. Opening a discussion on a subject seeming-
ly contradictory by the standards of the traditional, positivistic art
historical method (or, for that mater, of the method of humanistic
sciences in general) is, ipso facto and per se, a crossing of borders,
this time of traditional concepts and discipline rules. This, as we all
know, is as much a question of history as of historiography.
From the viewpoint of that traditional, although now increasingly
obsolete but in places still steadfast, historiographic approach, par-
adoxically most persistent in the historiography produced in the
Balkans, the Renaissance, as deined in the Romanticism-infused
lines of Jacob Burckhardt2, is a pivotal period in European history.
It is perceived as the birth of a typically European (read Western Eu-
ropean) individualism, secularism, rationalism, and ethics. As such,
it has implicitly paved the way for (Western) European economic
prosperity and military might from that point on, into the modern
period. In the visual sphere, accordingly, it is viewed as not only a
set of formal features based on direct emulation of the Golden Age
of Classical Antiquity, but as the visual proof and testimony, the
warrant for a value system, the presence of which would indicate
civilization itself while its absence would disclose a shameful sav-
ageness and lack of culture. This inherently colonial and orientaliz-
ing approach is even more augmented once applied to the Balkans
perceived as the necessary “other” of Western Europe3.
However, in contemporary Western historiography, the question-
ing of such views of the Renaissance began with William Bouws-
ma’s 1978 address to the American Historical Association4. Twenty
years ago, Caroline Walker Bynum talked about the last Eurocentric
generation of historians5, while Thomas Da Costa Kaufmann pub-
lished his study on the art and culture of Central Europe from the
Renaissance through the Enlightenment, presenting to the English
2 Burckhardt, Jacob. The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy. London 1990. On issues relat-
ed to the historiography of art history in Yugoslavia and countries of ex-Yugoslav territory cf.
Stevović, Ivan. Yugoslavia and art history – A batleield of medieval architecture, Papers of BAS
Humanities and Social Sciences 2018 (in print).
3 On Eastern Europe as the necessary “other” of the West see Wolf, Larry. Inventing Eastern Eu-
rope. The Map of Civilization on the Mind of the Enlightenment. Stanford, 1994; Todorova, Maria.
Imagining the Balkans. New York, 1997 (Updated Edition, New York, 2009).
4 Bouwsma, William. The Renaissance and the Drama of Western History. – American Historical
Review, 1979, No. 84-1, 1-15.
5 Walker Bynam, Caroline. The Last Eurocentric generation. – Perspectives on History. The News-
magazine of American Historical Association, 1996, No. 2.
194
reading public and Western audience its works of art and visual cul-
ture that had long been forgoten and/or misinterpreted6. A recently
published volume, Byzantine Art and Renaissance Europe, discusses
the cultural and artistic interaction between the Byzantine east and
Western Europe, from 1204 to the lourishing of Post-Byzantine ar-
tistic workshops in Venetian Crete during the ifteenth and sixteenth
centuries and the formation of icon collections in Renaissance Italy,
and presents the art of Post-Byzantine icons as an integral part of
the European Renaissance7.
A distinguished Renaissance scholar, one of the foremost authori-
ties in the ield, Peter Burke has recently introduced the term and
concept of hybridization8. In his opinion, thanks in part to its lexi-
bility, the concept of hybridization ofers scholars the opportunity
of a fresh approach to one of the central problems in the study of
history, and that of the Renaissance in particular, the problem of the
relation between change and continuity9, and, I should add, visu-
ality and identity. Burke points out that, although the Renaissance
is most often perceived as a Western European phenomenon, the
process of hybridization is often most clearly visible in Moscow or
Lviv, for instance, or outside Europe altogether in Mexico or Areq-
uipa, while its traces may also be found in India, China and Japan
in the age of early globalization. As for periodization, Burke envis-
ages a Renaissance that begins in the fourteenth century and did
not so much as end but rather disintegrated in the irst half of the
seventeenth10. This chronological framework and Burke’s proposed
approach to observing the Renaissance could be beneicial to our
reassessment of relations of the Balkans and the Renaissance world.
Thus, the question “Did the Balkans have a Renaissance?” or the
issue of the Balkans and the Renaissance world is more that of re-
6 DaCosta Kaufmann, Thomas. Court, Cloister, and City: The Art and Culture of Central Europe,
1450–1800. Chicago, 1995. This work focuses on works of art from Germany, Poland, Hungary,
and other Central European states.
7 The contributors examined the routes by which artistic interaction may have taken place, and
explore the reception of Byzantine art in western Europe, analyzing why artists and patrons
were interested in ideas from the other side of the cultural and religious divide; Lymberopoulou,
Angeliki and Rembrandt Duits (eds.). Byzantine Art and Renaissance Europe. London and New
York, 2013.
8 Burke, Peter. Hybrid Renaissance. Culture, Language, Architecture. Budapest – New York,
2016.
9 Burke. Hybrid Renaissance, 8.
10 Burke. Hybrid Renaissance, 8.
195
covering the Renaissance in the Balkans not so much by physically
seeking the new evidence but by seeing the old evidence in a new
light, observing the Balkans not as mere provider of exotic data,
but within the framework and horizon of broader issues and phe-
nomena of the early modern world11. In this paper, I shall present
and propose for further investigation within such a methodologi-
cal framework just a few of many cases from the Balkans, mostly
surviving in elements of visual culture, and examine them in the
context of the cross-cultural and trans-cultural interactions, connec-
tivity, migrations, social networks, and (self)fashioning of identities
in the early modern world.
Connectivity through exile. Networks of noble women

With the progress of the Otoman conquests and the gradual dis-
integration of the Byzantine world, and especially after the fall of
Constantinople in 1453, and of the Morea and Trebizond in 1461,
Italian cities such as Rome, Florence, Padua, Bologna, Milan, and,
above all, Venice became destinations for Greek nobles and intel-
lectuals from the Byzantine Commonwealth and the Balkans who
hoped to ind security in the West12.
Notwithstanding the Greek exiles, including members of the im-
perial Palaiologos family13, on this occasion I shall concentrate on
the fate of noble women from the Balkan princedoms, who them-
selves forged links between the Balkans and the Renaissance world,
not simply by the chance of forced migration, but rather through
connectivity and networks within their own sphere, through their
habitus, both oicial and personal; through their dynastic ties and
diplomatic alliances.
Let us start with Katarina Kosača Kotromanić (1424/25 – October
1478), the penultimate Queen of Bosnia, married to the Bosnian
King Stjepan Tomaš. She was the daughter of Stefan Vukčić Kosaća
and Jelena Stracimirović Balšić who in turn was the daughter of
11 Mirkovic, Alexander. Did the Balkans Have a Renaissance. – World History Bulletin, 2010, vol.
XXVI, No. 2, 24-28, especially 27; Wasserstrom, Jefrey N. Eurocentrism and Its Discontents. – Per-
spectives on History. The Newsmagazine of American Historical Association, 2001.
12 On migrations of Greek nobility after the fall of the Byzantine Empire to the Otomans see
Harris, Jonathan. Greek Emigres in the West 1400–1520. Camberly, 1995.
13 Miller, William. Balkan Exiles in Rome. Essays on the Latin Orient. Amsterdam, 1964.
196
Balša III Stracimirović. Thus,
on her mother’s side, Katari-
na was the great granddaugh-
ter of Jelena Lazarević Balšić
who in turn was the daughter
of prince Lazar Hrebeljanović.
Once Bosnia was conquered
by Mehmet the Conqueror, the
dowager queen found refuge,
irst in Dubrovnik and inal-
ly in Rome. She died there as
a Franciscan tertiary in 1478,
and was buried in the Church
of St Maria in Aracoeli. Her
children, Sigismund and Ka-
tarina, with whom she des-
perately tried to reunite, were
taken to Istanbul and con-
verted to Islam. Both her Ser-
bian Orthodox roots and her
adopted Catholic identity are
best revealed in the bilingual
inscription on her original fu-
nerary monument, writen
both in Old Church Slavonic
and in Latin. In 1590, her re-
mains were transferred from
Fig. 1. Funerary slab of queen Katarina Kosača
the original tomb in the pres- Kotromanić, Santa Maria in Aracoeli, Rome
bytery to the space in front of
the altar, by the north pillar, on
which her funerary slab now stands in a vertical position (Fig. 1)14.
Dressed in her royal garb, she is portrayed as a queen with the coat
of arms of her father and her husband on either side of her head, in
the fashion of contemporary funerary representation of rulers from
Western Europe.
14 The original 15th century inscription was solely in Cyrillic leters. On queen Katarina see Tošić
Djuro. Bosanskakraljica Katarina (1425–1478). – Zbornik za istoriju Bosne i Hercegovine, 1997,
No. 2, 93-112; Kurtović, Esad. Prilog bibliograiji radova o bosanskoj kraljici Katarini (1425–1478)
(U povodu 525 obljetnicesmrti). – Bosna franciscana, 2005, No. XIII/22, 201-211.
197
Fig. 2. Donika Kastrioti’s icon of the Virgin, Monastery of the Holy Trinity, Valencia
Andronika Donika Kastrioti (1428–1505/6) was a descendent of the

Arianiti and Muzaka families, and the wife of Djuradj Kastrioti Sken-
derbeg, who from 1443 to 1468 led the Christian resistance to the Ot-
toman conquest in the Balkans, later becoming commander-in-chief
of the crusading forces of pope Pius II. Donika was born in 1428. Her
father was Gjergj Arianiti Komnenos, whose domain reached to the
198
east of today’s Bitola. Her mother was Maria Muzaka, of the Mu-
zaka family, whose domain lay in the southwestern part of central
Albania. Skanderbeg married Donika at the Orthodox monastery
of Ardenica in Lushnje in Albania, after the Treaty of Gaeta with
Alfonso V and the Kingdom of Naples, in 1451. After the Otoman
conquest of Albania, the Kastrioti were given lordships/patents of
nobility(?) in the Kingdom of Naples, where they obtained a feudal
domain, the Duchy of San Pietro in Galatina and the County of So-
leto in the province of Lecce. Donika’s and Skanderbeg’s only child,
Gjon Kastrioti II, married Irene Branković Palaiologina, the daugh-
ter of Lazar Branković, Despot of Serbia15.In Naples, she resided at
Castel Nuovo and spent the rest of her days between the south of
Italy, Sicily and Spain, becoming a close, personal friend of Juana,
wife of Ferdinand I of Aragon. Upon her death in 1505, her body
was transferred to the monastery of the Holy Trinity in Valencia,
and laid to rest in a tomb near the holy icon of the Virgin Refuge of
Sinners, which she is said to have brought to Spain (Fig. 2)16.
Her sister, Angelina (1440–1520), was married to the Serbian Des-
pot Stefan Branković, and is venerated as holy mother Angelina in
the Serbian Orthodox Church.Following their Balkan exile, Stefan
and Angelina soon moved to their own castle in Belgrado in Fri-
uli, near Udine, where the blind despot passed away in 1476. Ten
years later, having accepted the invitation extended by King Mat-
thias Corvinus, the widowed Angelina, carrying with her the relics
of Despot Stefan Branković, together with her children, Đorđe and
Jovan (the future bishop Maksim), moved irst to Hungary, to Srem.
From there,she went on to Wallachia in 1504, only to return to Srem
several years later17.
Amongst the most signiicant contributions of Angelina Branković
was her foundation of a number of churches and monasteries in
Srem, which include the Church of St Luke in Kupinovo, the irst of
her residences in Hungary, where she deposited the relics of Despot
Stefan Branković; the monastery at Obed, and her endowments on
15 Babinger, Franz. Das Ende der Arianiten. München, 1960, especially 25.
16 For a thorough study of the monastery of the Holy Trinity in Valencia and the tomb and the
icon of the Virgin which belonged to Donika Kastriaoti see Goerlich, Daniel Benito. El Real Mona-
sterio d la Santissima Trinidad de Valencia. Historia y Arte. Valencia, 2008.
17 Tomin, Svetlana. Vladika Maksim Branković (Bishop Maxim Branković). Novi Sad, 2007, 11;
Eadem. Despotica i monahinja Angelina Branković (Despoina and nun Angelina Branković). Novi
Sad, 2009.
199
Fig. 3. Monastery of Krušedol
the Holy Mountain of Fruška Gora. Foremost among these is the

monastery of Krušedol (Fig. 3), founded between 1509 and 1514;
the new Studenica i.e. Ravanica of the Branković family in exile, the
center of cult, state-ideology and dynasty, and the ultimate reposi-
tory of the relics of several members of the holy Branković family,
Despot Stefan the Blind, Despoina Angelina and Bishop Maksim, all
of which remained there until the Otomans besieged and burned
down of the monastery in 171618.
It is important to note that both Angelina’s sons were born and
18 Erdeljan, Jelena. A note on the ktetorship and contribution of women from the Branković dy-
nasty to cross-cultural connections in late medieval and early modern Balkans. – Zbornik za
likovne umetnosti Matice srpske, 2016, No. 44, 61-72, with bibliography.
200
raised in exile, in the Veneto in Italy. Later on, in Hungary and Wal-
lachia, they were regarded by the majority of the Serbian popula-
tion of Srem as direct descendants of ancient Serbian rulers. They
combined enjoying all the privileges of the Hungarian nobility of
the daywith the life of Renaissance court culture, having received
the title of Despot by Mathias Corvinus of Hungary, whilst be-
ing well aware of the ecclesiasticaland state traditions of their own
patrimony. Together with their mother, Angelina Branković, they
continued the ktetorship of the Branković family over the Athonite
monasteries Chilandar, St Paul, and Esphigmenou, and established
and developed the cult of the blind Despot Stefan Branković in the
tradition of the Serbian Orthodox Church19.
Angelina, a devout Orthodox, was also a patron of several shrines
of universal Christian saints in the Catholic West. She donated a
now lost luxuriously embroidered phelonion or shroud studded
with pearls and precious stones for the relics of St John the Merciful
in Bratislava and a shroud for the relics of St Symeon the God-bear-
er in Zadar20.
Medieval feudal lords and/or Renaissance noblemen? The (self)

fashioning of the Balkan elite in the Early Modern Period
In many aspects the lifestyle, networks of power, business and bank-
ing transactions, as well as the (self)fashioning of the Grand Duke of
Bosnia, Sandalj Hranić (1370–1435) appear to be very similar to the
lifestyles and manners of conduct of contemporary potentates from
Italy or anywhere else in the Renaissance world. Sandalj Hranić in-
herited the lands and title of his celebrated uncle, the Serbian Vlatko
Vuković, and thus ruled over a vast land, rich in natural resources
and strategically signiicant, stretching across the upper course and
valley of the Drina as the well as the Lim River valley, parts of Zeta
i.e. the south east Adriatic coast and hinterlands, including the city
of Novi, the future Herceg Novi, and parts of Konavle in the envi-
19 Tomin, Svetlana. Archbishop Maxim Branković. Supplement to understanding of Serbian-Ro-

manian relationships at the beginning of the 16th century. – Medieval and Early Modern Studies
for Central and Eastern Europe, 2009, vol. I. No. 1-4, 107-119, especially 108-109, with bibliogra-
phy.
20 Timotijević, Miroslav. Sremski despoti Brankovići i osnivanje manastira Krušedola (Branković
despots from Sremand the founding of Krušedol monastery). – Zbornik za likovne umetnosti
Matice srpske, 1991–1992, No. 27-28, 127-150, especially 142.
201
rons of Dubrovnik. He later extended his domain to include parts of
Hum, all the way to the Neretva River, as well as the city of Budva
and its hinterland, while the city of Kotor was also a part of his cir-
cle of inluence21. Recognizing him as Budue et Zentedominus, the Ve-
netians granted him the citizenship of the Serenissima, which was
later, in 1411, enhanced to the status of Venetian nobility. In 1429,
Venetian documents mention him as owner of a palazzo in the city22.
Honors and privileges were granted to Sandalj in many cities on the
Adriatic coast, as well, in 1406 he held a palace in Zadar and in 1423
a house in Kotor, but no other city bestowed on him more gifts and
honors than the city of Dubrovnik. By the end of his life, he had four
houses and a cellar in Dubrovnik and land holdings within the ter-
ritory of the Republic of Dubrovnik, including the island of Šipan23.
Documents from the Archive of Dubrovnik dating from 1407–1409
mention the existence of Sandalj’s residence or domus. As of 1419,
and throughout the 1420’s and 1430’s, until Sandalj’s death in 1435,
this house, located in the very heart of the city, by the Prince’s pal-
ace and across the square from the Cathedral of Dubrovnik, was
enlarged and adapted into a new and visually striking architectural
structure which marked the cityscape24. Like most of Dubrovnik, it
was devastated by the earthquake of 1667. In addition to some writ-
ten and visual testimonies; detailed archival documents; drawings
and vedutas of Dubrovnik from the centuries predating the earth-
quake in the seventeenth century25, a carved basin of the cistern in
the courtyard of Sandalj’s residence, dating from the 1420’s also
survives as a material relic of the once lavish original furbishing
of the domus. The basin is decorated with the heraldic crest of the
Kosača family, and is today in the lapidarium of Društvo prijatelja
21 In his third marriage, Sandalj was married to the widowed Jelena Balšić, daughter of Serbian
prince Lazar Hrebeljanović, sister of despot Stefan Lazarević who was a vassal and an ally of
King Sigismund. For a monograph study on Sandalj Hranić see Kurtović, Esad. Veliki vojvoda
bosanski Sandalj Hranić Kosača. Sarajevo, 2009, with sources and extensive bibliography. Cf.
also Kalić, Jovanka (ed.). Istorija srpskog naroda. Druga knjiga. Doba borbi za očuvanje i obnovu
države (1371–1537). Beograd, 1982, 231-239.
22 Grujić, Nada and Danko Zelić. Palača vojvode Sandalja Hranića u Dubrovniku. – Anali Du-
brovnika, 2010, No. 48, 47-132, especially 52, with bibliography and sources.
23 Kurtović, Esad. Veliki vojvoda bosanski Sandalj Hranić Kosača, 335-406, a chapter entitled
“Ekonomski proil, kultura, vjera” focusing on the inancial position, culture, and religious issues
related to Sandalj Hranić.
24 Grujić. Palača vojvode Sandalja Hranića u Dubrovniku, passim, with excerpts from relevant
sources in Latin kept at the Archive of Dubrovnik.
25 Grujić. Palača vojvode Sandalja, 67, 69.
202
Fig. 4. Basin of the cistern from the residence of Sandalj Hranić in Dubrovnik
dubrovačke starine in the city (Fig. 4)26.

All the features of this sculptural piece are unmistakably Renais-
sance in form, motif and styling, even in the most formalistic sense
of the word.
The process of the refurbishing of Sandalj’s Dubrovnik residence,
especially after the sale of his part of the region of Konavle to the
Republic in 1419, was fully inanced and managed by the author-
ities of the Republic, as a sign of honoring the Grand Duke and
upholding him as the most trusted, strategic ally of the city27. This
26 Grujić. Palača vojvode Sandalja, 49-50, 71, 74-75.

27 Sandalj Hranić was recognized as the foremost strategic ally of Dubrovnik, granting it safety
and safekeeping its interests in clashes with the powers wrangling over control of the east Adri-
atic, the Hungarians, the Venetians, and feudal lords from Bosnia. On the Konavle transaction see
Kurtović, Esad. Veliki vojvoda bosanski Sandalj Hranić Kosača, 376. Cf. also id., Motivi Sandaljeve
203
complex and meticulously documented process included the unit-
ing into one three separate buildings given as a gift to the Duke by
the city authorities and standing at the most prominent location in
the city. The gold and the azure for its embellishment was imported
from Venice, some used also for the well-documented making of
luxurious furnishings for this residence in Dubrovnik28.
The open pavilion which graced the top loor of the building, called
a balatorio or liago, as it was referred to in a 1425 document from Du-
brovnik29, was a unique, exceptional and innovative example in the
urban architecture of the city in its day. In Italy and the Renaissance
world, especially in the Mediterranean, such covered yet open pa-
vilion structures were both warrants of a more comfortable living
conditions in towns packed with houses lining the narrow streets
and status symbols of larger houses and palaces. Its construction
was certainly a demanding task. At the close of 1422, the munici-
pality oicials in charge of construction were ordered by the high-
est-ranking authorities of the Republic to charge the magister Bonino
da Milano with the commission30. Bonino, from Lombardy where he
was also schooled, was a sculptor and architect and is, perhaps, best
known for the making of Orlando’s pillar in Dubrovnik and of the
sculptures of the facades of the cathedral of Šibenik. The Annun-
ciation, a free-standing sculpture group atop the roof of the south
transept of that church, is created in early Renaissance fashion31.
According to a contract kept in the Archive of Dubrovnik, in 1422
Bonino da Milano was also commissioned to produce a large cime-
rium, i.e. a great gilded heraldic coat of arms, complete with shield,
helmet, crest and cloak32. It was placed on the east façade of San-
dalj’s residence, facing the sea and visible to all ships approaching
Dubrovnik. Sandalj’s coat of arms, painted in expensive colors and
gold, and hung between the supports of the pavilion atop his resi-
prodaje Konavala Dubrovčaima. – Anali Dubrovnika, 2000, No. 38, 103-120.

28 Grujić. Palača vojvode Sandalja, 74-77.
29 The term liago comes from the Greek word heliacon, a place exposed to the sun, see Grujić.
Palača vojvode Sandalja, 66-68, with sources.
31 On the 15th century sculptor and architect Bonino di Jacopo da Milano, born in Italy, in Lom-
bardia, and active on the east coast of the Adriatic cf. Marković, Predrag. Bonino da Milano – Pri-
mus magister ecclesiae nove sancti Jacobi. – Prilozi povijesti umjetnosti u Dalmaciji, 2002, No. 39,
207-225, with bibliography.
32 Grujić. Palača vojvode Sandalja, 89.
204
dence, as a clear symbol of power, social impact and his noble iden-
tity. Similar coats of arms could be seen in the city’s loggia, mark-
ing the presence of visiting nobility, often on their way to the Holy
Land33.
At the beginning of February 1426, a special ceremony was dedicat-
ed to Duke Sandalj and Duchess Jelena in Dubrovnik, when they
atended the feast of St Blaise, the city’s patron saint. Their desire to
build a church in Dubrovnik themselves was, unfortunately, never
realized34. To a considerable degree, the self-awareness, individual-
ity, and independence displayed by Sandalj Hranić, which was me-
ticulously documented by his own professional chancellery, were
sustained and nurtured by the rewards that the Grand Duke gained
from the privileges granted to him by the city of Dubrovnik follow-
ing the Konavle transaction of 1419. He was allowed to invest mon-
ey in its inancial market for an annual interest rate of ive percent35.
Even the ink used by the chancellery at Sandalj’s court(s)was of the
same quality and equal to that of the highest oices of the Republic
of Dubrovnik itself36.
The citation from Shakespeare at the beginning of this paper was
there not only as a general reference to the period discussed above,
but also as a reminder that all of us who study and write about
the past are, in fact, countrymen, for, in the words of L. P. Hartely,
“the past is a foreign country, they do things diferently there” (The
Go-Between). This contribution to an assessment of one segment of
the past of the Balkans is not, nor can it be at this stage, exhaustive
or deinitive. It is meant mostly as a reminder that we should be
ready to investigate it with a methodological readiness to perceive
its cultural dynamics, manner of (self-)fashioning and elements of
visual culture with an unclouded optic and against the backdrop
of the premodern world in a broader sense, not just limited to its
geographic surroundings and the often negatively intoned conno-
tations ascribed to it in historiography.

34 On Sandalj’s oicial (and last) visit to Dubrovnik upon invitation of the Republic’s authorities
see Grujić. Palača vojvode Sandalja, 84, 101, with sources. On his (unrealized) plans to build a
church in the city see Kalić. Istorija srpskog naroda, 536.
35 Kurtović, Esad. Veliki vojvoda bosanski Sandalj Hranić Kosača, 376.
36 On the functioning of Sandalj’s chancellery, the issuing and safekeeping of his documents
in Dubrovnik, and the oicial seals see Kurtović, Esad. Veliki vojvoda bosanski Sandalj Hranić
Kosača, 378-379.
205
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Stevović, Ivan. Yugoslavia and art history – A batleield of
medieval architecture. Papers of BAS Humanities and Social
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Timotijević, Miroslav. Sremski despoti Brankovići i osnivan-
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the founding of Krušedol monastery). – Zbornik za likovne
umetnosti Matice srpske, 1991–1992, No. 27-28, 127-150.
Todorova, Maria. Imagining the Balkans. New York, 1997 (Up-
dated Edition, New York, 2009).
Tomin, Svetlana. Vladika Maksim Branković (Bishop Maxim
Branković). Novi Sad, 2007.
Tomin, Svetlana. Despotica i monahinja Angelina Branković
(Despoina and nun Angelina Branković). Novi Sad, 2009.
Tomin, Svetlana. Archbishop Maxim Branković. Supplement
to understanding of Serbian-Romanian relationships at the
beginning of the 16th century. – Medieval and Early Modern
Studies for Central and Eastern Europe, 2009, Vol. I. No. 1-4,
107-119
Tošić Djuro. Bosanska kraljica Katarina (1425–1478). – Zbornik
za istoriju Bosne i Hercegovine, 1997, No. 2, 93-112.
Walker Bynam, Caroline. The Last Eurocentric generation. –
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Perspectives on History. The Newsmagazine of American
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tion on the Mind of the Enlightenment. Stanford, 1994.
207
Балканите и ренесансовият свят
Йелена Ерделян
Текстът представя и подновява дискусията за връзките между

Балканите и ренесансовия свят, поставяйки отново въпроса:
Имало ли е Ренесанс на нашия полуостров? В спор със смене-
ната, нова гледна точка, както и с подновения методологичен
арсенал по отношение на добре известните факти статията
представя само няколко от многото балкански казуси, които
често са възприемани като прикрити елементи на визуалната
култура, но са плод на транскултурни и кръстопътни взаимо-
действия, на взаимосвързаност, миграции и социални мрежи,
както и на самоопределяне на идентичността в зората на мо-
дерната епоха. В този методологически контекст авторът пред-
ставя живота и ктиторската дейност на Катарина Косача Кот-
романич, кралица на Босна, на Андроника Доника Кастриоти,
съпруга на Джурадж Кастриоти Скендербег, и на неговата сес-
тра Ангелина Бранкович, омъжена за сръбския деспот Стефан
Бранкович, почитана като „светата майка Ангелина“ от сръб-
ската православна църква, както и на Сандали Хранич Косача,
могъщ благородник от Босна в края на XV в. В много аспекти
неговият живот, връзки, работа и банкови операции, а също и
самочувствието му са доста близки на маниера на съвременните
му благородници от Италия и по целия ренесансов свят.
208
Panagia Eleousa in Great Prespa Lake:
A symbolic artistic language at the Be-
ginning of the 15th Century
Melina Paissidou1
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Abstact: The text concerns the cave church of Panagia Eleousa on the shore of the
Great Prespa Lake near the contemporary Greek borders, which was decorated in
1409–10. The study focuses on two parameters: A. the writen epigraphic material,
which is connected to the history of the monument and to its patrons, and B. the
unusual external and internal mural decoration with symbolic themes and motifs
with protective and apotropaic connotations. Both reveal metaphysical semiology
linked to the political ideology and to theological beliefs of an unstable period.
Key words: Prespa, 15th century, inscriptions, donors, apotropaic messages, cryp-
tograms.
The isolated rock cut monastery of Panagia Eleousa in the Lake

Great Prespa in Greece constitutes an important cave church among
a group of eight situated between the modern states of Greece and
Albania2. It was erected as part of a small monastic community,
whose one enclosure and cells still exist in traces. The donor’s in-
scription bears the date 1409–10. This was a turbulent period for the
1 Dr Melina Paissidou is an Associate Professor in Byzantine Archaeology of the School of His-

tory and Archaeology in the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki; a Byzantinist working in the
ields of Byzantine archaeology, Art History and iconography of the Byzantine and the Post-byz-
antine era, of Byzantine topography and excavations in Thessaloniki, in western and eastern
Macedonia.
2 Paissidou. Melina. The hermitage “Panagia Eleousa” (Virgin Merciful) Great Prespa: an artistic
expression of time and space limit between two eras and two nationalities. In: Cyril and Metho-
dius: Byzantium and the world of Slavs. Thessaloniki, 2015, 302-303.
209
remnants of the Byzantine Empire, and especially for the already
subjugated region of Macedonia. Yet it is also the period subsequent
to the defeat of the sultan Bayezid I in Ankara and the reign of Ma-
nuel Palaiologos (1391–1425), who never gave up the idea of the
renovation of the Empire3. Due to this new Geopolitical situation,
the conditions of the subjugated Christian population under the
Otomans were relaxed, and hopes for the overturning of the polit-
ical order had appeared. As a consequence, an augmentation in the
erection and renovation of churches in the broader area of Prespa,
Kastoria and Ochrid could be observed during the irst decades of
the 15th century4.
The area belonged to the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Arch-
bishopric of Achris (Ochrid), which maintained a harmonious re-
lationship with the Patriarchate of Constantinople5. The oicially
Greek-speaking Archbishopric, which administrated both Greek
and Slavic bishoprics, as a factor of uniication of the area, had
undertaken to protect Christian populations under the Otomans.
The conditions are relected in an epistle of Patriarch Neilos in
1384: “Πάσχομεν γὰρ ὑπὸ τῶν Τούρκων … πλὴν ἔχομεν πᾶσαν
ἐλευθερίαν, ὥστε καὶ γράμματα δέχεσθαι καὶ ἀντιγράφειν καὶ
ἐπιστέλλειν καὶ χειροτονεῖν καὶ πέμπειν ἐπισκόπους, ὅπου
βουλόμεθα καὶ πάντα καὶ ἀκωλύτως τὰ ἐκκλησιαστικὰ καὶ ἐν
μέσῳ τῷ τόπῳ τῶν ἀσεβῶν”6.
The painted inscription on the roof beam of the Panagia Eleousa is
also illustrative of political conditions. It occupies two rows, though
3 For the reign of Manuel II see Nicol, Donald. M. Οι τελευταίοι αιώνες του Βυζαντίου, 1261–
1453 (translation S. Komninos). Athens, 1996, 464-529. Dennis, George. The Reign of Manuel II
Palaeologus in Thessalonica, 1382–1387. Rome, 1960.
4 Tsigaridas, Euthymios. Monumental Painting in Greek Macedonia during the 15th Century. In:
M. Acheimastou-Potamianou (ed.). Holy Image, Holy Space, Icons and Frescoes from Greece.
Greek Ministry of Culture – Byzantine Museum of Athens, 1988, 54-60.
5 Gelzer, Heinrich. Ungedruckte und wenig bekannte Bistumerverzeichnisse der Orientalischen
Kirche. – Byzantinische Zeitschrift, 1893, No. 2, 42. Konstantinou, Evanthia or Tegou-Stergiadou.
Τα σχετικά με την Αρχιεπισκοπή Αχρίδας σιγίλλια του Βασιλείου Β΄. Thessaloniki, 1988; Dar-
rouzès, Jean, A. A. Notitiae episcopatuum ecclesiae constantinopolitanae. Paris, 1981, 136, 371;
Delikari, Angeliki. Η Αρχιεπισκοπή Αχριδών κατά τον Μεσαίωνα. Ο ρόλος της ως ενωτικού
παράγοντα στην πολιτική και εκκλησιαστική ιστορία των Σλάβων των Βαλκανίων και του
Βυζαντίου. Thessaloniki, 2014, 107-154.
6 Though sufering from the Turks… we have all freedom in receiving and copying and dis-
patching epistles and consecrating and sending bishops, wherever we wish and every eccle-
siastical duty without obstacles within the land of the impious. Snegarov, Ivan. История на
Охридската архиепископия – патриаршия [Istorija na Ohridskata arhiepiskopija – Patriaršija],
2, Soia, 1932 (1995), n. 1.
210
it is actually articulated in four iambic dodecasyllabic verses7. Its
content is based on the Paracletical Canon of the Bread Fraction8, yet
certain alterations made to the text can be explained with reference
to historical circumstances at the beginning of the 15th century in
Macedonia.
+Ὑψωσον τὸ κέρας Χριστιανῶν κρατούντ(ων)/

τὰ σκῆπτρα, βασιλέων τῶν εὐσεβῶν καὶ/
σῶσον, ἐλέησον τὸν οἶκον μέχρι τέλους/
διὰ τῆς [σῆς] εὐσπλαχ(νία)ς, Κ(ύρι)ε9.
It is about a clear invocation calling for divine help and support for
Christian rulers. The emperor Manuel Palaiologos was representing
the crumbling Byzantine Empire and the Serbian rulers the remains
of the kingdom of Serbia. In addition to these igures, we might also
infer a local maintenance of the memory of the previous ruler of
the area Kral (king) Vukašin. His name is anachronistically refer-
enced in the donor inscription of the church in the hellenized form
“afthentis Vlukasinos”, thirty-eight years after the batle of Mariza
(Tzernomiano) and his consequent death10. Especially, the phrase
“Ὕψωσον τὸ κέρας χριστιανῶν… βασιλέων” inds a visual paral-
lel in the igure of Kral Marko with imperial insignia, and a horn in
his right hand, in Markov Monastery. Here he is presented together
with a posthumous depiction of his father Kral Vukašin11.
7 The inscription was first transliterated by N. Moutsopoulos (Moutsopoulos, Nikolaos. Βυζα-

ντινά μνημεία της Μεγάλης Πρέσπας. In: Χαριστήριον εις Αναστάσιον Κ. Ορλάνδον, Β. 2,
Athens, 1964, 152) and then by G. Subotić (Subotić, Gojko. Ohridska slikarska škola XV veka.
Beograd 1980, 37, n. 35), though with faults and omissions. For a new transcription and approach
see: Paissidou, The hermitage, 305-306, fig. 3.
8 The original text of the Canon is: “Ὕψωσον κέρας χριστιανῶν ὀρθοδόξων καὶ κατέπεμψον
ἐφ’ ἡμᾶς τὰ ἐλέη σου τὰ πλούσια / τὸ μέγα σου ἔλεος” (Rise up the horn of the orthodox Chris-
tians and consign to us your abundant mercies/ your abundant compassion).
9 “Rise up the horn of the pious Christian kings who hold the scepters save and show mercy for
the House until the End through Thy compassion”.
10 For Kral Vukašin see Jirećek, Constantin-Josef. Geschichte der Serben I. Gotha, 1911, 430, 433-
434, 437-438. Soulis, Georgios Chr. The Serbs and Byzantium during the Reign of Tsar Stephen
Dušan (1331–1355) and his successors (eds. J. S. Allen and S. Vryonis Jr.). Dumbarton Oaks Li-
brary and Collection, Washington D.C., 1984, 92-98.
11 Kotso, Dimtché. La peinture murale en Macédoine jusqu’à la in du XIVe siècle. In: Le trésor
artistique de la Macédoine. Skopje, 1984, 171. For the date of the Markov Monastery see Djurić,
211
The rich inner mural decoration of the church will not concern us
here. What makes the wall paintings of the building as exception-
al is the external painted imitation of brick masonry. A plethora
of motifs with apotropaic connotations integrate the conventional
function of the holy place with a more personal mode of protection
against evil powers and any kind of threat. This type of decoration
is therefore examined together with the rich epigraphic material.
In the present case the quality of the depicted subjects depends
on the visibility and accessibility of each surface. Thus, the more
sophisticated execution of the western façade is obvious (Fig. 1).
The painted imitation of cloisonné brick masonry recalls similar
practices at the churches of Kurbinovo and in Serbia, or the orig-
inal ceramic motifs at Kastoria and Ochrid12. A six-rayed star or a
schematized Christogram dominates the summit of the pediment.
On a lower zone, near the northwestern corner, a human mask with
well-depicted details suggests a strong apotropaic connotation13.
Human masks in mural decoration are unknown from the broader
area, though sculpted human masks are found in the churches of
Prespes, Apollonia and Serbia14.
Also forming part of the decoration of the western façade are four
ex-voto painted inscriptions, in which the three donors of the church
are commemorated. Writen in a bold red, they express prophylac-
tic and eschatological rhetoric. The leter forms allude to Byzan-
tine brick inscriptions. The inscription on the pediment refers to an
anonymous panypertimos donor (Fig. 1):
Δέησης τοῦ δούλου τοῦ Θ(ε)οῦ πανηπερτίμου κτήτορος15.
Vojislav J. Le monastère de Marko – Ohrid. – Zbornik za Likovne Umetnosti, 1972, No. 8, 160-162.
For the combination of the horn of Kral Marko with the Psalm 88 (89).21-44 see Velmans, Tania. Le
portrait dans l’art des Paléologues. In: Art et société à Byzance sous les Paléologues. Venise, 1971,
113-114, n. 99 and for futher analysis see Gavrilović, Zaga. The Portrait of King Marko at Markov
Manastir (1376–1381). In: Zaga Gavrilović (ed.). Studies in Byzantine and Medieval Art. London,
2001, 152-162.
12 Paissidou. The hermitage, 307-308 (with relative bibliography).
13 For the motif of the human mask see Mouriki, Doula. The Mask Motif in the Wall Paint-
ings of Mistra. Cultural Implication of a Classical Feature in Late Byzantine Painting. – ΔΧΑΕ,
1980–1981, No. 10, 307-338.
14 Bitrakova-Grozdanova, Vera. Golem Grad Prespa I. Skopje, 2011, 74-78, ig. 51. Maksimović,
Jovanka. Srpska srednjovekovna skulptura. Novi Sad, 1971, 159, 164, ig. 33, 61, 62, 71. Koch,
Guntram. Albanien. Kunst und Kultur im Land der Skipetaren. Köln, 1989, 227-228, ig. 53-56.
15 “The prayer of the servant of God panhypertimos ktetor”: The inscription has been faulty
transliterated by Miljukov (Miljukov, Pavel N. Hristianskija drevnosti Zapadnoi Makedonii. – Iz-
212
Fig. 1. The western façade with commemorative donor inscriptions and painted motives
imitating ceramic fabric (drawing by George Fousteris)
The ktetor can be identiied as “kyr Savvas the most honorable

among the priest-monks” (“τιμιώτατο ἐν ἱερομονάχοις”). He is the
vestija Russkago Arheologitsheskago Instituta v Konstantinopol, 1899, No. IV.1, 60) and by Pele-
kanidis (Pelekanidis, Stylianos. Βυζαντινά και μεταβυζαντινά μνημεία της Πρέσπας. Thessalo-
niki, 1960, 127-128) and correctly by Moutsopoulos (Moutsopoulos. Μεγάλη Πρέσπα, 148-150).
213
irst patron to be mentioned in the inner donor inscription16, and he
is also depicted in the donor representation as the elderly igure to
the right of the Virgin17. The title “panhypertimos” refers to a monk
who holds the dignity of dikaiophylax and anagrapheus18.
The second supplication in iambic dodecasyllablic verse (though
with metric irregularities very common for the Byzantine epigram
of the late period19), refers anonymously to all the donors of the
hermitage (Fig. 2):
Ὦ Χ(ριστ)ὲ μου φίλατε τοὺς ὧδε κτήτ[ορας]20
Two other fragments of inscriptions refer nominally to the two oth-
er donors, Varlaam and Iakovos, who are also both mentioned to
the inner donor inscription (Fig. 3-4):
[Βαρλ]αὰμ κτήτορ or [Βαρ]λὰμ κτήτορ21
and () Ι[α]κὸ β22
All four inscriptions-supplications occupy places near openings or
corners23. Their contexts and locations reveal invocative and protec-
tive purposes.
On the south surface, the morphological and aesthetic features are
simpler and their rendering rougher (Fig. 5). Yet, there are many
motifs likewise painted in red that imitate brick work. These in-
clude eight-rayed stars and suns connected to magic, apocalyptic
and eschatological texts24, crosses and the Greek leter Χ symboliz-
16 For the inner donor inscription see Miljukov. Hristianskija drevnosti, 62. Pelekanidis. Μνημεία
της Πρέσπας, 125-126. Moutsopoulos. Μεγάλη Πρέσπα, 150-152. Subotić. Ohridska, 35-36.
17 See also Paissidou. The hermitage, 303-304, 311.
18 Actes de Lavra, I, Dès origines à 1204 (eds. P. Lemerle, A. Guillou, N. Svoronos in collabora-
tion of D. Papachryssanthou). Paris, 1970, 273-274.
19 For relevant irregularities see Kominis, Αthanasios. Το βυζαντινόν ιερόν επίγραμμα και οι
επιγραμματοποιοί. Athens, 1966, 55, 162.
20 “O my God preserve the hereupon ktetores”: For previous transliterations see Pelekanidis.
Μνημεία της Πρέσπας, 127.Moutsopoulos. Μεγάλη Πρέσπα, 150.
21 Moutsopoulos transliterated the inscription as ΑΜΚΤΗΤΟΡ or ΠΑΜΚΤΗΤΟΡ without com-
ments (Moutsopoulos. Μεγάλη Πρέσπα, 145, ig. 5, 4).
22 The word corresponds to the full name Iakovos, one of the three donors referenced on the
inner donor inscription.
23 For relevant practices see Gabelić, Smilica. Prophylactic and Other Inscriptions in Late Byzan-
tine Fresco Painting. In: Guntram Koch (ed.). Byzantinische Malerei, Bildprogramme – Ikonogra-
phie – Stil. Wiesbaden, 2000, 67-71.
24 Lampakis, Georgios. Υπόμνημα περί των χριστιανικών αρχαιοτήτων της Ελλάδος. –
214
Fig. 2. Inscription referring to all donators.
Fig. 3. Inscription with the name (Var)laam
Fig. 4. Inscription with the name Iakov(os)
ing Jesus, and many schematized human masks. Most impressive

and rare is a pair of eyes with a nose protecting against the envious
and malign eyes25 (Fig. 6) and also a cross crowned by a human
Δελτίον της Χριστιανικής Αρχαιολογικής Εταιρείας, 1904, No. 4, 91-101. For the eight-rayed
star see: Russel, James. The Archaeological Content of Magic in the Early Byzantine Period. In:
Henry Maguire (ed.). Byzantine Magic. Dumbarton Oaks Trustees for Harvard University. Wash-
ington D.C., 1995, 42, ig. 8.
25 For the apotropaic eye see Deonna, Waldemar. Le symbolisme de l’œil. Paris. 1965, 179-196.
Vikan, Gary. Art, Medicine and Magic in Early Byzantium. – Dumbarton Oaks Papers 1984, No.
38, 66-67, ig. 1. Dickie, Mathew M. The Fathers of the Church and the Evil Eye. In: Kral. Magu-
215
Fig. 5. The southern façade with painted motives
mask. Circles divided into four or eight triangular doted portions

refer to schematic depiction of the liturgical bread, the Eucharistic
symbol par excellence26. The Greek leter “Ψ” either in vertical or in
overturned position refers to a trident, an apotropaic object, as all
the pointed implements used for repelling the evil power27.
The leter “Ψ” simple or double, as an end of the cross, as a tri-
dent or an anchor, constitutes the principal decorative subject of the
eastern façade and of the conch of the Bema (Fig. 7). On the same
façade, circles with a dot at the center can be interpreted as schema-
tized eyes28. Their apotropaic symbolism is strengthened by their
placement on the walls of the sanctuary.
ire (ed.). Byzantine Magic. Dumbarton Oaks Trustees for Harvard University. Washington D.C.,
1995, 9-34.
26 Galavaris, George. Bread and the Liturgy. The symbolism of early Christian and Byzantine
bread stamps. The University of Wisconsin Press. Madison – Milwakee – London, 1970, 26-39,
70-74, 86-87, 120, 122, 169-170.
27 Deonna. Le symbolisme, 180-182.
28 The motif of the simple or multiple homocentric circles with a dot is known from the early
Christian period used on many materials and especially near the entrances of the buildings with
apotropaic connotation (Dauterman-Maguire, E. Maguire, K., Duncan-Flowers, M. J. Art and Holy
Powers in the Early Christian House. University of Illinois, 1989, 5-7).
216
Fig. 6. Apotropaic eyes and nose
On the north façade, whose visibility is restricted, six painted mo-

tifs in irregular positions are depicted in red. A red serpent moves
westwards with an open mouth, where ive circles decorated with
cross and dots can be interpreted either as liturgical loaves or masks
(Fig. 8). Their placement near the northwest corner can be explained
through their apotropaic function29.
Inside the cave church, secular themes are depicted on the surface of
the built altar, such as bird-like masks, snakes, a demon mask with
snake-like horns and a double-headed eagle. These recall textile and
ceramic decoration with monstrous fantastic creatures (Fig. 9). They
are depicted in free sketch by the use of red and black colours on a
white board. Their unusual abundance on the holiest place of the
church emphasizes their apotropaic function while simultaneous-
ly alluding to the textile that conventionally covers the altar. This
practice can be atributed to the preference of the donators and the
painter. Teratomorphic motifs and their magical power inherited
from ancient tradition were not rejected in medieval ecclesiastical
art, in which they played a secondary role. In fact, the medieval
29 See above footnote n. 25.
217
world was familiar with them30.
The theme of the double-head-
ed eagle and its presence on
the altar is connected to the
political ideology of the peri-
od that represented the hope
for the revival of Byzantium.
In this speciic case, it is relat-
ed to the desired victory of the
Christians, in the manner that
is vividly expressed on the roof
beam inscription. The famous
emblem of the double-headed
eagle used by the Komnenian
and the Palaiologan dynasty
gradually became equivalent
to the existence of the emperors
and of the Empire itself31. It was
also used by local rulers such
as Cesar Novakos, despot Liv-
eros, by the royal Serbian fam-
ily and by the Lazarević32. In
the broader area it is found in
the Panagia of Tzerzikon (Cer-
Fig. 7. The eastern façade with the Greek leter Ψ
in various applications
30 Vikan, Gary. Μαγεία και εικαστική έκφραση στην ύστερη Αρχαιότητα. – Αρχαιολογία,
1999, No. 71, 17-20. Troianos, Spyros. Μαγεία και διάβολος. Από την Παλαιά στη Νέα Ρώμη.
– Αρχαιολογία, 1999, No. 71, 9-16. For the use of pagan motifs see Maguire, Henry. The Profane
Aesthetic in Byzantine Art and Literature. – Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 1999, No. 53, 89-205. For
the use of fantastic creatures in the wall painting see Garidis, Miltos. Το φανταστικό στοιχείο στη
βυζαντινή ζωγραφική του 16ου αιώνα. – ΔΧΑΕ, 1991–1992, Νο. 16, 239-252 .
31 Spyridakis, Georgios. Ο Δικέφαλος αετός, ιδία ως σύμβολον ή θέμα κοσμήσεως κατά την
βυζαντινήν και μεταβυζαντινήν μέχρι των νεωτέρων χρόνων περίοδον. In: Actes du XVIe
Congrès International des Études Byzantines. T. III. Bucarest, 1976, 427-433. Muthesius, Anna.
Studies in Byzantine and Islamic silk weaving. London, 1995, 27-28, 227-236. Fourlas, Benjamin.
Adler und Doppeladler. Kunstgeschichtliche Zeugnisse zum palaiologischen Doppeladler. In:
Θίασος των Μουσών, Studien zu Antike und Christentum, Festschrift für Josef Fink zum 70.
Geburtstag. Wien, 1984, 179-190. Babuin, Andrea. Standards and insignia of Byzantium. – Byz-
antion, 2001, No. 71.1, 36-38. Androudis, Pascal. Origines et symbolique de l’aigle bicéphale des
Turcs Seldjoukides et Artuqides de l’Asie Mineure (Anatolie). Βυζαντιακά, 1999, No. 19, 311-345.
32 For relevant bibliography see Paissidou. The hermitage, 306.
218
Fig. 8. The northern façade with a serpent and human masks
Fig. 9. The altar of the sanctuary with zoomorphic masks, snakes and a double-headed eagle
ske)33, in Golem Grad34 and in the church of St George at Godivje35

during the early period of the Turkish occupation. The depiction
of the double-headed eagle in the hermitage may also be seen on
a minuscule rendering on the sheath of St Demetrius’ sword, the
33 Kirchhainer, Karin. Die Fresken der Marienkirche in Cerskë bei Leskovik (Südalbanien). Ein
Beitrag zur spätbyzantinischen Monumentalmalerei im nördlichen Epirus. – ΔΧΑΕ, 2004, Νο.
25, des. 5-6.
34 Bitrakova-Grozdanova. Golem Grad, 120, ig. 93.
35 Subotić. Ohridska, 29, ig. 4.
219
protector saint of the byzantine army par excellence.
The strongest apotropaic symbol of all was the cross36. Two lour-
ishing crosses symbolizing the tree of life with cryptograms and
the symbols of the Passion decorate the door posts of the Pana-
gia Eleousa37. The cross to the south is decorated with the lance,
the reed, the sponge and the crown of thorns alluding to sote-
riological connotation of the cross of Golgotha (Fig. 10). A rich
variety of cryptograms surround it; Ἰ(ησοῦ)ς – X(ριστὸ)ς/ N(ι)
– K(ᾶ), Φ(ῶς) – Χ(ριστοῦ)/ Φ(αίνει) – Π(ᾶσι) Χ(ριστὸς) Χ(αρίζει)
Χ(άριν) Χ(ριστιανοῖς), Ἑ(λένη) Ἐ(κ Θεοῦ) – Ε(ὕρημα) Ἐ(δόθη).
[Στῦλος] Στ(αυρὸς) Δ(αιμόνων) Πτ(ῶσις)38, Τ(όπος) Κ(ρανίου) –
Π(αράδεισος) Γ(έγονε). For the acronyms ξ Ҁ – [..] ΘΥ, we propose
the completion as ξ(ύλον) στ(αυροῦ) – [υἱοῦ] Θ(εο)ῦ.
The depiction of the cross with the acronyms of ecclesiastical for-
mulae as a prophylactic sign constitutes an old practice. In mon-
umental painting it is found from the 13th century, especially de-
veloped in the church of Perivleptos in Ochrid39. Similar examples
exist in Thessaloniki, in Kastoria and in the broader Macedonia40.
The origin of the motif should be atributed to the artistic milieu of
the Palaiologan renaissance in Thessaloniki. The emphasis on sote-
riological and apotropaic qualities and the wide range of acronyms
from the end of the 13th century onwards should be atributed to the
36 Αccording to St John Chrysostomos (Koukoules, Phedonos. Βυζαντινών βίος και πολιτισμός.
Ι.2. Athens, 1948, 263).
37 For the lourishing cross see: Talbot-Rice, David. The Leaved Cross. Byzantinoslavica, 1950,
No. XI.1, 72-81. Karagianni, Alexandra. Ο σταυρός στη βυζαντινή μνημειακή ζωγραφική. Η
λειτουργία και το δογματικό του περιεχόμενο. Thessaloniki, 2010, 112-118, 161-164. 88-115.
Flemming, Johanna. Kreuz und Planzenornament. Byzantinoslavica, 1969, No. 30.1, 88-115. For
the cryptograms see Babić, Gordana. Les croix à cryptogrammes peintes dans les églises serbes
des XIIIe et XIVe siècles. In: Mélanges Ivan Dujčev. Byzance et les Slaves, Études de Civilisation.
Paris, 1979, 7-10. Rhoby, Andreas. Secret Messages? Byzantine Tetragrams and Their Display. In:
Art-hist. Issue 1 – Publié en ligne le 14 Juin 2013. URL: http://09.edel.univ-poitiers.fr/art-hist/index.
php?id=72.
38 Other interpretations: Σταυρῷ Σταυρωθεὶς Δόξα Πατρὸς (Moutafov, Emmanuel. Krip-
togramite i bilingvizmat na Paleologovoto izkustvo. – Patrimonium MK, 2010, No. 3, 256) or
Σταυρὸς τοῦ Σταυρωθέντος Δαιμόνων Πτῶσις (Marković, Miodrag. Ikonografski program
naistarijet živopisa crkve Bogorodice Perivlepte u Ohridu. – Zograf, 2011, No. 35, 135). Check
also: htp://09.edel.univ-poitiers.fr/art-hist/index.php?id=72
39 Marković. Ikonografski program, 130-136.
40 Tsitouridou, Anna. Ο ζωγραφικός διάκοσμος του Αγίου Νικολάου Ορφανού στη Θεσσαλο-
νίκη. Thessaloniki, 1986, 217-218. Papazotos, Thanasis. Οδοιπορικό στη Βυζαντινή και Μεταβυ-
ζαντινή Βέροια. Ναοί – Τέχνη – Ιστορία. Athens, 2003, fig. 7-8; Marković. Ikonografski program,
18-19.
220
inluence of a monastic and especially hes-
ychastic milieu. In the case of the Panagia
Eleousa we should take into account that
the church was to be used as a burial place
for donors and for the members of the mo-
nastic community.
The painter of the church, the priest-monk
Ioannikios, addresses his personal prayer
by using a soteriological invocation writen
in two verses. The irst can be divided into
two iambic 7/syllable parts:
Ἄληπτε θεαρχία, ληπτὸν με ὄντα, σῶσον/
Ἰωαννίκιος ἱερομόναχος καὶ ζωγραφῶν41.
The inscription is aligned on the same ver-
tical axis as the depiction of St Parascevi, a
saint connected to funerary themes42, and
with the Rising of Lazarus, a subject that
symbolizes the victory over the death.
In conclusion, in the mural decoration of
Panagia Eleousa we face a rare instance
of sacred symbols, such as crosses, cross-
es with the cryptograms, the Christogram,
the liturgical bread and the eagle, in com-
bination with magical symbols such as
eyes, serpents, zoomorphic or demon like
masks, and the anchor-like or trident Ψ.
In the Byzantine world such intermingling
of Christian beliefs and pagan magical no-
tions knew a long course, originating in the
41 “Unconceivable divine authority, save me the conceivable.

Ioannikios priest-monk and the one who painted”. Previous
references: Miljukov. Hristianskija drevnosti 62. Pelekanidis.
Μνημεία της Πρέσπας, 127. Moutsopoulos. Η βασιλική, 64.
Subotić. Ohridska, 37. Kalopissi-Verti, Sofia. Οι ζωγράφοι στην
ύστερη βυζαντινή κοινωνία. Η μαρτυρία των επιγραφών.
In: Maria Vassilaki (ed.). Το πορτραίτο του καλλιτέχνη στο
Βυζάντιο. Herakleio, 1997, 131.
42 Koukiaris. Ο κύκλος του βίου, 35-41. Paissidou. Οι τοιχο-
γραφίες του 17ου αιώνα, 247-248. Tsvetkovski. Malom Gradu, Fig. 10. Apotropaic leaved cross
111-113, des. 2-3. with cryptograms
221
ancient world and gradually being incorporated in Christian life
and art43.
The painted signs are combined with an emphatic use of votive in-
scriptions and bilingual symbolism of good and evil. They function
not only as apotropaic signs but also as symbols of an epoch and a
strength, which should resist towards the oncoming end, since the
evil powers and the demons are assimilated to political enemies.
Therefore, the religious and metaphysical semiology is combined
with political reality through the ecclesiastical ideology of this pe-
riod of transition. Signs are used as a metaphoric language of the
sinking Empire and consequently of the Church in danger. It is a
dialogue between the human and the divine, where the second de-
termines the destiny of the irst. It forms a cultural dialogue that
bridges the ancient, the medieval and the emerging post-medieval
world. The political turmoil of the era created the necessary con-
ditions for cultural change. The hermitage of Panagia Eleousa of
the beginning of the 15th century constitutes an authentic, unoicial
and unique creation of the place and the people, who had trans-
formed art into a visual invocation towards the “unconceivable di-
vinity”. The protagonists of this expression are four monks, Savvas,
Iakovos, Varlaam and Ioannikios, the patrons and the painter, who
were responsible for the unique visual argument of the hermitage
of Panagia Eleousa.
43 Vikan. Art, Medicine and Magic, 65-86. Greenfield, Richard. A Contribution to the Study of
Palaeologan Magic. In: Henry Maguire (ed.). Byzantine Magic. Dumbarton Oaks Trustees for
Harvard University. Washington D.C., 1995, 117-153. Psarologaki, Natassa. Η μαγεία της αρχαι-
ολογίας και η αρχαιολογία της μαγείας. Αντικείμενα μαγικού χαρακτήρα με χριστιανικό
περίβλημα. In: Βάσκανος οφθαλμός: σύμβολα μαγείας από ιδιωτικές αρχαιολογικές συλλο-
γές, Athens, 2010, 87-99.
222
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228
Богородица Елеуса на Голямото Преспанско
езеро: символичният художествен език от
началото на XV век
Мелина Паисиду
Изолираният скален манастир на св. Богородица Елеуса на голямото Прес-

панско езеро в днешна Гърция е построен като част от малка монашеска общ-
ност през 1409/10. Периодът на изграждането му съвпада с времето след пора-
жението на султан Баязид Ι при Ангора (Анкара) и с управлението на Мануил
Палеолог (1391–1425), романтичния мечтател за възстановяването на визан-
тийската империя на Балканите. Регионът на Преспа попада в юрисдикцията
на Охридската архиепископия, която в този период се ангажира с инициати-
вата да защитава християните, намиращи се под османска власт. В близост до
Преспанските езера – в Костур и Охрид – се строят и подновяват през първите
десетилетия на XV в. и други църкви, заради което манастирът „Богородица
Елеуса“ се възприема като част от тази програма за обнова. Малката църк-
вица на обителта има богата стенописна украса отвътре, но обект на това из-
следване е външната ѝ декорация и богатият епиграфски материал, които
превръщат паметника в изключителен пример за стенна екстериорна украса.
Четирите външни стени на църквата са украсени с многобройни рисувани
орнаменти, символи и надписи в ярък червен цвят, които свързват функцията
на храма като свято място с индивидуалния изказ на вярващия срещу зли-
те сили и всякакъв вид опасности. Тяхното качество зависи от видимостта и
достъпността на всяка повърхност, заради което най-майсторска е украсата
на западната фасада, където е изрисувана зидария, напомняща църквите в
Курбиново и в днешна Сърбия, както и оригиналната керамична декорация
от храмове в Костур и Охрид.
В стенната декорация на „Богородица Елеуса“ се наблюдава рядко за епоха-
та съвместяване на сакрални символи и магически знаци. Във Византия вза-
имодействието между християнството и езическите магически практики е
разпространено и води началото си от Античността. Усещането за магия е
било въплътено в християнството като конкуренция на чувството за вяра и
святост. Рисуваните символи в църквата „Елеуса“ се комбинират с емфатич-
ната употреба на вотивни надписи и биполярния символизъм на доброто и
злото. Те функционират като апотропейни знаци и като символи на епохата,
която се противопоставя на настъпващия злощастен край. Затова религиоз-
ната и метафизическата семиология е корелирана с политическата реалност
229
чрез църковната идеология на този преходен период, използвайки общ мета-
форичен език в разпадащата се империя. Тази корелация оформя културен
диалог, който посредничи между античния, средновековния и бедстващия
късносредновековен светоглед.
230
Un cycle hagiographique peu étudié
de la peinture extérieure moldave:
La vie de saint Pacôme le Grand
Constantin I. Ciobanu1
Institut d’Histoire de l’Art “G. Oprescu”
de l’Académie Roumaine
Abstract. The present study is focused on a less studied hagiographic cycle of

Moldavian exterior painting: The Life of St. Pachomius the Great. This cycle is rare
in Christian painting and it should not be confused with the frequent images of St.
Pachomius alone or of the Apparition of the Angel to St. Pachomius. Thus, in the
sixteenth century in Moldavia, the cycle of the life of St. Pachomius was preserved
only in the exterior paintings of the monasteries of Humor and Suceviţa. Research
has shown that the last scene in the life of St. Pachomius of Suceviţa was inspired by
a similar scene painted about half a century earlier, in 1547, on the northern wall of
St. George’s Church in the Monastery of Voroneţ. It is true that in Voroneţ this scene
illustrates (incorrectly) a sequence of the life of Saint Anthony, whose hagiography,
as evidenced by literary sources, does not include the odd episode with the lifting of
the oak leaf.
Mots-clés: Antoine le Grand, monastère de Humor, Pacôme le Grand, églises peintes

du nord de la Moldavie, monastère de Suceviţa, monastère de Voroneţ.
Cete recherche porte sur un cycle hagiographique peu étudié de la

peinture extérieure moldave: La vie de saint Pacôme le Grand. Elle a été
motivée par un regret et une perplexité. Le regret fut exprimé par
le célèbre byzantiniste français André Grabar dans son étude Deux
1 Dr Constantin I. Ciobanu est professeur agrégé et chef du Département d’art médiéval de

l’Institut d’Histoire de l’Art “G. Oprescu” de l’Académie Roumaine; il s’est spécialisé dans les
domaines de la recherche de la peinture médiévale, de l’iconographie orthodoxe, de l’épigraphie
slave et de la paléographie.
231
images tirées de la Vie de saint Pacôme2. Il concernait l’impossibilité de
lire l’inscription slave de la dernière scène préservé du cycle de la
vie de Saint-Pacôme de la peinture extérieure de Suceviţa. La per-
plexité est en revanche le premier sentiment qui a saisi l’auteur de
cet article lorsque – grâce aux moyens optiques modernes, inacces-
sibles au savant français dans les années 60e et 70e du siècle dernier
– on a inalement réussi à lire l’inscription en question. On a alors
constaté que, bien que l’épisode est efectivement inspiré par l’ha-
giographie pacômienne (il s’agit de la levée par les démons d’une
légère feuille de chêne aux moyens de leviers et de poulies ain d’in-
citer la saint à rire), le nom du personnage en question est Antoine
et non pas Pacôme, comme on l’avait précédemment supposé. Les
recherches ultérieures ont montré que la dernière scène de la vie de
Saint-Pacôme de Suceviţa est inspirée par une scène similaire, peinte
environ un demi-siècle plus tôt, en 1547, sur le mur nord de l’église
Saint-Georges du monastère de Voroneţ. Il est vrai qu’à Voroneţ,
cete scène illustre (d’une manière incorrecte!) une séquence de la
vie de saint Antoine, dont l’hagiographie, comme en témoignent les
sources litéraires, n’inclut pas le drôle d’épisode “avec l’élévation
de la feuille de chêne”. Cete confusion/fusion dans l’illustration des
hagiographies d’Antoine et de Pacôme nous a incité à examiner en
parallèle les cycles des vies de ces deux grands champions du mona-
chisme égyptien.
***
En préambule, nous avertissons le lecteur que cete étude vise exclu-
sivement les cycles peints de la vie de saint Pacôme. Ces cycles sont
rares dans la peinture chrétienne et ils ne doivent pas être confondus
avec les images fréquemment rencontrées de saint Pacôme solitaire
ou de l’apparition de l’ange à saint Pacôme. Ainsi, au XVIe siècle en
Moldavie, le cycle de la vie de saint Pacôme n’est conservé que dans
les peintures des monastères de Humor (1535) (Fig. 1) et de Suceviţa
(1596) (Fig. 2). Dans la peinture bulgare, nous n’avons qu’une seule
icône tardive, à partir de 1824, de Kristiou Zakhariev3, avec quatre
scènes de la vie du saint réparties dans les quatre coins du champ
central de l’icône.
2 Grabar, André. Deux images tirées de la Vie de Saint Pacôme. – Revue d’égyptologie, XXIV, Mé-
langes Michel Malinine. Paris, 1972, 74-79.
3 Bojkov, Atanas. Българската икона [Balgarskata ikona]. Soia, 1984, 299, il. 205.
232
Fig. 1. L’église de la Dormition de la Vierge du monastère de Humor. Le cycle de la vie de Saint-
Pacôme
Fig. 2. L’église de la Résurrection du Seigneur du monastère de Suceviţa.

Le cycle de la vie de Saint-Pacôme
L’hagiographie de saint Pacôme, fondateur du monachisme cénobi-

tique, appartient à l’immense corpus de la litérature pacômienne,
dans diverses versions manuscrites (plus tard imprimées) en plu-
sieurs langues : en grec, en copte, en latin, en syriaque, en arabe, en
slavon etc4.
***
Dans l’église de la Dormition de la Vierge du monastère de Humor
(1535), le cycle de la vie de saint Pacôme est situé dans la partie orien-
tale de la façade nord (Fig. 1). Il occupe les registres supérieurs du
4 Voir l’Annexe.
233
mur situé entre les absides nord et est du bâtiment. Ce cycle, dont
seulement quatre scènes ont été conservées, deux d’entre elles étant
sérieusement endommagés, est lanqué à l’est et à l’ouest par l’im-
mense image de l’Église triomphante, connue également sous le nom
de Prière de tous les saints. Au registre supérieur, les images préser-
vées du cycle sont celles de Saint Pacôme devant saint Palamon (sans
texte explicatif slavon) et L’ange apparaissant sous les traits d’un moine
à saint Pacôme (image pratiquement perdue). Au second registre du
cycle, l’image de gauche nous montre la scène de l’Envoi du portier
pour accueillir la sœur de saint Pacôme (Fig. 3). Le texte explicatif slavon
donne “Voici venir la sœur de Pacôme” et conirme cete identiica-
tion. L’image de droite du même registre nous montre saint Pacôme
devant un groupe de religieuses. L’inscription explicative slavonne
de cete scène a été complètement détruite. Mais la comparaison avec
des scènes analogues et mieux conservées du monastère de Suceviţa
indique qu’il s’agit ici de La transmission aux religieuses de l’ordre de la
vie monastique ou bien de La nomination de la sœur de Pacôme comme
abbesse du couvent des religieuses.
***
Au monastère de Suceviţa (1596), La vie de Pacôme commence au deu-
xième registre de la façade nord par l’image du Baptême du saint. Ce
registre comprend encore huit scènes illustrant des épisodes de l’ha-
giographie pacômienne: L’ange apparaissant dans un rêve à saint Pacôme,
saint Pacôme venant chez saint Palamon, L’ange apparaissant sous les traits
d’un moine à saint Pacôme, Saint Pacôme envoie le portier pour saluer sa
sœur, L’envoi du vieux prêtre Pierre pour visiter la sœur de saint Pacôme,
Saint Pacôme envoie le même vieux prêtre Pierre chargé de prendre soin du
couvent nouvellement créé par la sœur du saint, une image d’un paysage
montagneux (sans inscription et partiellement cachée par le toit du
porche ouvert de l’église), Les monastères fondés par saint Pacôme. La
conservation des fresques est assez bonne et la lecture des inscrip-
tions slavones de ce registre ne pose pas de diicultés.
Le second registre consacré à la vie du saint (le troisième de la façade)
commence avec la scène de l’Inclinaison de l’oratoire (Fig. 4). Nous
voyons saint Pacôme en prière et un groupe de moines qui tentent
d’incliner à l’aide de cordes le clocher d’une église. La Vie du saint
nous dit que le bienheureux Pacôme bâtit un oratoire dans son mo-
nastère; il lui it des portiques, il éleva des colonnes avec des briques,
234
Fig. 3. L’église de la Dormition de la Vierge du monastère de Humor. L’envoi du portier pour
accueillir la sœur d’après la chair de Saint-Pacôme

L’Inclinaison de l’oratoire
235
Fig. 5. L’église de la Résurrection du Seigneur du monastère de Suceviţa. La double représenta-
tion de Saint-Pacôme
Fig. 6. L’église de la Résurrection du Seigneur du monastère de Suceviţa. La découverte par

Saint-Antoine du vieux ermite Paul de Thèbes et le repas apporté aux deux saints par un oiseau
236
il l’ordonna avec soin. Ce travail lui parut à son goût parce qu’il
l’avait bâti avec grande beauté. En méditant, il comprit par la suite
que c’était par l’opération du démon qu’il avait admiré la beauté du
bâtiment; il prit donc une corde, l’atacha aux colonnes qui s’incli-
nèrent et tombèrent avec toute la construction. Il dit alors aux frères:
“Voyez à ne pas vous préoccuper d’orner les œuvres de vos mains;
ayez plutôt pour souci que la grâce de Dieu et son don se trouvent
dans l’ouvrage de chacun de vous, de crainte qu’au moment où l’es-
prit s’abaisse à chercher des louanges pour son travail, il ne devienne
la proie du démon!”5.
La scène suivante au même registre montre un paysage montagneux
avec saint Pacôme en prière. Le texte de l’inscription slavone “La
prière de saint Pacôme” conirme cete interprétation de l’image.
Comme le paysage est peu détaillé et comme le texte de La vie de
Pacôme abonde en épisodes où sont mentionnées les prières, il est
diicile de déterminer avec précision à quel passage du texte corres-
pond l’image.
Dans la troisième et dernière scène de ce registre, saint Pacôme est
présenté deux fois (Fig. 5). Tout d’abord nous voyons le saint à droite
d’un monastère, entouré par plusieurs groupes de moines, certains
debout, d’autres à genoux et en prière. Dans la même scène, sur la
surface de la fresque qui est au-dessus du toit du petit porche la-
téral de l’église, on voit un groupe d’anges accompagnant le jeune
Christ qui se dirige vers saint Pacôme. Ce dernier, représenté pour
la deuxième fois, porte le nom “Pacôme” inscrit au-dessus de sa tête.
Il est clair qu’il s’agit ici du passage suivant du récit hagiographique
de la vie du saint: “Alors que le dévot priait, deux anges se tenaient
devant lui; et parmi eux était un jeune homme d’une beauté indi-
cible, brillant comme la lumière du soleil et ayant sur sa tête une cou-
ronne d’épines. Et les anges, soulevant Pacôme de la terre, lui dirent:
Puisque vous avez demandé la miséricorde du Seigneur, la voici: Dieu de
Gloire, Jésus-Christ, Fils unique du Père, qui a été envoyé dans ce monde et
a été cruciié pour vous, et qui porte cete couronne d’épines sur sa tête!”6.
Le dernier registre (le quatrième de la façade nord et le troisième pré-
sentant des scènes de la vie du saint) est le plus diicile à interpréter
5 Vieţile sinţilor pe luna mai. Ed. Mănăstirea Sihăstria, 2012, 324.

6 Vieţile sinţilor, 340-341.
237
Fig. 7. L’église de
la Résurrection
du Seigneur du
monastère de
Suceviţa.
La tentation
du saint par le
démon Tagara

La levée de la feuille de chêne
238
et soulève bien des questions. Dans ce registre se produit une intru-
sion étrange et diicile à comprendre de scènes tirées de la vie de
saint Antoine dans les images de la vie de saint Pacôme et vice versa.
Cete insertion est visible à partir de la première scène du registre où
l’inscription et l’image montrent à la fois (et sans aucun doute) qu’il
s’agit de l’épisode bien connu de la découverte par saint Antoine du
vieil ermite Paul de Thèbes (dans sa grote du désert) et du repas ap-
porté par un oiseau aux deux saints (Fig. 6).
La scène suivante montre le même saint se dirigeant vers les mon-
tagnes. Devant le saint se trouve un hideux démon ailé qui gesticule
frénétiquement (Fig. 7). L’inscription slave nous fait savoir que le
nom du démon est “Tagara”. Dans l’histoire des débuts de l’église
moldave, on connait un imposteur grec dont le nom était Tagara et
qui se présentait comme patriarche de Constantinople7. Mais il est
peu probable que les concepteurs du programme iconographique ou
les peintres de Suceviţa aient entendu parler de lui. Selon une autre
hypothèse, le nom Tagara est une forme corrompue du nom de l’ar-
chaïque divinité protobulgare Tangara8. Dans les écrits chrétiens, les
cas sont fréquent où les anciens dieux païens sont identiié avec des
démons. La disparition de la consonne nasale “n” dans le nom propre
Tangara est probablement dû au fait que, dans le grec byzantin, le
groupe consonantique “ng” est écrit par une letre gamma doublée9.
Dans un mot comme “Tangara”, prononcé de façon similaire en grec
et en slave, la formule “ΤΑΓ(Γ)APA”, avec la deuxième letre “Г” su-
perposée est envisageable, cete letre pouvant disparaître plus tard.
La troisième et dernière scène du registre illustre l’épisode où les dé-
mons, à l’aide de quelques cordes et de poulies, soulèvent une légère
feuille de chêne dans le but de faire rire le saint (Fig. 8). Le récit hagio-
graphique de la vie du saint décrit cet épisode de manière suivante:
“Or le diable voyant qu’il ne l’auoit peû atraper, ny faire entrer en
7 Popovici, Euseviu. Istoria bisericească universală şi statistica bisericească: De la împlinirea

Schismei între biserica de Apus şi biserica de Răsărit până în prezent (1054–1910). Ed. a 2-a,
Bucureşti, 1927, 64.
8 Iliev, Alexandr. Тангра и болгары. Духовное пространство древних и средневековых бол-
гар [Tangra i bolgary. Duhovnoye prostranstvo drevnih I srednevekovyh bolgar]. In: Тенгри-
анство и эпическое наследие народов Евразии: истоки и современность [Tengrianstvo i
epicheskoye nasledye narodov Evrazii: istoki i sovremennost], 2013, Ulan-Bator, Mongolia /
http://tengrifund.ru/tangra-i-bolgari.html
9 Par exemple: le mot “ange“ prononcé comme “Anguélos“ est orthographié “ΑΓΓΕΛΟΣ“ (en
grec – “άγγελος“ et en slavon “АГГЕЛЪ“.
239
melancholie, pensa qu’il l’atraperoit du côté de la joye, puis qu’il s’es-
toit ry de la première embuscade. Il s’en va doncques atacher grande
quantité de grosses cordes à une feuille d’arbre, et se mirent plusieurs
démons à ces cordes, comme pour tirer avec une grande violence;
crians et suans, comme s’ils eussent eu grande peine. Le bon saint le-
vant les yeux, et voyant cete folie, se representa Nôtre Seigneur cruci-
ié en l’arbre de la Croix: eux voyans que le saint s’appliquoit au fruit
de l’arbre; et non à la feuille, s’en allerent tous confus et honteux. Il y
a temps de rire, et temps de ne pas rire: comme aussi temps de parler
et de se taire, comme nous monstra ce glorieux saint en ces tenta-
tions...”10. On a pu constaté que, bien que l’épisode est efectivement
tiré de l’hagiographie pacômienne, le nom du saint dans l’image est
Andonie (Antoine) et non Pacôme, comme on l’avait précédemment
supposé (Fig. 9). De plus, l’inscription explicative slavonne a démen-
ti l’une des principales idées de l’article d’André Grabar11 (basée sur
une interprétation insolite du texte slavon de l’hagiographie du
saint), idée selon laquelle à Suceviţa on avait volontairement inversé
le protagoniste qui devait être incité à rire, Pacôme étant substitué
par l’un des démons. Les recherches ultérieures ont montré que la
dernière scène de La vie de saint Pacôme de Suceviţa est inspirée par
une scène similaire, peinte environ un demi-siècle plus tôt, en 1547,
sur le mur nord de l’église Saint-Georges du monastère de Voroneţ
(Fig. 10). Il est vrai qu’à Voroneţ cete scène illustre (d’une manière
incorrecte) une séquence de la vie de saint Antoine, dont le dossier
hagiographique, comme en témoignent les sources litéraires, ne
comprend pas l’épisode comique de la levée de la feuille de chêne.
Conclusions
1. Le cycle de saint Pacôme, peint sur les façades des églises de la
Dormition de la Vierge de Humor et de la Résurrection du Seigneur
de Suceviţa, illustre des épisodes inspirés dans leur ensemble par les
textes hagiographiques slavons de la vie du saint et, en particulier,
par celle du Grand Menaion avec les vies des saints pour le mois de
mai.
10 De Sales, François. Les œuvres du bien-heureux François de Sales, évêque et prince de Ge-
nève. Paris, 1652, col. 1851.
11 Grabar, André. Deux images tirées de la Vie de Saint Pacôme. – Revue d’égyptologie, XXIV,
Mélanges Michel Malinine. Paris, 1972, 77.
240
Fig. 9. L’église Saint-Georges du monastère de Voroneţ et l’église de la Résurrection du Seigneur
du monastère de Suceviţa. Les inscriptions slavonnes avec le nom de Saint-Antoine dans les
scènes “La levée de la feuille de chêne”
Fig. 10. L’église

Saint-Georges du
monastère de Voroneţ.
La levée de la feuille de
chêne
241
2. Les inscriptions explicatives slavonnes des illustrations du cycle
de la vie de saint Pacôme de Suceviţa ne répètent pas litéralement
les textes hagiographiques slavons. Ces inscriptions sont des titres
ou des commentaires pour des images concrètes du cycle de la vie et
des miracles de saint Pacôme; elles ne sont en aucun cas des fragments
narratifs extraits litéralement de l’hagiographie du saint.
3. L’intégration dans l’hagiographie illustrée pacômienne des scènes
de la vie de saint Antoine a lieu seulement dans la quatrième rangée
d’images de la décoration de la façade nord de Suceviţa. Si, comme
dans l’exemple erroné des fresques de Voroneţ, les concepteurs et
les peintres de Suceviţa ont associé la levée de la feuille de chêne à l’ha-
giographie de saint Antoine, et non à l’histoire pacômienne, il en ré-
sulte que la moitié ouest de la façade nord de l’église contient (sous
le cycle des illustrations du livre de la Genèse) non pas un, mais deux
cycles hagiographiques: celui de saint Pacôme – dans les deuxième et
troisième rangées d’images – et celui de saint Antoine – dans la qua-
trième rangée. De tels cas sont présents dans la peinture des façades
des églises moldaves du XVIe siècle: ainsi à Voroneţ, sur le mur nord,
sous trois registres de la vie de saint Antoine, nous avons une rangée
entière d’images, composé de six scènes, qui dépeint le cycle de la vie
de saint Gérasimos du Jourdain et du lion guéri par ce saint.
242
Annexe
Les sources sur la vie de saint Pacôme sont les suivantes

(dans l’ordre approximatif de leur connaissance en Occident)
la Vita sancti Pachomii abbatis Tabennensis, texte latin dû au
moine Denys le Petit (début du VIe siècle), qui est la traduction
latine d’une Vie grecque antérieure (Patrologie latine de Migne,
t. 73, col. 229-272);
une Vie grecque atribuée traditionnellement (mais faussement)
à Syméon le Métaphraste (la Vie métaphrastique), traduite en
latin par Gentien Hervet sous le titre Vita sancti Patris nostri
Pachomii, traduction publiée notamment par Lorenz Sauer
(Laurentius Surius, De probatis sanctorum vitis, Cologne, 1617,
t. III, p. 195 sqq.); cete Vie métaphrastique est en fait composée
d’une Vie de Pacôme lui-même suivie d’épisodes de la vie de
ses disciples. La comparaison avec le texte de Denys le Petit
montre qu’elle se fonde sur le même modèle, mais en l’ampli-
iant considérablement;
une Vie de saint Pacôme en grec publiée par les Bollandistes
dans les Acta Sanctorum (Paris, 1866, t. III, p. 22-43, trad. lat. p.
295-333), compilation de manuscrits dont le principal est un
manuscrit de Florence (Plut. XI, Cod. IX) du XIe siècle. Cete Vie
est dérivée de la Vie métaphrastique;
une collection de récits séparés publiée par les Bollandistes
sous le titre Paralipomena de SS. Pacomio et Theodoro (loc. cit., p.
44-53, trad. lat. p. 333-345), suite de récits analogue à l’Histoire
lausiaque, avec mêmes titres et même disposition des matières,
probablement extraite de la Vie suivante ou de son prototype;
une Vie du bienheureux Pacôme en grec conservée dans un ma-
nuscrit de Paris du Xe siècle (Paris. gr. 881 ; éditée par François
Nau, Patrologia Orientalis, t. IV, fasc. 5, n°19, Brepols, Turhout,
1981);
une Vie de Pacôme se trouvant dans un manuscrit palimpseste
provenant du Mont Athos, où elle a été transcrite au XIVe siècle
sur un texte sous-jacent du VIIIe siècle, manuscrit démembré et
incomplet dont certains feuillets se trouvent à Paris (suppl. gr.
480), d’autres à Chartres (ms. n° 1754);
les extraits d’une Vie de Pacôme cités par Nicon de la Montagne
Noire (XIe siècle). Il s’agit apparemment de la Vie précédente;
une Vie syriaque très ancienne, présente dans des recueils du
VIIe siècle (notons le Paradisus Patrum réalisé par le moine nes-
torien Enanjésus du couvent de Beth ‘Abhé pour le catholicos
243
Mar Guiwarguis Ier [661–680]), traduction d’un original grec
plus ancien (éditions: Paul Bedjan, Acta martyrum et sanctorum,
t. V, Paris, 1895, p. 122-176 et 701-704; E. A. T. Wallis Budge, The
Book of Paradise of Palladius, 2 vol. Londres, 1904 ; trad. française
dans le vol. de la Patrologia Orientalis cité plus haut);
plusieurs versions coptes (éditées par Émile Amélineau dans les
Annales du Musée Guimet, t. XVII, Paris, 1889, p. 1-334, et dans
les Mémoires de la Mission archéologique française au Caire, t. IV,
Paris, p. 521-608). Ce sont des traductions du grec;
une version arabe publiée et traduite par Émile Amélineau (An-
nales du Musée Guimet, ibid., p. 337-712), compilation récente;
il faut y ajouter les récits de l’Histoire lausiaque, de Palladios
(§ 32), en principe le plus ancien document, mais en fait cete
compilation de récits a été très tôt complétée sans qu’on puisse
distinguer ce qui vient de Palladios lui-même. En fait, l’en-
semble de ces documents semble être le produit de compila-
tions successives de trois sources remontant au IVe siècle : 1.
une Vie de Pacôme (en grec) ; 2. une Vie de Théodore (son disciple
le plus célèbre) ; 3. un recueil d’Ascetica (c’est-à-dire d’épisodes
tirés de la vie des ascètes).
***
Dans la litérature slavonne, les textes dédiés à saint Pacôme
sont entrés encore à l’époque pré-mongole. Ainsi, de la collec-
tion de manuscrits Ouspensk (frontière du XIIe et du XIIIe siècle)
fait partie le texte intitulé “La vie de notre père Pacôme, qui
était au début de l’image des moines”. Comme l’a démontré
le philologue-médiéviste russe Oleg V. Tvorogov12, ce texte ne
concerne pas directement les diférentes variantes de la vie de
saint Pacôme, car il s’agit d’une traduction des chapitres 32-34
de l’Histoire lausiaque de Pallade, chapitres qui parlent non seu-
lement de saint Pacôme et des monastères fondés par celui-ci,
mais aussi au sujet des couvents des nonnes et des événements
qui s’y sont déroulés, ainsi qu’au sujet de la vie de l’ascète Piti-
roum (en traduction slave: Pitirim).
Quant au récit hagiographique proprement dit du saint, il
faut noter que, dans l’histoire de la litérature slavonne étaient
connus (tout ou en fragments) plusieurs versions de La vie saint
Pacôme. La plus ancienne semble être la traduction slave du
texte latin, atribué à Denys le Petit (Vita Sancti Pachomii Ab-
batis Tabennensis). Les traductions slavonnes de la Vie de saint
Pacôme inclue dans le Grand Ménaion pour le mois de mai ont
12 Tvorogov, Oleg V. Древнерусские четьи сборники XII—XIV вв. [Drevnerusskie tchetyi
sborniki 12 – 14 vekov]. – Trudy Otdela Drevne-Russkoi Literatury, T. 44. Leningrad, 1990. 217.
244
été compilées à partir de multiples sources. Cete hagiographie
slavonne a été faite sur la base de plusieurs fragments des rè-
glements monastiques pacômiens (traduit en latin par saint
Jérôme), du chapitre sur Pacôme et les tabénissiotes de l’Histoire
lausiaque de Pallade et du texte grec de la vie du saint, – texte –
atribué, à tort, à Siméon le Métaphraste.
La version roumaine de la Vie de saint Pacôme est une traduction
idèle de ce récit hagiographique slavon, compilé à partir de
plusieurs sources grecques et latines. Pour cete raison, dans la
version slavonne et ensuite dans ses traductions roumaines on
trouve à la fois l’épisode avec la levée de la feuille de chêne ainsi
que l’épisode de l’inclinaison de l’édiice; or, en grec, en latin ou
en copte, ces deux épisodes ne sont jamais unis dans la même
version du texte de la vie du saint.
245
Bibliographie
Sources primaires
Acta Sanctorum, Paris, 1866, T. III, p. 22-43, trad. lat. 295-
345.
Annales du Musée Guimet, T. XVII, Paris, 1889, 1-334; 337-
712.
Corpus athénien de saint Pacôme édité par le P. François
Halkin avec une traduction française par le P. André-Jean
Festugière, Cramer, Genève, 1982.
Mémoires de la Mission archéologique française au Caire, T.
IV, Paris, 521-608.
Moines d’Orient, IV/2. La première vie grecque de saint
Pachome. Introduction critique et traduction par An-
dré-Jean Festugière. Paris, Les éditions du Cerf, 1965, 156-
157.
Patrologiae Cursus Completus. Series Latina, T. 73, col. 229-
272.
Patrologia Orientalis, T. IV, fasc. 5, n. 19, ed. Brepols, Tu-
rhout, 1981.
Sancti Pachomii Vitae Graecae. Ed. François Halkin.
Bruxelles, Société des Bollandistes, 1932.
Sancti Pachomii Vitae Sahidice scriptae. Ed. L. Th. Lefort.
Louvain, Imprimerie orientaliste L. Durbecq, 1933 –
CSCO, Scriptores Coptici, 9-10.
Vies coptes de saint Pacôme et de ses premiers successeurs. Tra-
duction française par Louis Théophile Lefort, Louvain,
Publications Universitaires, 1943, pp. XIII-XCI;
Sources secondaires
Amélineau, Émile. Histoire de Saint Pacôme et de ses com-
munautés, Paris, Ernest Leroux éd., 1889, – Annales du
Musée Guimet, XVII, pp. XXV-XXVI & LXVIII.
Bedjan, Paul. Acta martyrum et sanctorum, T. V, Paris, 1895,
246
122-176; 701-704.
Bojkov, Atanas. Българската икона [B’lgarskata ikona], So-
ia, 1984.
Bousset, Wilhelm. Apophthegmata: Studien zur Geschichte
des ältesten Mönchtums de Wilhelm Bousset. Tübingen,
1923, 224-231; 253-258.
Chity, Derwas J. Pachomian Sources Reconsidered. –
Journal of Ecclesiastical History. Nr. 5, 1954, 38-77.
Grabar, André. Deux images tirées de la Vie de Saint
Pacôme. – Revue d’égyptologie, XXIV, Mélanges Michel
Malinine. Paris, 1972, 74-79.
Halkin, Francis. Le Corpus Athénien de Saint Pacôme.
Avec une traduction française par A.-J. Festugière. Ge-
nève, Patrick Cramer éditeur, 1982 (Cahiers d’Orienta-
lisme II).
Ladeuze, Paulin. Étude sur le cénobitisme pacômien pen-
dant le IVe siècle et la première moitié du Ve. Paris, 1898.
Popovici, Euseviu. Istoria bisericească universală şi statis-
tica bisericească: De la împlinirea Schismei între biserica
de Apus şi biserica de Răsărit până în prezent (1054-1910).
Ed. a 2-a, Bucureşti, 1927, 64.
de Sales, François. Les œuvres du bien-heureux François
de Sales, évêque et prince de Genève. Paris, 1652, col. 1851.
Surius, Laurentius. De probatis sanctorum vitis. Cologne.
1617, T. III, 195 sqq.
Tvorogov, Oleg V, Древнерусские четьи сборники XII—
XIV вв. [Drevnerusskie tchetyi sborniki 12–14 vekov]. –
Troudy Otdela Drevne-Russkoi Literatury. T. 44. Lenin-
grad, 1990, 217.
Veilleux, Armand. La liturgie dans le cénobitisme pacô-
mien au quatrième siècle. Romae, I.B.C. Libreria Herder,
1968 /Studia Anselmiana, Nr. 57, 16-158.
Vieţile sinţilor pe luna mai. Ed. Mănăstirea Sihăstria, 2012.
Wallis Budge, E. A. T. The Book of Paradise of Palladius. 2
vol. Londres, 1904.
247
Житието на св. Пахомий Велики –
един малко проучен агиологичен цикъл
в живописта на Молдавия
Константин Чобану
Обект на настоящото изследване е слабо проучваният агиологичен цикъл

„Житие на св. Пахомий Велики“ в молдавската стенна живопис. Този цикъл
се среща рядко в християнската иконография и не би трябвало да се бърка
с често разпространените самостоятелни изображения на св. Пахомий и
сцената „Ангел се явава на св. Пахомий“. В молдавското изкуство от XVI в.
житийният цикъл на св. Пахомий се съхранява в екстериорната украса на
манастирите Хумор и Сучевица. Това изследване показва, че последната
сцена от „Житието на св. Пахомий“, изобразена в Сучевица, е вдъхновена
от аналогична композиция, появила се вероятно половин столетие по-рано,
или през 1547 г., на северната фасада на църквата „Св. Георги“ в манастира
Воронец. Истина е, че в манастира Воронец споменатата сцена (неправилно!)
илюстрира „Житието на св. Антоний“, чиято агиография, както свидетелстват
литературните източници, не включва в себе си странния епизод с „Вдигането
на дъбовите листа от демоните“.
248
Post-Byzantine Wall Paintings
in Euboea: The Monastery
of Panagia Peribleptos at Politika
Andromachi Katselaki1
Hellenic Ministry of Culture
Abstract: The wall paintings of the seventeenth century church of Panagia Peri-
bleptos at Politika on Euboea were possibly produced by a local workshop. Rigor-
ously executed, and with complex conceptual and spiritual content, the paintings
permit an examination of the monument in the context of contemporary monu-
mental painting, both on the island and in the wider region. Moreover, we may
also explore the largely unknown Post-Byzantine artistic production of Euboea,
which maintained the tradition of the great Theban painters of the preceding cen-
tury.
Key words: Metrophanes, Justus, Eleutheroupolis, Bibloupolis, Katelanos, Konta-
ris, Skripou.
А. The history
The Byzantine monastery of the Dormition of the Virgin, also known
as Panagia Peribleptos (Fig. 1), may be found in central Euboea. The
monastery has been the focus of research since the 1930s2. Anasta-
1 Dr Andromachi Katselaki is an Archaeologist and Art Historian; Head of the Department

of Educational Programmes and Communication of the Directorate of Museums, the Hellenic
Ministry of Culture; a member of the Christian Archaeological Society; a Byzantinist working in
the ields of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine painting and iconography and Byzantine sculpture.
2 Orlandos, Anastasios. Η Περίβλεπτος των Πολιτικών της Ευβοίας. Aρχείον Ευβοϊκών Με-
λετών, 1937, Νο. 3, 175-184. Bouras, Charalambos. Παρατηρήσεις στο Καθολικό της Μονής της
Θεοτόκου “Περιβλέπτου” στα Πολιτικά Ευβοίας. – Aρχείον Ευβοϊκών Μελετών, 1988–1989,
Νο. 28, 53-62. Bouras, Charalambos. Περί την χρονολόγησην του καθολικού της Περιβλέπτου
στα Πολιτικά Εύβοιας. Δέκατο Συμπόσιο Βυζαντινής και Μεταβυζαντινής Αρχαιολογίας
και Τέχνης, Πρόγραμμα και Περιλήψεις Εισηγήσεων και Ανακοινώσεων, 1990, 52-53. Ma-
249
Fig. 1. The monastery of Panagia Peribleptos at Politika, Euboea. General view
sios Orlandos was the irst to look into the architecture and decora-
tion of this monument, and also into the issues associated with the
name of the monastery3. In the late ‘90s Charalambos Bouras stud-
ied the sculpture and the pavement of the catholicon and established
a link between the foundation of Panagia Peribleptos on Euboea,
and the famous monastery of Hosios Loukas in Boeotia4.
In its long history5, the catholicon underwent several stages of build-
maloukos, Stavros, Pinatsi, Christina. Συμπληρωματικά στοιχεία για το καθολικό της μονής
Περιβλέπτου στα Πολιτικά της Εύβοιας. – Aρχείον Ευβοϊκών Μελετών, 2007, Νο. 37, 71-82.
3 Orlandos. Περίβλεπτος, 175-184.
4 Bouras. Παρατηρήσεις, 62. Bouras. Πολιτικά, 52-53.
5 About the history of the monastery see Mamaloukos, Stavros, Pinatsi, Christina. Συμπληρω-
250
Fig. 2. The monastery of Panagia Peribleptos at Politika, Euboea. The dedicatory inscription
ing work, mainly during the Post-Byzantine period, which altered

its original architectural form. Based on the new research indings,
Stavros Mamaloukos and Christina Pinatsi argued in 2007 that the
catholicon in its present form belongs to a single building phase6.
On the grounds of both epigraphic and architectural evidence, this
phase can be dated back to the 17th century, conirming 1668 (Fig. 2)
– a date that appears on the dedicatory inscription7 – as a terminus
ante quem.
ματικά στοιχεία, 72.

6 Mamaloukos, Pinatsi. Συμπληρωματικά στοιχεία, 74-75.
7 Mamaloukos, Pinatsi. Συμπληρωματικά στοιχεία, ig. 21.
251
Fig. 3. The monastery of Panagia Peribleptos at Politika, Euboea. The Christological Cycle (1668)
B. Architecture-Decoration
The building in its present form is a cross-in-square church of the
semi-complex four-columned type, rectangular in plan8. The cathol-
icon is decorated with remarkable wall paintings that occupy the
dome and the drum, the walls and the vaults of the prothesis and the
Sanctuary, and also the upper part of the templon. The remaining
surfaces of the building had never been painted, as the construction
details indicated us. In its present state, the building and its mural
decoration show extensive signs of damage caused by a destructive
earthquake and, more recently, by a ire.
C. Conservation and restoration work

In recent years, extensive restoration and conservation works have
been undertaken thanks to private sponsorship, under the super-
8 Mamaloukos, Pinatsi. Συμπληρωματικά στοιχεία, 72-74.
252
Fig. 4. The monastery of Panagia Peribleptos at Politika, Euboea. View of the sanctuary
(1668). Photo by I. Spanos
vision of the Ephorate of Antiquities of Euboea. The conservation

work was carried out under the direction of Ιοannis Spanos, and
was completed at the end of 2015.
D. The iconographic programme

The wall paintings of Peribleptos, preserved in relatively good con-
dition, include – apart from liturgical themes – a large number of
scenes from the broader Christological Cycle (Fig. 3) and also from
the iconography of the Virgin Mary. Numerous individual igures,
prophets and saints, complete the iconographic programme.
A narrow zone stretches along both lateral walls of the Sanctuary,
with scenes of the Divine Liturgy, as an extension of the Commun-
ion (Fig. 4), with the Heavenly Liturgy of Angels carrying the Body
of Christ in procession. In the lower registers, a further four hier-
253
Fig. 5. The monastery of Panagia Peribleptos at Politika, Euboea. General view of the templon (1668)
archs are shown, from right to left: Hierotheos9, Dionysios the Are-
opagite10, John Kaloktenis and Germanos. Moreover, four co-oici-
ating Fathers leaning forward in the direction of the Sanctuary are
represented on the intrados of the arches, between the Sanctuary
and the parabemata: Clement and Metrophanes of Constantinople
decorating the north intrados, and Justus of Eleutheropolis with
John of Bibloupolis occupying the south one (Fig. 6-9).
Finally, the Post-Byzantine templon is constructed in accordance
with the wooden ones11 (Fig. 5). Three horizontal registers are de-
ined. Byzantine marble panels are placed in the lower zone. Across
the middle register are wall-painted igures of saints or composi-
tions serving as despotic icons, and over the original marble epi-
style there extends a Great Deesis with 17 igures. It should be noted
that the entire mural decoration of the templon had been overpaint-
9 Delehaye. Synaxarium. 103.

10 Delehaye. Synaxarium. 101-102.
11 Mamaloukos, Pinatsi. Συμπληρωματικά στοιχεία, 73, ig. 1, 7.
254
ed. During the conservation work, it was conirmed that the original
frescoes were preserved in their entirety. It was therefore deemed
necessary to remove all the overpaintings of low quality. Indeed,
after the removal, it became clear that the original wall paintings of
the templon were stylistically linked to those of the Sanctuary and
may therefore also be dated to 1668.
E. Observations on iconography
Having presented the iconographic programme of Peribleptos, cer-
tain stylistic and iconographic observations need to be pointed out.
The inscriptions, although often spelled phonetically, are marked
by a strong decorative character. A similar decorative feature is also
evident in the way that the garments have been rendered. Garments
are decorated with gems and pearls, and embroidered with vegetal
and geometric motifs in various combinations. It should be noted
that some of these decorative elements are rendered in relief – a
technique that also appears on some of the inscriptions and on the
halo of the Pantokrator within the dome.
The iconographic programme, whose vibrant and rich composition
lays emphasis on liturgical and dogmatic themes, also features nu-
merous igures of prophets and, chiely, Fathers of the Church. In
fact, more than ifteen hierarchs are represented in the Peribleptos,
including some igures of local eminence, such as John Kaloktenis,
and also some hierarchs who are not frequently encountered in
Byzantine and Post-Byzantine painting.
The depiction of Hierotheos, the bishop of Athens, in a prominent
position, is a case in point12. According to his vita, Hierotheos was
present in the Dormition of the Virgin13. The venerable father is
consistently, although not frequently, depicted in Byzantine14 and
Post-Byzantine painting15, sometimes in the Dormition of the Vir-
12 Gritsopoulos, Tasos. Ιερόθεος. Θρησκευτική και Hθική Εγκυκλοπαιδεία, No. 6. Athens, 1965,
793-795.
13 Simonopetritis, Makarios. Nέος Συναξαριστής της Ορθοδόξου Εκκλησίας, Νο. 2, Athens,
2004, 45. Papadopoloulos-Kerameus. Ερμηνεία, 144.
14 Orlandos, Anastasios. Νεώτερα ευρήματα εις την Μονήν Δαφνίου. – Αρχείον των Βυζαντι-
νών Μνημείων της Ελλάδος, 1955–1956, No. 8, 91.
15 Orlandos. Νεώτερα ευρήματα εις την Μονή Δαφνίου, 91. Κatselaki, Andromachi. Το Μονα-
στήρι και το Εκκλησιαστικό Μουσείο Ύδρας. Athens, 2009, 422-423.
255
Fig. 6. The monastery of Panagia Peribleptos at Politi- Fig. 7. The monastery of Panagia Peribleptos at Politika,
ka, Euboea. St Metrophanes. (1668) Euboea. St Clement, bishop of Alexandria (1668)
gin16 and occasionally as a co-oiciating hierarch17, whereas his

martyrdom is seldom depicted18.
Germanos19 and John Kaloktenis, a further two holy igures depict-
ed in the Peribleptos, lived later. Germanos I20 may be identiied on
16 Aceimastou-Potamianou, Myrtali. Oι τοιχογραφίες της Μονής των Φιλανθρωπηνών στο

νησί των Ιωαννίνων. Athens, 2004, 133, fig. 123.
17 Millet, Gabriel. Monuments de l’Athos, I, Les peintures. Paris, 1910. pl. 256.2. Orlandos. Μονή
Δαφνίου, 89-93. fig. 21, 23.
18 Aceimastou-Potamianou. Μονή των Φιλανθρωπηνών, 139, ig. 96.
19 Delehaye. Synaxarium, 677-680.
20 Papadopoloulos-Kerameus. Ερμηνεία, 155.
256
Fig. 8. The monastery of Panagia Peribleptos at Fig. 9. The monastery of Panagia Peribleptos at Politi-
Politika, Euboea. St John, Bishop of Bibloupolis ka, Euboea. St Justus, Bishop of Eleutheroupolis (1668)
(1668)
the grounds of his peculiar hairstyle21. He is perhaps most famous

as the Patriarch of Constantinople deposed during the Iconoclastic
period, but was also a distinguished author and hymnographer.
On the other hand, Kaloktenis, the eminent Metropolitan of Thebes,
lived in the 12th century. Being a man of spirit and action, held in
high esteem for his deep theological knowledge, he became espe-
cially popular with the people of Thebes for his many activities as a
21 Stavrianos, Kyriakos S. O Άγιος Γερμανός Α΄ ο Ομολογητής Πατριάρχης Κων/πόλεως.

Βίος-Έργα-Διδασκαλία-Συμβολή στην περίοδο της Eικονομαχίας. Athens, 2003.
257
public benefactor to the city22. He was canonized after his death and
appears in the monumental painting of the wider region, where his
memory still lives on23.
Metrophanes, the irst bishop of Constantinople, worked together
with Constantine the Great on establishing the glorious churches
that embellished the new capital24 (Fig. 6). His depiction in the Peri-
bleptos is rare in Byzantine painting in which he is usually shown in
expanded representations of co-oiciating hierarchs25.
In contrast to these generally well-known or locally distinguished
igures, the presence of Justus of Eleutheropolis and John of Bib-
loupolis remains diicult to explain (Fig. 8, 9). In the Acts of the
Apostles Justus is referred to as Joseph Barsabbas. He was renamed
Justus when he was elected to take over Judas’s place in apostolic
ministry26. Justus later became Metropolitan of Eleutheropolis near
Jerusalem27 (Fig. 9).
Even fewer atestations are available concerning John of Bibloupo-
lis. He is mentioned, like Justus, only in the list of the seventy Apos-
tles28 (Fig. 8). Bibloupolis is identiied with the ancient city of By-
blos in Lebanon, which together with the city of Botrys constituted
a Metropolitan See administered by the Patriarchate of Antioch29. So
far, I have not traced any other iconographic parallel, although ref-
erence to this toponym can be found in the well-known Hermeneia
22 Simonopetritou, Ieromonachou Makariou. Nέος Συναξαριστής της Oρθοδόξου Eκκλησίας,

Νο. 8, Athens 2007, 274-275.
23 Panayotidi, Maria. Oι τοιχογραφίες της κρύπτης του Αγίου Nικολάου στα Καμπιά της
Βοιωτίας, Actes du XVe Congrès International d’Études Byzantines, II Art et Archéologie,
Communications, Νο. 2, Athens 1981, 599, 614-615, fig. 5-6. Ieronymos, Bishop of Thebes and
Levadia. Χριστιανική Βοιωτία Α΄. Livadia, 2005, fig. 90.
24 Delehaye. Synaxarium. 727-730. Koter, B. Metrophanes, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche,
Νο. 7. Freiburg, 1962, 373.
25 Aceimastou-Potamianou, Myrtali. Μονή των Φιλανθρωπηνών, 190. Ieronymos, Βοιωτία, ig.
106. Constantinides, Ioannis. Mητροφάνης, Θρησκευτική και Hθική Εγκυκλοπαιδεία, Νο. 8.
Athens, 1966, 1132-1134, ig. in p. 1133.
26 Acts 1: 23. Papadopoulos, Stylianos. Ιούστος, Θρησκευτική και Hθική Εγκυκλοπαιδεία, Νο.
6. Athens, 1965, 985.
27 Constantinidis, Emmanouil. Ελευθερόπολις, Θρησκευτική και Hθική Εγκυκλοπαιδεία, Νο
5. Athens, 1964, 569-570.
28 Schermann, Theodorus (ed.). Prophetarum Vitae Fabulosae, Biblioteca Scriptorum Graecorum
et Romanorum Teubneriana. Lipsiae, 1907, 170. Papadopoloulos-Kerameus. Ερμηνεία, 264, 299.
29 Janin, Raymond. Dictionnaire d’ Histoire et de Geographie Ecclésiastique, Paris. 1912, No. X.
1452-1454.
258
Fig. 10. The monastery of Panagia Peribleptos at Politika, Euboea. Prothesis. General view of
the wall paintings (18th c.)
of Dionysios of Phourna30.
Finally, Clement, portrayed on the arch of the prosthesis, whose the
accompanying inscription mentions only his name, can be securely
identiied with Clement of Alexandria, one of the founders of the
Orthodox Christianity in that city31 (Fig. 7).
30 Papadopoloulos-Kerameus. Ερμηνεία, 153.

31 Janin, Raymond. Κλήμης, Θρησκευτική και Hθική Εγκυκλοπαιδεία, Νο. 7. Athens. 1965,
636-642. Detorakis, Theocharis. Βυζαντινή φιλολογία. Τα πρόσωπα και τα κείμενα, Herakleion.
1995, 64-80.
259
The placement of these igures on the intrados of the arches be-
tween the bema and the parabemata, facing each other, suggests
that these ought to form a coherent group. Indeed, Metrophanes,
Clement, John and Justus share some common characteristics: they
all lived during the early centuries of Christianity and may be con-
sidered representatives of the four ancient Orthodox Patriarchates,
following their ecclesiastical rank, namely of Constantinople, Alex-
andria, Antioch and Jerusalem. Based on this observation, it can be
deduced that besides the Fathers of the Church who form part of
the conventional iconography of the apse, the mural programme of
Politika gives emphasis to the great igures of Orthodox Faith, who
contributed to the establishment, consolidation and expansion of
the Eastern Church, locally as well as more generally. One may infer
from such an iconographic programme not only a deep knowledge
of these distinguished igures of the Church, but also of the major
theological issues related to their activities. This suggests that the
person who devised the programme of the Peribleptos came from a
cultured environment, possibly from the monasteries of the island.
Style
Stylistically, the wall paintings at Politika can be atributed to at
least two diferent workshops. The scenes depicting the miracles of
Jesus and the zone with the half-length saints in the prothesis were
possibly produced by a later workshop (Fig. 10).
In these scenes the igures are short, marked by the lat rendering of
the lesh and lacking distinctive facial features. Drapery here is like-
wise plain, whereas the narratives scenes themselves are infused
with intensity betraying a strong interest in the depiction of details,
but also a naive stylistic tendency.
The decoration of the Bema, the templon, the prothesis and the dome,
were all rendered by an earlier workshop. Based on the epigraphic
evidence mentioned above, all may be securely dated to 1668 (Fig.
2-9).
In these wall paintings the igures are taller and leaner. Solemn ex-
pressions on their faces, modeled with dark players of underpaint
and accentuated contours, emanate a sense of holiness. The forms
are articulated while the postures and the gestures are elegant. By
260
contrast, the garments are later with few drapery folds despite the
rich embroidered decoration. The compositions are rather plain,
symmetrically arranged, and mainly conform to known types from
Cretan art (Fig. 3).
These mannerisms are associated with renowned Theban painters
of the 16th century such as Frangos Katelanos32 and the Kontari33
brothers. Similar stylistic features may be traced in other monu-
ments of the wider region whose decoration is dated to the 17th cen-
tury, for example the mural paintings of the church of St Nicholas
at Korakies (Euboea) 34.
Even closer correspondence may be seen between the 1668 mural
paintings of the Panagia Peribleptos at Politika and the Post-Byz-
antine wall paintings of the monastery of Panagia Skripou in Or-
chomenos, particularly with regard to the iconographic rendering
of the igures as well as their stylistic qualities35. Such a direct link
between the two sets of paintings lead us to the conclusion that both
may be atributed to a single workshop that was active in Boeotia
and Euboea during the second half of the 17th century.
The wall paintings of the Panagia Peribleptos at Politika on Euboea
were possibly therefore produced by a local workshop. Rigorously
executed, and with complex conceptual and spiritual content, the
paintings permit an examination of the monument in the context of
contemporary monumental painting, both on the island and in the
wider region. Moreover, we may also explore the largely unknown
Post-Byzantine artistic production of Euboea, which maintained the
tradition of the great Theban painters of the preceding century.
32 Chazidakis, Drakopoulou. Έλληνες ζωγράφοι, 76-79.

33 Chazidakis, Drakopoulou. Έλληνες ζωγράφοι, 102-104. Kanari, Triantafyllia. Les peintures du
Catholicon du Monastère de Galataki en Eubée, 1586. Le Narthex et la Chapelle de Saint-Jean-le-
Précurseur. Athènes, 2003.
34 Unpublished.
35 Ieronymos, Βοιωτία, 84-86, ig. 75-112.
261
Bibliography
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Bouras, Charalambos. Παρατηρήσεις στο Καθολικό της Μο-
νής της Θεοτόκου “Περιβλέπτου” στα Πολιτικά Ευβοίας.
– Aρχείον Ευβοϊκών Μελετών, 1988–1989, Νο. 28, 53-62.
Bouras, Charalambos. Περί την χρονολόγησην του καθολι-
κού της Περιβλέπτου στα Πολιτικά Εύβοιας. Δέκατο Συ-
μπόσιο Βυζαντινής και Μεταβυζαντινής Αρχαιολογίας
και Τέχνης, Πρόγραμμα και Περιλήψεις Εισηγήσεων και
Ανακοινώσεων, 1990, 52-53.
Chatzidakis, Manolis, Drakopoulou, Eugenia. Έλληνες ζωγρά-
φοι μετά την Άλωση (1450–1830). Athens, 1997.
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tanae e Codice Sirmondiano nunc Berolinensi. Bruxellis, 1902.
Ieronymos, Bishop of Thebes and Levadia. Χριστιανική Βοιω-
τία Α΄. Livadia, 2005.
Mamaloukos, Stavros, Pinatsi, Christina. Συμπληρωματικά
στοιχεία για το καθολικό της μονής Περιβλέπτου στα Πο-
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Νο. 37, 71-82.
Orlandos, Anastasios. Η Περίβλεπτος των Πολιτικών της
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Simonopetritis, Makarios. Nέος Συναξαριστής της Ορθοδό-
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262
Поствизантийски стенописи на остров Евбея:
манастирът „Св. Богородица Перивлепта“
в с. Политика
Андромахи Кацелаки
Близо до историческото селище Политика в централната част на о. Евбея се

намира манастирът „Св. Богородица Перивлепта“. Католиконът от типа на
сложния четириколонен вписан кръстовиден храм с купол е бил преустро-
яван през османския период и не е запазил оригиналния си план. В по-ново
време пък сериозни земетресения и скорошен пожар са също оказали своето
влияние върху състоянието на църквата.
Във вътрешното пространство стенописната украса е датирана без съмнения
от посветителния надпис в проскомидийната ниша през 1668 г.
Стенописите на „Перивлепта“, съсредоточени днес в купола и олтара, включ-
ват литургични и евхаристийни сюжети, сцени от Христологичния и Марио-
логичния цикъл, както и множество самостоятелни фигури.
Особен интерес представлява изборът на представените тук йерарси. Шести-
ма отци на църквата са изобразени в свода на олтара: св. Кирил Александрий-
ски, св. Атанасий Велики, св. Йоан Златоуст, св. Василий Велики, св. Григорий
и св. Спиридон. Други четирима йерарси се появяват върху страничните сте-
ни на олтарното пространство: св. Йеротей, св. Дионисий Ареопагит, св. Йоан
Калоктенис, митрополит на Тива, както и св. Герман. Още четирима отци пък
са зографисани в отворите за комуникация на олтара със страничните ниши
на север: св. Климент Охридски, св. Митрофан Константинополски, а на юг
– св. Иуст Елефтеруполски и св. Йоан Вивлиуполски. Свързвайки последни-
те четири персонажа, се разбира, че всички са живели в раннохристиянския
период и представляват четирите най-стари православни патриаршии, при-
състващи тук в йерархичния им ред: Константинополска, Александрийска,
Антиохийска и Йерусалимска.
Според горното наблюдение може да се изкаже тезата, че в с. Политика са
изобразени йерарси, които с делото си са допринесли за основаването, укреп-
ването и разширяването на източната църква, избор, който се дължи на една
особено образована среда, вероятно състояща се от монаси на острова.
Стилистично стенописите в с. Политика могат да се припишат на две раз-
лични ателиета. На първото, което вероятно е и по-новото, принадлежат
изображенията на Христовите чудеса, както и реда на допоясните светци в
263
протезисната ниша. Тези стенописи в народен стил демонстрират наративна
склонност и представляват интерес по отношение на детайлите от действи-
телността.
На второто и по-ранно датираното ателие се приписва украсата на олтара,
на иконостаса и на апсидата в протезиса, както и на купола, датирани през
1668 г.
В тези стенописи се разпознават художествени похвати, свързващи се пряко
със зографи от Тива от XVI в. като Франгос Кателанос и братята Кондарис.
Особени сходства обаче се забелязват със стенописната украса в с. Политика
и в манастира „Св. Богородица Скрипу“. Директната релация между Пери-
влепта и Скрипу ни отвеждат до хипотезата, че и двата паметника биха могли
да се припишат на художествената продукция на едно и също ателие, което
работи в Беотия и на Евбея през втората половина на XVII в.
264
A Unique 15th Century
Donation to Vatopedi:
A Pair of Wood-carved Lecterns*
Dimitrios Liakos1
Ephorate of Antiquities of Chalkidiki and Mt Athos,
Ministry of Culture and Sports, Greece
In memory of my father
Abstract: The topic of this paper is the pair of impressive wood-carved lecterns
kept in the new sacristy of Vatopedi monastery on Athos. The style of their decora-
tion, their historical context as well as available writen sources all strongly suggest
that the two masterpieces were created in Crete in the mid-15th c.
Key words: Mt Athos; Vatopedi; Cretan woodcarving; Palaiologan Art; Venetian
Art.
Objects in focus
A pair of wood-carved lecterns (117x48 cm), both unusual for their
type and unique for the artistic quality and peculiarity of the deco-
* I wish to express my deepest gratitude to abbot Archimandrite Ephrem and the whole brother-
hood for granting me permission to take and publish photographs of the lecterns, and to use un-
published writen sources from the monastery’s archive; I am especially obliged to the sacristan
father Iosef for his generous help and patience during my research. I would like to thank Emman-
uel Moutafov for his kind invitation to participate at the Conference and the warm hospitality
in Soia. I am also grateful to my friends and colleagues Angeliki Katsioti, Nikos Mastrochristos
and Nikos Siomkos for their useful remarks, but also to Vangelis Maladakis and Fani Seroglou
for their valuable help in editing the English text.
1 Dr. Dimitrios Liakos works at the Ephorate of Antiquities of Chalkidiki and Mt Athos (Ministry
of Culture and Sports/Greece). His interests include Byzantine and Post-Byzantine sculpture,
woodcarving, minor art, epigraphy, opus sectile pavements and Athonite archives.
265
ration, is currently kept in the new sacristy of Vatopedi monastery
on Athos2 (Fig. 1, 2).
Each lectern is composed of octagonal body with twenty-four in-
corporated panels3 standing on eight short legs. On each face three
panels are surrounded by a wood-carved frame adorned with acan-
thus leaves. Tendrils terminate in leaves, acorns and pomegranates
(Fig. 3, 4). The panels constitute a diferent iconographic program
in each lectern (see Appendix): in the irst one (lectern I) the cycle
of the Akathistos Hymn4 is presented {inscriptions: Α ΓΑΒΡΙΗΛ Ο
ΕΥΑΓ[ΓΕΛΙC]ΜΟC Μ(ΗΤΗ)Ρ Θ(ΕΟ)Υ, Β ΒΛΕΠΟΥCΑ Η ΑΓΙΑ
Ε[A]ΥΤΗ, Γ ΓΝΩCΙΝ Α[ΓΝΩCΤΟ]Ν ΓΝ[ΩΝΑΙ], Δ ΔΥΝΑΜΙC ΤΟΥ
ΥΨΙCΤΟΥ, E EXOYCA ΘΕΟΔΟΧ[ΟΝ], Ζ ΖΑΛΗΝ Ε[ΝΔΟΘΕΝ]
ΕΧΩΝ, Η ΗΚΟΥCΑΝ ΟΙ ΠΟΙΜΕΝΕC, Θ ΘΕΟΔΡΟΜΟΝ ΑCΤΕ[ΡΑ],
Ι ΙΔΟΝ ΠΑΙΔΕC ΧΑΛΔ[ΑΙΩΝ], K ΚΗΡΥΡΕC ΘΕΟΦΟΡΟΙ, Μ
ΜΕΛΛΟΝΤΟC CΥΜΕ[ΩΝΟC], Ν ΝΕΑΝ ΕΔΕΙΞΕΝ ΚΤΗCΙC, Ξ
ΞΕΝΟΝ ΤΟΚΟΝ ΙΔΟΝΤ[ΕC], Ο ΟΛΟC ΗΝ ΕΝ ΤΗC ΚΑΤΩ, Π
ΠΑCΑ ΦΥCΗC ΑΓΓΕΛΟ[Ν], Ρ ΡΥΤΟΡΑC ΠΟΛΗΦΘΟΓ[ΓΟΥC],
C CΩCΑΙ ΘΕΛΩΝ ΤΟΝ [ΚΟCΜΟΝ], Τ ΤΕΙΧΟC ΕΙ ΤΩΝ
ΠΑΡΘΕ[ΝΩΝ], Υ ΥΜΝΟC ΑΠΑC ΗΤΤΑΤΕ, Φ [ΦΩΤΟ]ΔΟΧΟΝ
ΛΑΜΠΑΔ[Α], Χ ΧΑΡΙΝ ΔΟΥΝΑΙ ΘΕΛΗCΑC Ο[ΦΛΗΜΑΤΩΝ], Ψ
ΨΑΛΛΟΝΤΕC CΟΥ ΤΟ[Ν ΤΟΚΟΝ], Ω ΠΑΝΗΜΝΗΤΕ Μ[ΗΤ]ΕΡ
Η [ΤΕΚΟΥCΑ]} (Fig. 3, 5). In the second (lectern II), twelve panels
are adorned with intersecting circles or semi-circles (Fig. 6), one pan-
el is not preserved, and on the rest, ten religious scenes were carved.
2 The lecterns have so far atracted only limited scholarly atention: Nikonanos, Nikolaos. Tα
ξυλόγλυπτα. In: Ιερά Μεγίστη Μονή Βατοπαιδίου. Παράδοση – Ιστορία – Τέχνη, Vol. II.
Mount Athos, 1996, 542-544; Treasures of Mt Athos. Thessaloniki 1997², 296-297, No. 8.1 (N.
Nikonanos); Loverdou-Tsigarida, Katia. Thessalonique, centre de production d’objets d’arts au XIVe
siècle. – Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 2003, No. 57, 253; Eadem. Les oeuvres d’arts mineurs comme ex-
pression des relations du Mont Athos avec l’aristocratie ecclésiastique et politique de Byzance. In:
George Galavaris (ed.). Athos, La Sainte Montagne. Tradition et renouneanu dans l’art. Athens,
2007, 88; Le Mont Athos et l’Empire byzantin. Tresors de la Sainte Montagne, Exhibition Cata-
logue (Petit Palais). Paris, 2009, 230, No. 114-115 (N. Nikonanos); Melvani, Nicholas. Ο Δεσπότης
Θεσσαλονίκης Ανδρόνικος Παλαιολόγος και το Άγιον Όρος. In: Το Άγιον Όρος στον 15ο και
16ο αιώνα. Thessaloniki, 2012, 423 and note 33; Antonaras, Anastasios. Arts, Crafts and Trades in
Ancient and Byzantine Thessaloniki: Archaeological, Literary and Epigraphic Evidence. Mainz,
2016, 79.
3 The dimensions are diferent in each zone (upper zone: 25x13 cm, middle zone: 29x13 cm,
lower zone: 30x13 cm).
4 Stanza 11 is not preserved. On the iconography of the Akathistos Hymn see Pazolt, Alexan-
dra. Der Akathistos Hymnos. Die Bilderzyklen in der Byzantinischen Wandmalerei des 14. Jahr-
nunderts. Stutgard, 1989; Aspra-Vardavaki, Maria. Οι μικρογραφίες του Ακαθίστου στον κώδι-
κα Garet 13, Princeton. Athens, 1992; Spatharakis, Iohannis. The Pictorial Cycles of the Akathistos
Hymn for the Virgin. Leiden, 2005.
266
Seven scenes derive from the
Old Testament: Diviner Balaam
(ΒΑΛΑΜΑ Ο ΜΑΝΤΗC)5 (Fig.
7), the Hospitality of Abraham (Η
ΦΙΛΟΞΕΝΙΑ)6, the Three Youths
in the Fiery Furnace (ΤΡΕΙC
ΠΑΙΔΕC)7 (Fig. 4), Nathan’s Re-
buke and David’s Repentance
{Η ΠΡΑΟΤΗC ΤΟΥ ΔΑ[ΥΙ]Δ,
Nathan’s scroll: K(YΡΙΟ)C ΑΦ/
ΙΛΕΝ ΤΟ/ [ΑΜΑΡΤΗΜΑ COΥ],
ΗΜΑΡΤΙΚΑ ΤΩ Κ(ΥΡΙ)Ω: King-
dom II, 12, 13}8, Jacob’s Ladder
(H ΚΛΙΜΑΞ ΤΟΥ ΙΑΚΩΒ)9,
the Holy Bramble (H AΓΙΑ
ΒΑΤΟC)10 (Fig. 8) and Daniel
in the Lions’ Den (ΔΑΝΙΗΛ)11.
Furthermore, the Annunci-
ation (ΕΥΑΓΓΕΛΙCΜΟC)12,
5 On the iconography, Koukiaris, Silas, Ar-

chimandrite. Τα θαύματα – εμφανίσεις των
αγγέλων και αρχαγγέλων στη Βυζαντινή τέ-
χνη των Βαλκανίων. Athens – Ioannina, 1989,
34, 124-126.
6 On the iconography, Koukiaris. Τα θαύματα
– εμφανίσεις, 32, 106-111.
– εμφανίσεις, 37, 138-142.
– εμφανίσεις, 36-37, 135-138.
9 On the iconography, Papamastorakis, Titos.
Η ένταξη των προεικονίσεων της Θεοτόκου
και της Ύψωσης του Σταυρού σε ένα ιδιότυ-
πο εικονογραφικό κύκλο στον Άγιο Γεώργιο
Βιάννου Κρήτης. – ΔΧΑΕ, 1987–1988, Nο. 14,
318, note 22; Koukiaris. Τα θαύματα – εμφανί-
σεις, 33, 117-121.
10 On the iconography, Papamastorakis, Titos.
Η ένταξη των προεικονίσεων, 318, note 18;
Koukiaris, Silas. Τα θαύματα – εμφανίσεις, 34,
123-124.
11 On the iconography, Koukiaris. Τα θαύμα-
τα – εμφανίσεις, 37, 143-144.
12 On the iconography, Papastavrou, Hélène.
Recherche Iconographique dans l’art Byzantin Fig. 1. Vatopedi; lectern I
267
Theotokos as the True Vine
[Θ(ΕΟΤΟ)ΚΕ CΥ ΕΙ ΑΜΠΕΛΟC
Η ΑΛΗΘΕΙΝΗ]13 and the Apos-
tles Peter and Paul carrying the
model of a church (ΠΕΤΡΟC
ΠΑΥΛΟC)14 (Fig. 9) are depicted.
Monkeys were carved on the legs
of both lecterns (Fig. 10).
These two impressive artworks
have atracted travelers and schol-
ar monks since the 17th century.
Ioannis Komnenos, Arkadios of
Vatopedi and Poririj Uspenskij
mention them in their accounts15;
Arkadios and Uspenskij also note
et occidental du XIe au XVe siècle l’Annonciation.

Venise, 2007; Varalis, Ioannis. Παρατηρήσεις για
τη θέση του Ευαγγελισμού στη μνημειακή
ζωγραφική κατά τη μεσοβυζαντινή περίοδο.
– ΔΧΑΕ, 1996–1997, Νo. 19, 201-220; Mantas,
Apostolos. Η ένταξη της παράστασης του Ευ-
αγγελισμού στο εικονογραφικό πρόγραμμα
του βήματος μεσοβυζαντινών ναών της Ελ-
λάδας. In: Β΄ Συνάντηση Βυζαντινολόγων Ελ-
λάδας και Κύπρου. Εισηγήσεις – Ερευνητικά
προγράμματα – Περιλήψεις ανακοινώσεων.
Athens, 2000, 194-195.
13 This is a rare iconographic version of the
theme ‘’Christ the Vine’’, Mantas, Apostolos.
The Iconographic Subject ‘’Christ the Vine’’ in
Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Art. – ΔΧΑΕ,
2003, No. 24, 353; the accompanying inscription
in the panel can be connected with the epithet of
the Theotokos as ‘’True Vine’’ in the Akathistos
Hymn (Χαίρε Άμπελος ‘Αληθινή…), Aspra-Var-
davaki. Οι μικρογραφίες, 39-40.
14 On the origin and the expansion of the
theme see below note 47.
15 Komnenos, Ioannis. Προσκυνητάριον του
Αγίου Όρους του Άθωνος. Snagov, 1701,
Karyes, 1984 (reprinted), 51; Uspenskij, Poririj.
Pervoje Putešestvije v afonskije monastiri i ski-
ti, čast’ II. Otdelenije vtoroje, 1848 god. Moskva,
1880, 33; Theophilos Vatopedinos, Proegoume-
nos. Χρονικόν περί της Ιεράς και Σεβασμίας
Μεγίστης Μονής Βατοπαιδίου Αγίου Όρους.
Fig. 2. Vatopedi; lectern II – Μακεδονικά, 1972, No. 12, 104.
268
the monastic tradition, according to which Andronikos Palaiolog-
os, Despotes of Thessaloniki (1408-1423), endowed the lecterns to
Vatopedi16.
Up to now, the lecterns have not been suiciently studied. Some
very short reports focus only on the enumeration of the scenes and
the monastic tradition with reference to the patron. Based on this
tradition, some scholars have claimed that the lecterns were created
in Thessaloniki17 during the period of Andronikos’ reign18; it has
been also assumed that they were produced in Venice19. Neverthe-
less, after thorough consideration of the style of the wood-carved
decoration, and taking into account the historical context and the
writen sources, it seems that these hypotheses should be reconsid-
ered.
Stylistic Features and Dating
Frame
In the frames, the loral ornaments have been executed in high, ex-
ergue, relief and were partially coloured. The contours of the acan-
thus leaves and sprouts have been rendered either with vertical or
oblique edges. The overall execution is elaborated with meticulous
atention to details. Both technique and style associate them with
analogous wood-carved elements of the 14th and 15th century Vene-
tian artworks, as those created by Lorenzo Veneziano and Fra An-
gelico20, as well as the 15th century woodcarvings from Crete, like
the altar screens of the Holy Apostles church in Adromili (Sitia) (ca.
16 Uspenskij, Poririj. Pervoje Putešestivije, 33; Arkadios, Vatopedinos. Ιστορία της μονής Βατο-
παιδίου (unpublished), 277; Theophilos Vatopedinos. Χρονικόν, 104.
17 See above, note 2.
18 On Despotes Andronikos Palaiologos see Tsaras, Jean. La in d’Andronik Paléologue dern-
ier despote de Thessalonique. – Revue des Études Sud-Est Européennes, 1965, No. 3, 419-43;
Schreiner, Peter. Chronologischen Untersuchungen zur Familie Kaiser Manouels II. – Byzantinis-
che Zeitschrift, 1970, No. 63, 285-299; Sideras, Alexander. New Quellen zum Leben des Despotes
Andronikos Palaiologos. – Byzantinische Zeitschrift, 1987, No. 80, 3-15; Trapp, E. and others (eds.)
Prosopographisches Lexikon der Palaiologenzeit (cd-version). Vol. 9. Wien, 1976–1996, 21427.
19 Melvani. Ο Δεσπότης Θεσσαλονίκης, 423, note 33.
20 Gordon, Dillian. National Gallery Catalogues. The Fifteenth Century Italian Paintings. Vol.
1. London, 2003, 16; Guarnieri, Christina. Le polyptyque pour l’èglise San Giacomo Maggiore de
Bologne dans l’oeuvre de Lorenzo Veneziano. In: Autour de Lorenzo Veneziano. Fragments de
polyptyques vénitiens du XIVe siècle. Milan, 2005, 60 (ig. 68), 61 (ig. 69), 65 (ig. 76).
269
1415)21, the catholicon of Valsamon-
eron monastery (aisle of St Phanou-
rios) (ca. 1431)22 and the royal doors
from St George Aporthianon church
in Patmos (the painting is atributed
to Andreas Rizos)23. The same artistic
trend is also relected in some sculp-
tures of Late Gothic churches, as those
above the central entrance of St Sophia
in Nicosia (irst quarter of the 14th cen-
tury)24. A sculpted marble capital (15th
century) from Herakleion25 echoes the
same trend. Furthermore, although
it is rather uncertain whether the or-
nament’s colouration belongs to the
initial phase, similar polychromy is
found in both the 14th and 15th century
Fig. 3. Vatopedi; lectern I (detail) woodcarvings26 and sculptures27.
21 Gerola, Giuseppe. Monumenti Veneti nell’isola di

Creta. Vol. 2. Venezia, 1908, 353 (ig. 393).
22 Gerola. Monumenti Veneti, 352, (ig. 390). I wish to
express my thanks to the Director of the Ephorate of
Antiquities of Herakleion Vassiliki Sythiakaki and to
my colleagues Eleni Kanaki and Maria Mari, who pro-
vided a photograph of the templon.
23 Chazidakis, Manolis. Εικόνες της Πάτμου. Athens,
1995, 61-62 and pl. 80, ig. 11.
24 Andrews, Justine. Santa Sophia in Nicosia: The
sculpture of the Western Portals and its Reception. –
Comitatus: A Journal of Medieval and Renaissance
Studies, 1999, Nο. 39, 63-80.
25 Gerola. Monumenti Veneti, 286 (ig. 355).
26 See for example the shrine of Stefan Uroš III Dečan-
ski, Evans, Helen (ed.). Byzantium. Faith and Power
(1261–1557). New York, 2004, 114-115, No. 59 (D. Pop-
ović).
27 See for example the sculpted Virgin with the Christ
Child from St Stefan church in Banjska monastery, now
kept in Sokolica monastery, Kosovo [Faith and Pow-
er, 84-85, No. 41 (M. Šuput)], the sculpted decoration
of the triple-light window of the eastern church’s apse
of the catholicon in Kalenić monastery [Stevović, Ivan.
Sacral Building in Moravan Serbia. In: D. Voivodić, D.
Popović (eds.). Sacral Art of the Serbian Lands in the
Middle Ages. Belgrade, 2016, 432 (ig. 354)] and the
Fig. 4. Vatopedi; lectern II (detail) facade in St Sophia, Trebizond (Eastmont, Antony. Art
270
Iconography
In all twenty-four panels of
each lectern a particular tech-
nique is applied, namely thick
wooden parts, coloured (blue
or red), were impacted, and
above those the wood-carved
panels were inset. The authen-
tic wooden part of the arched
space above the representa-
tion of Peter and Paul has been
lost28, thus it remains unclear
whether the dedicatory in-
scription was writen on it. The
scenes, thirty-three in total,
follow Byzantine iconographic
types29. The panels were carved
in a dexterous manner. The ig-
ures are executed in high re-
lief, with smooth outlines. The
overlapping levels, but also the
distribution of the garments’
folds, rendered with dense and
wide incisions, either angular
or curved, create a sense of vol-
ume. The haloes are uplifted
in the contours. The facial fea-
tures of many holy igures are
markedly similar.
High relief technique is wide-
and Identity in Thirteenth Century Byzan-

tium. Hagia Sophia and the Empire of Tre-
bizond. Birmingham, 2004, 65). Also, Pedone,
Silvia. Bizanzio (ri)colorata: tecniche, efeti e
problemi aperti. In: Il colore nel Medioevo.
Arte simbolo tecnica. Tra materiali costituti-
vi e colori aggiunti mosaici, intarsi e plastica
lapidea. Lucca, 2016, 87-101.
28 Τhe current one was added after conser-
vation works.
29 See above, notes 4-14. Fig. 5. Vatopedi; lectern I; panel; Akathistos Hymn; Stanza 23
271
spread both in woodcarving and sculpture,
but also in minor arts (metalwork, steatites
etc.) dated to the Palaiologan era30. Moreo-
ver, haloes with uplifted contours are fre-
quently found in sculpture, as the fragmen-
tary relief with the depiction of Archangel
Michael (14th century), probably of Nicae-
an origin31, or the marble icon with a donor
portrait (1496) in the shipyard of Vatope-
di32, as well as in minor-scale artworks of
the 14th and 15th century, like in the upper
additional part (dated to the 14th century) of
the steatite icon with the Deposition from
Iveron monastery33. Voluminous igures,
the folds of whose garments are rendered
with wide incisions, characterize a variety
of 15th century artworks, such as a wood-
Fig. 6. Vatopedi; lectern II; panel; carved icon (1456), now in Moscow34, or
geometrical theme the metallic panels with the Annunciation
atached on the main entrance doors of the
catholicon at Vatopedi35. In addition, the
30 See, for example, Kalavrezou-Maxeiner, Ioli. Byzantine

Icons in Steatite. Wien, 1985, 46-49; Melvani, Nicholas. Late
Byzantine Sculpture. Turnhout, 2013, 35; Tsigaridas, Euthymi-
os. Ανάγλυφες εικόνες σε ξύλο από την Καστοριά και την
περιοχή της. – ΔΧΑΕ, 2016, Νo. 37, 89 (ig. 1, 2), 91 (ig. 3).
31 Firatli, Nezih. La sculpture Byzantine igurée au Musée
Archéologique d’Istanbul. Paris. 1990, 80, No. 135.
32 Liakos, Dimitrios. Τα λιθανάγλυφα του Αγίου Όρους
(PhD Thesis., Vol. 1. Thessaloniki, 2000, 23; Idem. Η μεταβυ-
ζαντινή γλυπτική στο Άγιον Όρος. – Μακεδονικά, 2003,
No. 33, 206 (fig. 1).
33 Liakos, Dimitrios. Steatite icon with the Deposition at the
monastery of Iveron on Mt Athos. – Zograf, 2010, No. 34, 67
(ig. 3).
34 Nikolaeva, Tatjana. Drevnerusskaja melkaja plastika XI–
XVI vekov. Moskva, 1968, ig. 54.
35 On stylistic grounds, I believe that the Annunciation’s
panels [Loverdou-Tsigarida, Katia. Βυζαντινή μικροτεχνία. In:
Ιερά Μεγίστη Μονή Βατοπαιδίου, Παράδοση – Ιστορία –
Τέχνη. Vol. II. Mt Athos, 1996, 497-499; Taddei, Alessandro. Le
Porte Bizantine in Grecia. In: Antonio Iacobini (ed.). Le Porte
del Paradiso. Arte e tecnologia bizantina tra Italia e Medi-
Fig. 7. Vatopedi; lectern II; panel; terraneo. Roma, 2009, 548] were made when the entrance
the Diviner Balaam was reconstructed in 1426, as indicated by the inscription
272
sacred igures’ faces may be
compared to others in Late-Byz-
antine woodcarvings36.
This type of Late Gothic frame
consisting of torque columns
supporting a semi-circle or ovi-
gal arch is a common feature of
14th and 15th century Venetian
art, and also of so-called Ita-
lo-Cretan productions37. The in-
tersected circles or semi-circles
recall similar paterns derived
from Middle-Byzantine wood-
carvings38 and are also found in
on the lintel, Millet, Gabriel, Pargoire, Jules,

Petit, Louis. Recueil des Inscriptions Chréti-
ennes de l’Athos. Paris, 1904, Thessaloniki,
2004, 14-15, No. 46; Mamaloukos, Stavros. The
buildings of Vatopedi and their patrons. In:
A. Bryer (ed.). Mount Athos and Byzantine
Monasticism. Birmingham, 1996, 117; at the
same time the cornice above the door-frame
was also repaired, Liakos, Dimitrios. The Byz-
antine bell-tower in Vatopedi Monastery on
Mount Athos (1427); the sculpted decoration
and its signiicance. – Jahrbuch der Österre-
ichischen Byzantinistik, 2015, No. 65, 156.
Loverdou-Tsigarida, Katia. Βυζαντινή μικρο-
τεχνία, 499 dates the Annunciation icons to
Late-Byzantine or early Post-Byzantine peri-
od.
36 See for example the wood-carved icon of
St Clement at Ohrid, Tsigaridas. Ανάγλυφες
εικόνες, 90, 91 (ig. 3), with older bibliogra-
phy.
37 Pallucchini, Rodolfo. La pitura venezia-
na dei Trecento. Venezia-Roma, 1964, ig.
615; Murano, Michelangelo. Paolo da Vene-
zia. The Pensylvania State University Press.
University Park – London, 1970, pls. 31-32;
Vassilaki, Maria. Εικόνα της Γλυκοφιλούσας
του Μουσείου Μπενάκη (αρ. Ευρ. 2972):
προβλήματα της έρευνας. In: Maria Vassila-
ki (ed.). Byzantine Icons. Art, Technique and
Technology. Herakleion, 2002, 204, 208-209
(ig. 1, 3), 210 (ig. 5).
38 Bouras, Charalambos. The Olympiotissa
Wood-carved Doors, Reconsidered. – ΔΧΑΕ, Fig. 8. Vatopedi; lectern II; panel; the Holy Bramble
273
various artworks (illuminated manuscripts, sculptures etc.) dated
to the 14th and 15th century39. The naturalistic rendering of the vine
in the Theotokos icon is very close to marble decorations from the
late 13th until the 15th century that come from regions under the
Venetian rule, like Euboea and Crete40.
Venetian inluences are also echoed by the wide brimmed hats (Fig.
5, 7), which recall the skiadion, a type crafted during the 14th centu-
ry in the West41; according to writen sources, this type of hat was
widespread in Late Byzantium and was worn by all upper class
people42. Similar hats, frequently depicted in Italian paintings dated
to the 14th and 15th century43, are also found in Cretan icons and wall
paintings44, as well as in Latin manuscripts dated from the same
period45.
Finally, as far as I am aware of, the monkeys carved on the legs are
not found in other woodcarvings. However, analogous depictions
are known from other artworks, as the Codex Constantinopolita-
nus Seragliensis 35, copied in Euboea (1461), writen originally in
14th-century Constantinople46.
1989–1990, Νo. 15, 28, 29 (ig. 1-3).

39 Ćircović, Sima. I Serbi nel Medioevo. Milano, 1992, igs. 121, 170.
40 Kitsiki-Panagopoulos, Beata. Cistercian and Mendicant Monasteries in Medieval Greece.
Chicago – London, 1979, 134-136; Gratziou, Olga. Αναζητώντας τη γλυπτική των Βενετών στην
Κρήτη. Ένα πρόγραμμα καταγραφής έργων γλυπτικής της Βενετικής περιόδου. In: Olga
Gratziou (ed.). Γλυπτική και Λιθοξοϊκή στη Λατινική Ανατολή, 13ος – 17ος αιώνας. Herakleion,
2007, 190 (fig. 12).
41 Parani, Maria. Reconstructing the Reality of Images. Byzantine Material Culture and Reli-
gious Iconography (11th–15th centuries). Leiden – Boston, 2003, 70-71.
42 Spatharakis, Iohannis. The Portrait in Byzantine Illuminated Manuscripts. Leiden, 1976, 138;
Pilz, Elisabeth. Le costume oiciel des dignitaries byzantins à l’ époque paléologue. Uppsala,
1994, 75-76; Kiousopoulou, Tonia. Στοιχεία της βυζαντινής ενδυμασίας κατά την ύστερη εποχή
τα καπέλα. In: Christine Angelidi (ed.). Byzantium Matures. Choices, Sensitivities, and modes of
expression (eleventh to ifteenth centuries). Athens, 2004, 192.
43 Barachini, Clara, Castelnuovo, Εnrico (eds.). Il Camposanto di Pisa. Torino, 1996, ig. 51; Gor-
don, Dillian. The Fifteenth Century Italian Paintings, 289.
44 Chazidakis, Manolis, Borboudakis, Manolis. Εικόνες της Κρητικής τέχνης από τον Χάνδακα
ως τη Μόσχα και την Αγία Πετρούπολη. Αthens, 1992, 42 (ig. 10); Vassilaki, Maria. Καθημε-
ρινή ζωή και πραγματικότητα στη Βενετοκρατούμενη Κρήτη: η μαρτυρία των τοιχογραφη-
μένων εκκλησιών. In: Ενθύμησις Νικόλαου Μ. Παναγιωτάκη. Herakleion, 2000, 68, ig. 11;
Eadem. Cretan Icon-Painting and the Council of Ferrara/Florence (1438/39). In: Maria Vassilaki
(ed.). Studies on the Painter Angelos, his Age and Cretan Painting. – Benaki Museum Journal,
2013–2014, No. 13-14. Athens, 2017, 123-125.
45 Velmans, Tania. Une illustration inédite de l’Acathiste et l’iconographie des Hymmes Litur-
giques à Byzance. – Cahiers Archéologiques, 1972, No. 22, 143 (ig. 13).
46 Μεσαιωνικές Ιστορίες Ζώων. Διήγησις των Τετραπόδων Ζώων και Πουλολόγος (ed.
274
The iconographic theme of Peter and Paul carrying the model of a
church was created in the artistic environment of Venetian Crete
and likely, as it was suggested, by the painter Angelos Akotantos in
the second quarter of the 15th century. This may relect accommo-
dating conditions deined by the Union of the Western and Eastern
Churches, efected at the Council of Ferrara-Florence in 1438-143947.
This, in combination with the comparanda explored above, leads
me to suggest that the lecterns could be dated to around the middle
of the 15th century.
Provenance48
A question then arises as to the artistic centre in which the lecterns
were created. Some scholars have suggested Thessaloniki; their key
argument is the monastic tradition according to which Andronikos
Palaiologos, Despotes of Thessaloniki donated the lecterns to Vato-
pedi49. This proposal seems to be very weak. The writen sources
inform us that the town was in decline from the last decades of
the 14th century onwards50. During the irst half of the 15th centu-
ry, the population and its economic power were dramatically re-
duced. Moreover, beginning in the 14th century the Otoman threat
caused many elite families to donate their property to Athonite
H. Eideneier). Herakleion, 2016, 225. My thanks go to Vangelis Maladakis for drawing my aten-
tion to the illumination.
47 Baltogianni, Chrysanthi. Εικόνες, Συλλογή Δημητρίου Οικονομοπούλου. Athens, 1985,
95, No. 162. Vassilaki, Maria. A Cretan Icon in the Ashmolean: the Embrace of Peter and Paul.
– Jahrbuch der Österreichischen Byzantinistik, 1990, No. 40, 405-422; Semoglou, Athanasios.
Το ομοίωμα της εκκλησίας του Χριστού στη Σύναξη των Αποστόλων Πέτρου και Παύλου
και η διαδικασία της «μετουσίωσης’’. In: I. Varalis (ed.). To πρόπλασμα στη μεσαιωνική
αρχιτεκτονική (Βυζάντιο, ΝΑ Ευρώπη, Ανατολία). Thessaloniki, 2009, 67-68; Vassilaki, Ma-
ria. Cretan Icon-Painting, 119-120. On the Council of Ferrara-Florence and the political conse-
quences see Gounaridis, Paris. Πολιτικές διαστάσεις της Συνόδου Φεράρας-Φλωρεντίας. –
Θησαυρίσματα, 2001, No. 31, 107-129.
48 In this chapter all translations are my own.
49 See above, note 16.
50 Laiou, Angeliki. H Θεσσαλονίκη, η ενδοχώρα της και ο οικονομικός της χώρος στην
εποχή των Παλαιολόγων. In: Βυζαντινή Μακεδονία 324–1430 μ. Χ. Thessaloniki, 1995, 194;
Necipoğlou, Nevra. Sources for the Social and Economic History of Late Medieval Thessaloniki
and Their Signiicance for Byzantine and Otoman Studies. In: South East Europe in History: the
Past, the Present and the Problems of Balkanology. Ankara, 1999, 106-107; Eadem. The Aristocra-
cy in Late Byzantine Thessaloniki: A Case Study of the City’s Archontes. Late 14th and Early 15th
Centuries. – Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 2003, No. 57, 133-151; Matschke, Klaus-Peter. Bekergungen
zur Stadtgeschichte Thessalonikes in Spätbyzantinisches Zeit. In: L. Hofmann (Hrg.). Zwischen
Polis, Provinz und Peripherie. Beträge zur byzantinischen Geschichte und kultur. Wiesbaden,
2005, 433-444.
275
monasteries51. Many such families abandoned the city shortly be-
fore 1430 and moved to Constantinople52 or other regions, like Ser-
bia53. The phenomenon is mentioned by Ioannis Anagnostis (...these
who left Thessaloniki many years ago and before the siege...)54. He also
describes the decline of Thessaloniki in 1430 in contrast to its past
splendour (And those that previously Thessaloniki ensured to the citizens
and the legendary wealth, while now, as it didn’t require, all became vain
and poorly reconstructed)55. There were therefore very few potential
patrons in mid-15th century Thessaloniki who might have been able
to commission such elegant masterpieces. It is my belief that activ-
ity of such workshops ceased at this time.
The synchronism relected by the coupling of Late-Byzantine art
with Venetian elements in the lectern’s decoration suggests that
they could have been carved in a region where artistic trends of
both Venice and Byzantium were absorbed. Venice, Constantinople
and Crete provide examples of such centres, in which Byzantine
and Venetian artists had already coexisted for some centuries56.
51 Oikonomides, Nikolas. The Properties of the Deblizenoi in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Cen-
turies. In: A. Laiou (ed.). Charanis Studies. New Brunswick, 1980, 176–198. See also, Necipoğlu,
Nevra. The Aristocracy in Late Byzantine Thessaloniki, 79-80; Melvani, Nicholas. The Fate of the
Palaiologan Aristocracy of Thessaloniki after 1423. In: V. Stancović (ed.). The Balkans and the
Byzantine World before and after the Captures of Constantinople, 1204 and 1453. London, 2016,
42-43.
52 I note the cases of a certain ecclesiastical tax-collector, John Argyropoulos and Makarios
Makres, who moved to Constantinople a few years before the Otoman occupation of Thessalon-
iki, Kugeas, Sokratis. Notizbuch eines Beamten der Metropolis in Thessalonike aus dem Anfang
des 15. Jahrhunderts. – Byzantinische Zeitschrift, 1914, No. 23, 143-163; Argyriou, Asterios (ed.).
Μακαρίου του Μακρή συγγράμματα. Thessaloniki, 1996, 18-21; Bianconi, Daniele. Tessalonica
nell’età dei Paleologi: le pratiche intelletuali nel rilesso della cultura scrita. Paris, 2005, 237;
Melvani, Nicholas. The Fate of the Palaeologan Aristocracy, 44-45.
53 As Thomas Kantakouzenos and John Rhosotas did; see Ferjančić, Božidar. Vizantinci u Srbiji
prve polovine XV veka. – Zbornik Radova Vizantološkog Instituta, 1987, No. 26, 193-197; Nicol,
Donald. The Byzantine family of Kantakouzenos (Cantacuzenus) ca. 1100–1460: A Genealogical
and Prosopographical Study. Cambridge, 1968, 182-184; Necipoğlou, Nevra. The Aristocracy in
Late Byzantine Thessaloniki, 149-150.
54 …τοὺς πρὸ μακρῶν ἐτῶν καὶ τοῦ συγκλεισμοῦ τὴν Θεσσαλονίκην ἀπολιπόντας καὶ μετοι-
κήσαντας…, Anagnostou, Ioannou. Διήγησις περί της τελευταίας αλώσεως της Θεσσαλονίκης.
Μονωδία επί τη αλώσει της Θεσσαλονίκης (ed. J. Tsaras). Thessaloniki, 1958, 54.
55 Καὶ ἃ πρὶν μὲν ἐκόμα τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς καὶ πλούτῳ τῷ θρυλουμένῳ, νυνὶ δέ, ὡς μὴ ὤφελε,
φροῦδα γεγένητο πάντα καὶ κακῶς ἀνεσκεύαστο, Anagnostou, Ioannou. Διήγησις, 70.9-14. In
the following lines, 72.18 mentions: theater aforetime prosperous (θέατρον πρότερον εὐδαίμων).
See also, Kaltsogianni – Kotzambasi – Paraskevopoulou, Eleni – Sofia – Iliana. H Θεσσαλονίκη στη
Βυζαντινή Λογοτεχνία. Ρητορικά και Αγιολογικά Κείμενα. Thessaloniki, 2002, 77.
56 On various aspects of this phenomenon and its historical background, see Oikonomidès, Ni-
kolas. Hommes d’afaires grecs et latins à Constantinople (XIIIe–XVe siècles). Montréal – Paris,
1979; Nicol, Donald. Byzantium and Venice: A Study in Diplomatic and Cultural Relations. Cam-
276
Unfortunately, the pre-
served woodcarvings dat-
ed to the irst half of the 15th
century are few. Even the
available writen sources
are mainly concerned with
the activity of painters and
their movements during
bridge University Press 1988, 212-227;

Laiou, Angeliki. Venice as a center of
trade and of Artistic Production in the
Thirteenth Century. In: H. Belting (ed.).
Il Medio Oriente e l’Occidente nell’arte
del XIII secolo. Bologna, 1982, 11-26;
Eadem. Venetians and Byzantines: In-
vestigation of Forms of Contact in the
Fourteenth Century. – Θησαυρίσματα,
1992, No. 22, 29-43; Georgopoulou, Ma-
ria. Late Medieval Crete and Venice: An
Appropriation of Byzantine Heritage. –
Art Bulletin, 1995, No. 77.3, 479-496; Ea-
dem. Venice and the Byzantine Sphere.
In: Helen Evans (ed.). Byzantium. Faith
and Power (1261–1557). New York,
2004, 489-494; Maltezou, Chrysa. H
Κρήτη κατά τη διάρκεια της περιόδου
της Βενετοκρατίας (1211–1669). In: N.
Panagiotakis (ed.). Κρήτη. Ιστορία και
Πολιτισμός. Vol. 2. Crete, 1988, 105-
161; Eadem. Η Βενετία των Ελλήνων.
Athens, 1999; Vassilaki, Maria. Από τον
‘’ανώνυμο’’ Βυζαντινό καλλιτέχνη
στον ‘’επώνυμο’’ Κρητικό ζωγράφο
του 15ου αιώνα. In: Μ. Vassilaki (ed.).
Το Πορτρέτο του καλλιτέχνη στο
Βυζάντιο. Herakleion, 1997, 171-172;
Eadem. Byzantine Icon Painting Around
1400: Constantinople or Crete? In:
L. Jones (ed.). Byzantine Images and
Their Afterlives. Essays in Honor of
Annemarie Weyl Carr. Ashgate, 2014,
169-179; Constantoudaki-Kitromilides,
Maria. A ifteenth century Byzantine
icon-painter working on mosaics in Ve-
nice. – Jahrbuch der Österreichischen
Byzantinistik, 1982, No. 32/5, XVI In-
ternationaler Byzantinistenkongress
(Wien, 4 – 9 Oktober 1981), Akten II/5,
265-269; Eadem. Conducere apothe-
cam, in qua exercere artem nostrum:
το εργαστήριο ενός Βυζαντινού και
ενός Βενετού ζωγράφου στην Κρήτη. Fig. 9. Vatopedi; lectern II; panel; Peter and Paul
– Σύμμεικτα, 2001, No. 14, 291-299. carrying the model of a church
277
this period57. Moreover, literary allusions to woodcarvers (who
were active in the same period, yet to an unknown extent) are dated
to the second half of the 15th century onwards58.
The aforementioned iconography of Peter and Paul carrying the
model of a church seems to exclude the possibility that the lecterns
came from Venice. The appearance of this scene in the medium of
wood carving is highly unlikely to predate the painting of Ange-
los Akotantos that is generally accepted to be the prototype for the
composition. Akontanos’s work is associated with Crete in the sec-
ond quarter of the 15th century, but this artist seems to have fol-
lowed the traditions of Late Byzantine Constantinopolitan art59. It is
very risky to assume that the motif of Peter and Paul with the model
of a church might have spread to Venice so fast. Rather, its presence
may suggest a milleu, in which painting was especially prominent
as well as allowing a difusion of similar themes and styles through
other artistic media.
Artistic production relecting such a syncretic style was not un-
known in Palaiologan Constantinople60. Unfortunately, Palaiologan
wood carvings from the city have not been preserved61, and writen
57 See below, notes 64, 67, 68.

58 The earlier mention concerns the woodcarver Nicolaus Barbarigo, who is referenced in a doc-
ument dated 1492, Catapan, Mario. Nuovi elenchi e documenti dei pitori in Creta dal 1300 al
1500. – Θησαυρίσματα, 1972, No. 9, 209.
59 Varalis, Ioannis. The Painter Angelos in Constantinople? Answers from the Pantokrator Icon at
the State Pushkin Museum, Moscow. In: Maria Vassilaki (ed.). Studies on the Painter Angelos, his
Age, and Cretan Painting. – Benaki Museum Journal, 2013–2014, No. 13-14. Athens, 2017, 79-88.
60 Underwood, P. (ed.) The Karyje Djami. Princeton, 1966, vol. 1, 122-123, 292-295, vol. 2, pls.
152-153, vol. 3, pls. 548, 549; Constantoudaki-Kitromilides, Maria. Ένθρονη Βρεφοκρατούσα και
άγιοι. Σύνθετο έργο ιταλοκρητικής τέχνης. – ΔΧΑΕ, 1993–1994, Νο. 17, 294-295, note 34; Liakos,
Dimitrios. Η δωροδοσία στις μονές του Αγίου Όρους τον 15ο και 16ο αιώνα: το τεκμήριο της
μεταλλοτεχνίας. In: Το Άγιον Όρος στον 15ο και 16ο αιώνα. Thessaloniki, 2012, 314-315.
61 Only the two surviving fragmentary 14th century woodcarvings, kept both in Walters Art
Gallery [Walters Art Gallery, Catalogue. Early Christian and Byzantine Art. An Exhibition held
at the Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore 1947, 37 (No. 87)] and in State Hermitage Museum
[Banck, Alisa. Byzantine Art in the Collections of Soviet Museums. Leningrad, Moscow, 1985,
326, No. 287; Piatnitsky, Yuri, et all (eds.). Sinai, Byzantium, Russia. Orthodox Art from the Sixth
to the Twentieth Century. St Petersburg, 2000, 142, B119 (V. N. Zalesskaya)] were created, in
my opinion, in Constantinople. They both prove the close connection between sculpture and
woodcarving in the Palaiologan era [see the similar acanthus leaves decorating the tomb of Mi-
chael Tornikis (died ca. 1328) and his wife, The Kariye Djami, Vol. 1, 1966–1975, 276-280; Hjort,
Øystein. The Sculpture of Cariye Camii. – Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 1979, No. 33, 250-255]. Al.
Banck has proposed that the two parts belong to the same work of art (triptych?); however, my
careful inspection of available photographic evidence suggests that the holy igures have not
been executed in the same technique. Corovic-Lubjinkovic, Mirjana. Les iconostases en bois sculpté
du XVIIe siècle au Mont Athos. – Hilandarski Zbornik, 1996, No. 1, 122-123, ig. 1, suggest that the
278
sources are scarce62. Besides, sculpture
was in decline from the late 14th centu-
ry onwards63. On the other hand, this
artistic trend was particularly wide-
spread in Venetian Crete, driven in part
by the migration of many Constantino-
politan painters to the island from the
14th century onwards64. Despite the fact
fragments come from the epistyle of a templon. It has

been considered with no further argumentation that the
two wood carved pieces came from Athos, see Sotiriou,
Georgios, La sculpture sur bois dans l’art byzantin. In:
Mélanges Charles Diehl, II. Paris, 1930, 172; this opin-
ion was expressed by Nikonanos, Nikolaos. Βυζαντινά
ξυλόγλυπτα στο Άγιον Όρος. In: Άγιον Όρος. Φύση-
Λατρεία – Τέχνη. Thessaloniki, 2001, 149-151. The ma-
jority of the surviving Palaiologan woodcarvings come
from other regions (Macedonia, Epirus, Thrace etc.),
Sotiriou, Georgios. Ανάγλυφον αγίου Γεωργίου εξ
Ηρακλείας της Προποντίδος. – Θρακικά, 1928, Νo. 1,
33-37; Lange, Reinhold. Die Byzantinische Relieikone.
Recklinghausen, 1964, 121-122, 124; Corović-Ljubinković,
Mirjana. Les bois sculptées du Moyen Âge dans les ré-
gions orientales de la Yougoslavie. Beograd, 1965, pl.
II-XII; Han, Verena. Probleme du style et de la date de Fig. 10. Vatopedi; lectern I; leg; monkey
l’icone en relief de St Clement d’Ochrid. – Musee des
Arts decoratifs. Recueil de Travaux, 1968, No. 8, 7-22;
Pennas, Charalampos. Ξυλόγλυπτη βυζαντινή εικόνα
Οδηγήτριας από την Αλεξανδρούπολη. In: Αφιέρωμα
στη μνήμη Στυλιανού Πελεκανίδη. Thessaloniki, 1983, 397-405; Banck, Alice. Byzantine Art,
No. 271; Papatheophanous – Tsouri, Evangelia. Ξυλόγλυπτη πόρτα του καθολικού της μονής
Κοιμήσεως Θεοτόκου στη Μολυβδοσκέπαστη Ιωαννίνων. – Αρχαιολογική Εφημερίς, 1993,
Νο. 132, 83-106; Moutsopoulos, Nikolaos. Το ξύλινο ανάγλυφο του Αγίου Γεωργίου στον
ομώνυμο ναό της Ομορφοκκλησιάς και ορισμένες άλλες ξυλόγλυπτες εικόνες της περιοχής.
– Κληρονομία, 1993, Νo. 25, 33-80; Petkos, Antonios, Parcharidou, Magdalene. Ανάγλυφη εικόνα
του Αγίου Δημητρίου από την Ομορφοκκλησιά Καστοριάς. – Μακεδονικά, 2000, Νo. 32,
339-354; Nikonanos, Nikolaos. Βυζαντινά ξυλόγλυπτα, 149-154; Taddei, Alessandro. Le Porte
Bizantine, 523-564; Tsigaridas, Euthymios. Ανάγλυφες εικόνες σε ξύλο, 87-106; Loverdou-Tsig-
arida, Katia. Ξυλόγλυπτα της ύστερης περιόδου των Παλαιολόγων από ναούς της Δυτικής
Μακεδονίας. – ΔΧΑΕ, 2014, Νo. 35, 375-40; Milyaeva, Liudmyla. The Icon of Saint George, with
Scenes from His Life, from the Town of Mariupol. In: O.Z. Pevny (ed.). Perception of Byzantium
and Its Neighbors (843–1261) . New York, 2000, 102-117; Faith and Power, 114-115, No. 59 (D.
Popović); Siomkos, Nikolaos. Παρατηρήσεις σε ανάγλυφες βυζαντινές εικόνες από ξύλο. In:
International Conference ‘‘Relief Icons’’. Volos, 13 – 14 June 2009 (unpublished communication).
62 It is noteworthy that pilgrim Stefan from Novgorod saw a wood carved icon depicting Christ
around 1350 in Constantinople, Sotiriou, Georgios. La sculpture, 180.
63 Melvani, Nicholas. Late Byzantine Sculpture. Turnhout, 2013, 92-94.
64 Pallas, Demetrios. Οι βενετοκρητικές μικρογραφίες Οlschki του έτους 1415. In: Πεπραγ-
μένα του Β΄Διεθνούς Κρητολογικού Συνεδρίου. Vol. 1. Athens, 1967, 362-373; Cattapan, Mario.
Nuovi documenti riguardanti pittori cretesi dal 1300 al 1500. Ιn: Πεπραγμένα του Β΄ Διεθνούς
Κρητολογικού Συνεδρίου. Vol. 3. Athens, 1968, 29-46; Idem. Nuovi elenchi 202-235; Vassilaki,
Maria. Byzantine Icon-painting around 1400, 169-179, with rich bibliography; Eadem. Παρατηρή-
279
that few Cretan woodcarvings have survived from the irst half of
the 15th century65, similarities between the loral ornaments in the
frames of the lecterns and Cretan artworks are apparent; moreover,
the later foreshadow the elegant woodcarvings created in Crete
from the mid-15th and mainly the 16th century onwards66.
I therefore suggest that the lecterns could not have been carved ei-
ther in Thessaloniki or in Venice, as formerly proposed, but in mid-
15th century Crete by an ambitious artist, who had assimilated both
Palaiologan and Venetian art. Although evidence concerning wood-
carving and the activity of woodcarvers in Crete at this time is limit-
ed, the coexistence of other Byzantine and Venetian artists, particu-
larly painters, from the late 14th century onwards is well atested by
both writen sources and extant artworks67. In addition, 15th century
Cretan painters were famous for their dual capacity, namely to cre-
ate artworks either in Byzantine style (in forma Graeca) or in a mixed
one bearing strong Italian inluences (in forma a la Latina)68. So why
should not the same apply to woodcarving?
σεις για τη ζωγραφική στην Κρήτη τον πρώιμο 15ο αιώνα. In: Ευφρόσυνον. Αφιέρωμα στον
Μανόλη Χατζηδάκη. Vol. 1. Athens, 1991, 65-67; Constantoudaki-Kitromilides, Maria. Viaggi di
pittori tra Constantimoupoli e Candia: documenti d’archivio e influssi sull’arte (XIV–XV sec.). In:
Ch. Maltezou, A. Tzavara, D. Vlassi (eds.). I Greci durante la Venetokrazia: Uomini, spazio, idee
(XIII–XVIII sec.), Atti del convegno Internationale di Studi, Venezia, 3 – 7 Dicembre 2007. Venise,
2009, 709-723.
65 See above, notes 21-23.
66 On Cretan woodcarving and the island’s role in the production of wood-carved artworks
from the 16th century and on, see Chazidakis, Manolis. Ikonostas. In: K. Wessel, M. Restle (eds.).
Reallexicon zur byzantinischen Kunst, III. Stutgart, 1973, 350; Idem. Essai sur l’école dite ‘’ita-
logrecque’’ précedé d’une note sur les rapports de l’art vénitien avec l’art crétois jusqu’à 1500. In:
Venezia e il Levante ino al secolo XV. Firenze, 1974, 71-72; Kazanaki-Lappa, Maria. Εκκλησιαστι-
κή ξυλογλυπτική στο Χάνδακα το 17ο αιώνα. – Θησαυρίσματα, 1974, No. 11, 251-283; Eadem.
Η εκκλησιαστική ξυλογλυπτική στο 16ο αιώνα: προβλήματα και επισημάνσεις. In: Ενδέκατο
Συμπόσιο Βυζαντινή και Μεταβυζαντινής Αρχαιολογίας και Τέχνης, Πρόγραμμα και περι-
λήψεις εισηγήσεων και ανακοινώσεων. Athens, 1991, 17-19; Scabavias, Konstantinos, Chazidaki,
Nano (eds.). Μουσείο Παύλου και Αλεξάνδρας Κανελλοπούλου. Βυζαντινή και Μεταβυζα-
ντινή Τέχνη. Athens, 2007, 58-59, No. 13 (C. Scabavias).
67 Cattapan. Nuovi documenti, 29-46; Idem. Nuovi elenchi, 202-235; Constantoudaki-Kitromilides,
Maria. Ένθρονη Βρεφοκρατούσα, 285-302; Papadaki-Oeklant, Stella. Δυτικότροπες τοιχογραφί-
ες του 14ου αιώνα στην Κρήτη. Η άλλη όψη μιας αμφίδρομης σχέσης. In: Ευφρόσυνον. Αφιέ-
ρωμα στον Μανόλη Χατζηδάκη. Vol. 2. Athens, 1992, 491-514; Vassilaki, Maria. Παρατηρήσεις
για τη ζωγραφική στην Κρήτη τον πρώιμο 15ο αιώνα. In: Ευφρόσυνον, 65-77.
68 Drandaki, Anastasia. A Maniera Greca: content, context and transformation of a term. – Stud-
ies in Iconography, 2014, No. 35, 39-72; Constantoudaki-Kitromilides, Maria. Ένθρονη Βρεφοκρα-
τούσα, 295, note 35; Papadaki – Oeklant. Δυτικότροπες τοιχογραφίες, 491-514; Vassilaki. Byzantine
Icon-painting around 1400, 177.
280
Patronage
Ι come now to the last crucial question, that of the patron. The mo-
nastic tradition mentioned above would have the lecterns be the gift
of Andronikos Palaiologos, Despotes of Thessaloniki (1408-1423).
However, my dating of the lecterns to the period after Andronikos’
death in 1429 suggests that this was not the case69.
Apart from this, it is noteworthy to comment shortly on this mo-
nastic tradition and to evaluate its reliability. Documents conirm
that Andronikos supported Vatopedi inancially. Several artworks
are inscribed with his name; an icon with the depiction of Apostles
Peter and Paul70 and an embroidered lag, reported by the traveler
John Covel though no longer surviving71. Poririj Uspenskij men-
tions one additional object72. However, oral monastic tradition at-
tributes a far greater number of artifacts to his patronage. These in-
clude the monumental cross, which has stood behind the holy altar
of the catholicon since at least the mid-19th century (the so-called
cross of St Constantine)73, a chalice (the so-called kratetera)74 and an
69 On the dating of Andronikos’ death in Constantinople (as monk Akakios in the monastery
of Pantokrator) and his tomb, Sideras, Alexander. Neue Quellen, 12-14; Idem. Die Byzantinischen
Grabreden. Prosopographie, Datierung, Überlieferung. Wien, 1994, 413-418.
70 Tsigaridas, Euthymios, Loverdou-Tsigarida, Katia. Ιερά Μεγίστη Μονή Βατοπαιδίου.
Βυζαντινές εικόνες και επενδύσεις. Mount Athos, 2006, 213-214, 350-367; Tsigarida-Loverdou.
Thessalonique, 249-250. Melvani, Nicholas, The fate, 50, has suggested that the icon was en-
dowed to Vatopedi in 1421; he has connected the donation to a document signed in 1421 (for
the document see Arkadios, Vatopedinos. Αγιορειτικά Ανάλεκτα εκ του Αρχείου της Μονής
Βατοπεδίου. – Γρηγόριος Παλαμάς 1919, No. 3, 333).
71 Hasluck, William. The irst English Traveller’s account of Athos. – The Annual of the British
School at Athens, 1910–1911, No. 17, 123-124.
72 Uspenskij, Poririj. Pervoje Putešestivije, 33; Millet, Gabriel, Pargoire, Jules, Petit, Louis. Recue-
il, 25, No. 74 and pl. II. 2. It is not clear how many embroidered lags were donated to Vatopedi
by the Despotes Andronikos Palaiologos. The lag that Uspenskij describes is adorned, as he men-
tions, by a double-headed eagle with two orbs, bearing the dedicatory inscription Ἀνδρόνικος
Δεσπότης, as well as four lions holding swords; also, it bears an unreadable inscription. If this
lag was the same with the one mentioned in the unpublished cod. Vatop. 293 (f. 50v: βημόθυρον
διὰ μαγκάνου, μετὰ χρυσοῦ ἀετοῦ...), the codex would also mention that it bore a dedicatory
inscription, but this is clearly not the case.
73 Tsigarida-Loverdou. Thessalonique, 250; Tavlakis, Ioannis, Liakos, Dimitrios. Ο σταυρός ο λε-
γόμενος του Μεγάλου Κωνσταντίνου στη Μονή Βατοπεδίου: συντήρηση – τεκμηρίωση. – Η
Δεκάτη, 2005–2006, No. 2, 65-75.
74 On the chalice see Ballian, Anna. Μεταβυζαντινή και άλλη μικροτεχνία. In: Ιερά Μεγίστη
Μονή Βατοπαιδίου. Παράδοση – Ιστορία – Τέχνη. Vol. 2, Mount Athos, 1998, 501, ig. 442; Le
Mont Athos et l’Empire byzantin, 180, No. 81 (D. Liakos); Mezzacassa, Manlio Leo. Temi d’ornate
microtecniche nell’oreiceria gotica veneziana a paragone con le arti maggiori. – Arte Veneta,
2014 (2015), No. 71, 207, 210-211 (igs. 24, 25). It is referred as Andronikos’ gift by Uspenskij,
Poririj. Pervoje Putešestivije, 33. The tradition is mentioned in the unpublished catalogue of the
artefacts kept in the sacristy, dated to 1749 (Inventory Number in the monastery’s archive 56Ω.Γ):
281
embroidered mitre75. Andronikos’ benefactions are generally men-
tioned in an unpublished document signed by the monks in 142576;
nevertheless, there is no reference to the donation of the lecterns. In
the absence of secure documentary evidence it is prudent to doubt
the orally transmited account.
The atribution of impressive or luxury artworks to the patronage
of Byzantine emperors and other dignitaries was a common topic in
the oral Athonite tradition of the 18th century onwards, inspired by
the Patria (patriographic traditions) irst composed in the 16th centu-
ry77. They appear in the period immediately subsequent to the Ot-
toman occupation, and, in my opinion, served to underline the link
between the monasteries and their Byzantine past. The phenome-
non is therefore not exclusive to Vatopedi, but may be observed in
the traditions of many other Athonite monasteries, such as Iveron.
Here we ind the so-called sakkos of emperor Ioannis Tsimiskis, dat-
ed to the second half of the 16th century78. Likewise, at Chilandar,
Ἔτερον ποτήριον Ἀνδρονίκου βασιλέως κρησταλαίνιον (fol. 1r).

75 Unpublished. It is kept in the new sacristy. On stylistic grounds, it could be dated to the
15th–16th century.
76 The document (Invertory Number in the archive: Γ183) will be published in Actes de Vatopedi
III. I am grateful to Prof. Kostis Smyrlis for allowing me access to his unpublished material.
According to the document, Andronikos continued his benefaction to Vatopedi during his short
residence in Mystras just after 1423: Ἐπεὶ δὲ κ(αὶ) αὖθις ἔστειλε πρὸς ἡμ(ᾶς) ἀπὸ τοῦ Μωρέως
κ(αὶ) ἑτέρ(ας) ἀπείρους εὐεργεσίας κ(αὶ) χάριτας κ(αὶ) τῶν προτέρων μείζονας, ἤτοι σκεύη
ἀργυρὰ κ(αὶ) πέπλα ἱερά κ(αὶ) ἕτερα οὐκ εὐαρίθμητα... It seems likely that the famous jasper,
commissioned by the Despotes of Mystras Manouel Kantakouzenos Palaiologos (1349–1380) for a
church he founded, could have been sent to Vatopedi from there by his brother, former Despotes
Andronikos; for another hypothesis on the jasper’s acquisition of Vatopedi, see: Liakos, Dimitrios.
Λόγια πρόσωπα και λόγιο περιβάλλον στο Άγιον Όρος (14ος–18ος αι.): η δυναμική τους στην
τέχνη. In: Άγιον Όρος και Λογιοσύνη. Thessaloniki, 2014, 256, note 6.
77 On the Athonite Patria, see Lambros, Spyridon. Τα Πάτρια του Αγίου Όρους. – Νέος Ελλη-
νομνήμων, 1912, No. 9, 116-244. Also see the chapter Ανάμνησις μερική περί του Αγίου Όρους
Άθω εκ παλαιών ιστοριών in Gedeon, Manouel. Ο Άθως. Constantinople, 1885, Athens, 1990
(photographical reprint), 297-306. The bibliography on Athonite traditions is vast; here, I cite
only some seminal works: Koder, Johannes. Patres Athonenses a latinophilis occisi sub Michaele
VIII. – Jahrbuch der Österreichischen Byzantinistik, 1969, No. 18, 79-88; Rigo, Antonio. La Διήγη-
σις sui monaci Athoniti martirizzati dai latinophronoi (Bibliotheca Hagiographica Graeca 2333)
e le tradizioni athonite successive: alcune oservazioni. – Studi Veneziani, 1988, No. 15, 77-79;
Chryssochoides, Criton. Παραδόσεις και πραγματικότητες στο Άγιον Όρος στα τέλη του ΙΕ΄ και
στις αρχές του ΙΣΤ΄ αιώνα. In: Mount Athos in the 14th–16th centuries. – Αθωνικά Σύμμεικτα,
1997, No. 4, 99-147; Idem. Dall’eremo al cenobio: storia e tradizioni delle origini del monachesimo
athonita. In: K. Chryssochoidis, A. Louf, Makarios di Simonos Petras, J. Noret (eds.). Atanasio
e il monachesimo al Monte Athos. Bose, 2005, 27-45; Livanos, Nikolaos. Συμβολή στη μελέτη
των αγιορειτικών πατριογραφικών παραδόσεων. In: Το Άγιον Όρος στον 15ο και 16ο αιώνα.
Thessaloniki, 2012, 141-152.
78 Le Mont Athos et l’ Empire byzantin, 118, No. 17 (D. Liakos). On the tradition, Sophronios,
Agiopavlites. Θησαυροί Αγίου Όρους. Athens, 1959, 56.
282
the so-called chalice of Stephen Dušan, dated to the 16th century79,
at Xeropotamou the so-called panagiarion of empress Poulcheria, of
the 14th century, with an 18th century revetment80. The oral tradition
of Vatopedi includes some demonstrably false information derived
from other sources; I cite, for example, that Ioannis Kantakouzenos
withdrew to Vatopedi, where he was tonsured and died81. This in-
formation seems to have originated with the historian Doucas82, per-
petuated by Du Cange83 (this story has been exploited and difused
by the monks themselves, who will still repeat it); however, reliable
writen sources, such as the Cod. Marcianus Gr. 40884, consider such
information untrustworthy.
The Andronikos narrative was also repeated by Poririj Uspenskij,
who notes in his essay that he read this information in a chrono-
graph account of 157085, which is not preserved today. However, we
ought to be cautious about any unconirmed information given by
Uspenskij, since many references in his essay are unfounded, and he
would repeat monastic traditions without checking them. In some
cases, he liked to visualize them. The most representative example
is the ictitious inscription of the so-called painter of Protaton, Ma-
nuel Panselenos, which Uspenskij noted, citing the account writen
by the painter Dionysios of Phourna86 (who himself repeated old-
er oral tradition) and had misinterpreted the liturgical inscription
writen in Prothesis87. It has since been demonstrated that Protaton
79 Bogdanović, Dimitrije, Djurić, Vojislav, Medaković, Dejan. Chilandar. The Holy Mountain,
1997, 164, ig. 138.
80 Kalavrezou-Maxeiner, Ioli. Byzantine Icons in Steatite. Wien, 1985, 204-205; Treasures of Mt
Athos, 324-325, No. 9.5 (K. Loverdou-Tsigarida). On the tradition, Barskij, Vasilij, Grigorovich.
Τα ταξίδια του στο Άγιον Όρος, 1725–1726, 1744–1745. Polyviou, M., Toutos, N., Fousteris, G.
(eds.) Με τη φροντίδα και τα σχόλια του ακαδημαϊκού Παύλου Μυλωνά. Thessaloniki, 2009,
506-508.
81 Nicol, Donald. The Byzantine Family of Kantakouzenos, 92.
82 Ducas Istoria Turco – Byzantină (1341–1462) (ed. V. Grecu). Bucharest, 1958, XI.5, 71, 1-4.
83 Charles Du Fresne Du Cange. Historia byzantina duplici commentario illustrata, Pt. I. Familiae
Augustae Byzantinae, Familiae Dalmaticae, Sclavonicae, Turcicae. Paris, 1680, 260.
84 Gonzato, Ada. Il codice Marciano Greco 408 e la data del romanzo byzantino di Alessandro. –
Byzantinische Zeitschrift, 1963, No. 56.2, 246.
85 Σύντομη Ιστορία από τη δημιουργία του κόσμου μέχρι την κατάληψη της Κωνσταντινού-
πολης από του Τούρκους, writen by the housekeeper (οικονόμος) of the archdiocese of Pogonia;
Uspenskij, Poririj. Pervoje Putešestivije, 32.
86 Dionysiou tou ek Phourna. Ερμηνεία της ζωγραφικής τέχνης και οι κύριαι αυτής ανέκδοται
πηγαί, εκδιδομένη μετά προλόγου νυν το πρώτον πλήρης κατά το πρωτότυπον αυτής κείμε-
νον (ed. Α. Papadopoulou-Kerameos). St Petersbourg, 1909, 3.
87 Millet, Gabriel,Pargoire, Jules, Petit, Louis. Recueil, 2, No. 5.
283
was painted by Michael and Eutychios Astrapas88.
Therefore, it is apparent that the question of the lectern’s patron re-
mains open. It it will probably never be answered. The only certain
fact is that this elegant commission was expensive and presupposed
inancial capacity. It could be easy, and even atractive, to connect
these two artworks to the Late Constantinopolitan aristocracy, how-
ever, the real question is whether they could have commissioned
such pieces in a stressful, turbulent period around the end of the
Empire. Besides, documents of this period kept in the monastery’s
archive, which could shed light on this topic, remain unpublished.
Thus, another hypothesis seems to arise: could the lecterns have
been commissioned by an active abbot of the monastery, as in many
other cases89? During the Late Palaiologan period, Vatopedi was
most likely the only Athonite monastery with economic strength.
This is demonstrated by writen sources and dedicatory inscrip-
tions, which give evidence for construction activity90, and for the in-
come of the dependencies and benefactions from Serbian dignitaries
in the irst half of the 15th century91. In this framework, the lecterns
could have been commissioned for the renewal of the ecclesiastic
furniture of the catholicon. Besides, the fact that the catholicon was
dedicated to the Theotokos is directly linked to the iconography of
the lecterns. The predominant themes of the iconography are the
Akathistos Hymn, the Annunciation, the Preigurations of Theot-
okos92, like the Holy Bramble, the Thee Youths in the Fiery Furnace
88 Πρωτάτο ΙΙ. Η συντήρηση των τοιχογραφιών. Vol. 2, Thessaloniki, 2015, 40-41 and ig. 20,
21; Liakos, Dimitrios. Unpublished Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Inscriptions on Mt Athos. In:
Chr. Stavrakos (ed.). Inscription in the Byzantine and Post-Byzantine History and History of Art.
Wiesbaden, 2016, 283-284, note 12.
89 The full extent of the patronage and dedicatory activity of the Athonite abbots and monks is
still largely unknown; for a sample of evidence both in the writen sources and inscriptions see
Liakos, Dimitrios. Unpublished inscriptions, 284-285, 287-289; idem. Byzantine and Post-Byzan-
tine Athonite Dedicatory Inscriptions in Historical and Archaeological Context. In: Emmanuel
Moutafov, Jelena Erdeljan (eds.). Texts. Inscriptions. Images / Art Readings, I.2016. Soia, 2017,
161, 177-178; Loverdou-Tsigarida, Katia. Les revêtments de la Vierge Vimatarissa au monastère de
Vatopedi. In: Volume in mémoire d’ André Grabar. Moscou, 1999, 440-448.
90 Liakos, Dimitrios. Unpublished inscriptions, 285-286, 289.
91 Radić, Radivoj. Η μονή Βατοπεδίου και η Σερβία στον ΙΕ΄ αιώνα. In: Ιερά Μονή Βατοπεδί-
ου. Ιστορία και Τέχνη. – Αθωνικά Σύμμεικτα, 1999, No. 7, 87-96.
92 On the cycle of the Theotokos’ Prefigurations, Mouriki, Doula. Αι βιβλικαί προεικονίσεις της
Παναγίας εις τον τρούλλον της Περιβλέπτου του Μυστρά. – Αρχαιολογικόν Δελτίον, 1970,
Νo 25, Α΄ Μελέται, 217-251; Papamastorakis, Η ένταξη των προεικονίσεων, 315-327.
284
and Jacob’s Ladder93. In addition, the depiction of Peter and Paul
could be associated with the veneration of the Apostles at Vatopedi
in the irst half of the 15th century, as is atested by writen sources94.
Conclusions
The lecterns were carved in the twilight of Byzantium, just before
or after the Fall, in a period from which extant material is extreme-
ly limited. They serve as an invaluable example of the largely un-
known tradition of Palaiologan woodcarving. The tradition was
transferred from Constantinople to a new thriving region, Venetian
Crete, through the migration of the artists. In other words, the lec-
terns could be recognized as border-crossing masterpieces, the re-
sult of a syncretism that characterizes the entire culture of Venetian
Crete from the 14th century onwards95.
93 It is noteworthy that after the mid-14th century the Preigurations of Theotokos become fewer
in monumental painting, Babić, Gordana. Le programme iconographique des peintures murales
décorant les narthex des églises fondées par lе roi Milutin. Ιn: L’art byzantin au début du XIVe
siècle, Symposium de Gračaniča 1973. Beograd, 1978, 105-125.
94 Arkadios. Αγιορειτικά Ανάλεκτα, 333.
95 Laiou, Angeliki. Venetians and Byzantines: Investigation of Forms of Contact in the Four-
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ιστορία της τέχνης. In: Όψεις της ιστορίας τον βενετοκρατούμενου Ελληνισμού. Αρχειακά
τεκμήρια. Athens, 1993, 435 and on.
285
Appendix
The Iconographic Programs of the Lecterns
Lectern I
Stanza Stanza Stanza Stanza Stanza Stanza Stanza Stanza

1 4 7 10 13 16 19 22

2 5 8 11 14 17 20 23

3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24
Lectern II
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
286
1. Diviner Balaam
2. Geometrical theme
3. Hospitality of Abraham
5. It is not preserved
7. Three Youths in the Fiery Furnace
10. Annunciation (Theotokos)
12. Theotokos as the True Vine
14. Annunciation (Archangel Gabriel)
16. The Apostles Peter and Paul holding the model of a church
17. The Rebuke of Nathan and the Repentance of David
19. The Jacob’s Ladder
21. The Holy Bramble
23. Daniel in the Lions’ Den
287
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Едно уникално дарение
на манастира Ватопед от средата на XV век:
два резбовани аналоя
Димитриос Лякос
В новата ризница на манастира Ватопед се пазят два високока-

чествени резбовани аналоя. Те имат осмоъгълен корпус, офор-
мен от вертикални и хоризонтални елементи с флорална деко-
рация, които представят двадесет и четири правоъгълни табла.
Върху тези плоскости са резбовани изображения, които съста-
вляват различна за всеки от двата аналоя иконографска програ-
ма: върху първия аналой е представен цикълът на Акатиста, а
върху втория са изваяни сцени от Стария Завет, Благовещение,
св. Богородица „Лоза истинска“, Св. св. Петър и Павел, държа-
щи модел на църква, както и геометрични мотиви. Върху осем-
те ниски крачета, върху които стъпват аналоите, са изобразени
маймуни.
Двете произведения на църковните приложни изкуства са из-
вестни в литературата, но не са публикувани досега адекватно.
Според манастирската легенда тези аналои са дарени от солун-
ския деспот Андроник Палеолог (1408–1423). Относно произхо-
да им съществуват предположения, че тази утвар е изработена
в Солун или във Венеция.
В статията се изказва различно мнение за мястото на изработка
и дарителя на аналоите въз основа на анализа на резбованата
украса чрез проследяване на писмени извори и историческия
контекст.
Растителните мотиви по вертикалните и хоризонталните по-
върхности на аналоите имат видимо сходство с подобни памет-
ници от Венеция и о. Крит от XV в. Освен това в резбованите из-
ображения се забелязва смесване на мотиви от палеологовото и
венецианското изкуство на същото столетие. И ако към всичко
по-горе се има предвид фактът, че изображението на ап. Петър
и ап. Павел с модел на храм в ръка се появява в критското изку-
301
ство през втората четвърт на XV в. (вероятно като нововъведе-
ние на Ангелос Акотадос), може обосновано да се предположи,
че двата ватопедски аналоя са изработени на владения от вене-
цианците Крит към средата на XV в.
Дуалистичността, долавяна в тяхната украса, е резултат от кли-
мата, оформен в художествената ситуация на о. Крит през XV
в., където съжителстват византийски и венециански майстори
още от предходния век, създавайки една продукция със „сме-
сен“ стил.
302
Between Loyalty, Memory and
the Law: Byzantine and Slavic
Dedicatory Church Inscriptions
Mentioning Foreign Rulers in the
14th and 15th Centuries
Anna Adashinskaya1
Central European University,
Budapest, Hungary
Abstract. The article focuses on the change in dedicatory formulas of foundation

inscriptions, which were commissioned by noblemen, members of the clergy, and
monks during the second half of the 14th and the 15th century, in which the names of
Byzantine, Serbian, or Bulgarian emperors were substituted with the names of local,
non-Byzantine rulers. It considers cases from the territories of Macedonia, Epirus,
and Thessaly, and tries to discover the reasons behind this shift in dedicatory for-
mulas.
Key words: epigraphy, ecclesiastic foundations, Epirus, Macedonia, nobility, clerics.
The structure of medieval dedicatory inscriptions was quite conser-

vative and tended to accept change slowly2. As a consequence, as
Byzantine culture spread through the Balkans, Byzantine practices
1 Anna Adashinskaya is a 5th-year PhD Student at the Department of Medieval Studies of Cen-
tral European University (Budapest). She graduated Art History and History of the Slavs at the
Moscow State University (2008), and got her MA in Medieval Studies at the Central European
University (2009). Her research so far has been dedicated to Associated Patronage in later Byzan-
tium and the Balkan States.
2 The content and media of dedicatory inscriptions witnessed only some minor changes from
the 11th to the 13th century see: Kalopissi-Verti, Sophia. Dedicatory Inscriptions and Donor Portraits
in Thirteenth-Century Churches of Greece. Vienna, 1992, 23-28.
303
and paterns of inscribing were borrowed by Serbian and Bulgarian
cultures.
The content of prose church dedicatory inscriptions in the Greek
and Slavic languages was almost identical. Barring minor difer-
ences, the donor inscriptions consisted of three basic narrative ele-
ments, such as3:
1) Symbolic and verbal invocations4, and the indication of the
church patron;
2) Donors’ names, their social status, family relations, and measure
of contribution;
3) Dating according to the indiction, references to secular/ecclesias-
tical authorities, lists of donations, and inal maledictions5.
Each of these elements had its established place in the texts, in a
similar way to the structure of Byzantine/Slavic charters6. The men-
tioning of regnal authorities by the church founders served several
purposes, such as the expression of political ailiations; an indica-
tion of founders’ sources of rights and wealth, as well as of power
to whose legal jurisdiction the donor belonged; the designation of
ethnic origin or religious position, and other political, economic,
and personal reasons7.
3 Rhoby, Andreas. The Structure of Inscriptional Dedicatory Epigrams in Byzantium. In: C. Bu-
rini De Lorenzi, M. De Gaetano (eds.). La poesia tardoantica e medievale. Alessandria, 2010,
313-314.
4 Stanojević, Stanoje. Studije o srpskoj diplomatici.Invokacija. – Glas Srpske Kraljevske akadem-
ije, 1912, No. 90, 68-113.
5 For Greek curses in inscriptions see Kalopissi-Verti, Sophia. Church Inscriptions as Documents.
Chrysobulls – Ecclesiastical Acts – Inventories – Donations – Wills. – ΔΧΑΕ, 2003, No. 24, 87; For
curses in Slavic inscriptions: Stojanović, Ljubomir. Stari srpski zapisi i natpisi. Vol. 1. Belgrade,
1902, 20; Šakota, Mirjana. Natpis s elementima povelje u crkvi Sv. Nikole u manastiru Banji kod
Priboja. – Saopštenja, 1988/89, Nos. 20-21, 35-42.
6 For comparison of Byzantine and Serbian structure of charters see: Stanojević, Stanoje. Studi-
je o srpskoj diplomatici. – Glas Srpske Kraljevske akademije, 1912-1914, 1920, 1922–1923, 1928,
1933–1934, 1936, Nos. 90, 92, 94, 96, 100, 106, 110, 132, 156, 157, 159, 169; Mošin, Vladimir. Sank-
cija u vizantijskoj i u južnoslavenskoj ćirilskoj diplomatic. – Anali Historijskog instituta JAZU u
Dubrovniku, 1954, No. 3, 27-52.
7 For reasons of mentioning political authorities in Byzantine inscriptions see: Kalopissi-ver-
ti, Donor portraits, 24-25, 45-46, 136-137; Giakoumis, Konstantinos, Christidou, Anna. Image and
Power in the Age of Andronicos II & III Palaiologos: Imperial Patronage in the Western Provinc-
es of Via Egnatia. In: Via Egnatia Revisited: Common Past, Common Future. Driebergen, 2010,
76-84; Foskolou, Vassiliki. In the Reign of the Emperor of Rome… Donor Inscriptions and Polit-
ical Ideology in the Time of Michael VIII Paleologos. – ΔΧΑΕ, 2006, No. 27, 455-462; Marković,
Miodrag. Иконографски програм најстаријег живописа цркве Богородице Перивлепте у
Охриду [Ikonografski program najstarijeg živopisa crkve Bogorodice Perivlepte u Ohridu]. –
304
Scholarly debate on medieval epigraphy has extensively discussed
cases where the commissioners preferred to name an ideal rather
than a real political power, like the 14th- and 15th-century Cretan
Greek villagers, who although under Venetian domination referred
to Byzantine emperors8. However, both Byzantine and Slavic found-
ers tended to do the opposite, namely, to substitute the oicial, but
not empowered Byzantine, Serbian, or Bulgarian authorities with
the names of more immediate, local lords. This strategy was even
more confusing since the language and wording of dedicatory in-
scriptions followed established Greek/Slavic paterns (including
the denomination of the action of ruling such as αὐφθεντεύβοντος,
βασιλεύοντος, ἐπὶ τῆς βασιλείας, вь дьни), replacing just the name
of a sovereign.
These cases of political conformism can only be observed during
times of immediate crisis and turmoil. Unstable political circum-
stances prevailed in the Balkans during the second half of the 14th
and the 15th centuries. Three empires, the Byzantine, Serbian, and
Bulgarian, clashed, due to a combination of unwise leadership;
noble unrest, and the external Turkish threat9. The trend of substi-
tuting the name of a Byzantine emperor with a foreign ruler irst
started amongst the Greek population10 of Macedonia and Thessaly,
along the borders of the expanding Serbian state, as a consequence
of King Stefan Dušan’s conquests of 1334–134511. The loyal subject
of the Serbian emperor, despot Jovan Oliver12, whose career rocket-
ed from the lowly rank of veliki sluga to that of despot13, placed the
Zograf, 2011, No. 35, 133. For Slavic examples, see: Stojanović. Zapisi, 45, 59-60, 79-80, 95, 102.
8 Tsougarakis, Dimitrios. La tradizione culturale bizantina nel primo periodo della dominazi-
one Veneziana a Creta. Alcune osservazioni in merito alla questione dell’identit à culturale. In:
Gherardo Ortalli (ed.). Venezia e Creta. Ati del Convegno Internazionale di Studi. Venice, 1998,
510-522.
9 For the situation in Byzantium see: Nicol, David M. Last centuries of Byzantium, 1261-1453.
Cambridge, 1993; For the Serbian history: Mihaljčić, Rade. Kraj srpskog carstva. Belgrade, 1989;
For Bulgaria see Tyutyundzhiev, Ivan and Pavlov, Plamen. Българската държава и османската
експанзия 1369–1422 [Balgarskata darzhava I osmanskata ekspanziya 1369–1422]. Veliko Tarno-
vo, 1992.
10 Solovjev, Alexander. Греческие архонты в сербском царстве XIV в. [Grecheskie archonty
v serbskom tsarstve XIV v.]. – Byzantinoslavica, 1930, 2/2, 275–228; Ostrogoski, Georgije. Serska
oblast posle Dušanove smrti. Belgrade, 1965, 89-105.
11 Soulis, George. The Serbs and Byzantium during the Reign of Tzar Stephen Dušan (1331–
1355) and His Successors. Washington, 1984.
12 Ferjančić, Božidar. Despoti u Vizantiji i južnoslovenskim zemljama. Belgrade, 1960, 159-166.
13 Gabelić, Smiljka. Manastir Lesnovo: Istorija i slikarstvo. Belgrade, 1998, 33-37.
305
name of his lord in both Slavic and Greek inscriptions, commem-
orating the completion of St Archangel’s monastery in Lesnovo
(Cat. 2). Although this bilingual strategy seemed unusual, it could
easily be explained by the presence of Greek-speakers in Northern
Macedonia. A similar strategy may have been applied by the com-
missioners of a group of Greek dedicatory inscriptions associated
with the renovation of the Eleousa Church in Mesembria (1342) by
Symeon Synaden(?), a Greek relative of the Bulgarian Emperor Ivan
Fig. 1. Dedicatory inscription above the entrance on the western wall, Parekklesion of
St. Gregory, Peribleptos Church, Ohrid, 1364 (Cat. 5)
Alexander14 (Cat. 1). In these two cases, the use of Byzantine formu-
las and language simpliied the understanding and recognition of
contemporary political realia by the Greek population, as well as
exhibiting the linguistic preferences of the commissioners.
Nevertheless, the later Greek subjects of the Serbian Empire fol-
lowed exactly the same patern; the names of Dušan’s successors,
his son Uroš and half-brother Simeon, who ruled over Thessaly15,
became the reference points for ecclesiastic patrons from Ohrid,
Kastoria and the monasteries of Meteora (Cat. 3-6)16. The Serbian
14 For Symeon and his relations with the Asen royal family, see: Bozhilov, Ivan. Фамилията
на Асеневци (1186–1460). Генеалогия и просопография [Familiyata na Asenevtsi (1186–1460).
Genealogiya i prosopograiya]. Soia, 1994, 438-439.
15 On the position of Emperor Uroš, see Ostrogoski. Serska oblast, 3-19; for Simeon’s position –
Mihaljčić. Kraj, 17-20; Soulis. The Serbs and Byzantium, 115-117, 120-122.
16 An inscription of debated provenance from Trikkala bearing the formula “ἐις τὴν ἡμέραν
306
rulers, being Orthodox, provided support for the Greek clergy17 and
introduced bi-ethnic social and legal policies18 in the conquered ter-
ritories. These factors simpliied, to a great extent, the replacement
of Byzantine rule with a foreign one in the oicial documents and in
public media, such as dedicatory inscriptions.
Moreover, for the Greeks who remained in Macedonia after the fall
of the Serbian empire and faced the advancing Otomans19, contin-
ued Serbian rule was a preferred option. This nostalgia caused the
appearance of an anachronistic reference20 to King Vukašin21 (1365–
1371) in the dedication of the Elousa Hermitage (1409) on the Pres-
pa Lake (Cat. 12) built by Greek monks.
After the disintegration of the Serbian Empire, Macedonia, Thessaly,
and Epirus became a batleground for numerous conlicts between
numerous local lords of diferent ethnic origins (i.e., Greek, Serbian,
Bulgarian, Albanian, Italian22), who claimed territories of diferent
size with overlapping borders. In this turbulent political climate and
with the absence of a central authority, nobles and church oicials
chose various diferent strategies to prove their legitimacy; express
their political ailiation, and place themselves under the protection
of greater powers. Some of the members of the nobility, such as vo-
evoda Michael Therianos (Cat. 14) and kesar Novak23 (Cat. 7), incor-
porated references to higher ranking aristocrats in their dedications
inscriptions, who had vested them with the titles and oices which
τοῦ ἐυσεβεστάτου βασιλέος ἡμῶν Συμεὸν τοῦ Παλαιολόγου” can be added to this category of
inscriptions commemorating Serbian rulers, Avraméa, Anna and Fiessel, Denis. Inventaires en vue
d’un recueil des inscriptions historiques de Byzance: IV Inscriptions de Thessalie (à l'exception
des Metéores). – Travaux et mémoires, 1987, No. 10, 381-383.
17 Kalopissi-Verti, Sophia. Aspects of Patronage in Fourteenth-Century Byzantium Regions un-
der Serbian and Latin Rule. In: Eutychia Papadopoulou, Dora Dialeti (eds.). Byzantium and Ser-
bia in the 14th Century. Athens, 1996, 363-379; Soulis, George. Tsar Stephan Dušan and Mount
Athos. – Harvard Slavic Studies, 1954, No. 2, 125-139.
18 Soulis. The Serbs and Byzantium, 60-85.
19 Vakalopoulos, Apostolos. Ιστορία της Μακεδονίας (1354–1833). Thessaloniki, 1988, 40-55.
20 Paissidou, Melina.The Hermitage of “Panagia Eleousa“. (Virgin Merciful) Great Prespa: an Ar-
tistic Expression of Time and Space Limit. In: Cyril and Methodius: Byzantium and the world
of the Slavs. Proceedings of the International Scientiic Conference. Thessaloniki, 2015, Vol.1,
304-305.
21 On Vukašin as a king and co-ruler of Emperor Uroš, see: Soulis, The Serbs and Byzantium,
96-97; Ostrogorski, Serska oblast, 8-12; Mihaljčić. Kraj, 94-147.
22 Mihaljčić. Kraj; Šuica, Marko. Nemirno doba Srpskog Srednjeg Veka. Belgrade, 2000.
23 Ferjančić , Božidar. Sevastokratori i kesari u srpskom carstvu. – Zbornik Filozofskog Fakulte-
ta, 1970, No. 11/1, 268.
307
Fig. 2. The Donors’ composition, upper register of the external western wall, The Virgin’s
Church, Mali Grad, 1368/9 (Cat. 7). Photo by Rostislav Novikov
had brought with them authority, lands and wealth in exchange for
their loyalty. These higher ranking nobles could be Latins, like Car-
lo Tocco (Cat. 14), or Serbs, such as King Vukašin (Cat. 7).
In churches at Mali Grad and Monodendri, foundations of kesar
Novak and voevoda Michael Therianos respectively, the idea of be-
ing appointed to power was viewed with the upmost importance
by the commissioners, since they preferred to be depicted in their
court-dresses, accompanied by inscriptions underlying their titles,
surrounded by family members in hierarchical order, and invested
with power by the blessing hand of God himself24.
A possible compromise between loyalty to both local and central
24 Bogevska, Saška. Les églises rupestres de la région des lacs d’Ohrid et de Prespa, milieu du
XIIIe – milieu du XVIe siècle. Brepols, 2015, 357-462 with previous bibliography; for Michael
Pherianos, see Acheimastou-Potamianou, Myrtali. Η κτητορική παράσταση της μονής Αγίας
Παρασκευής στο Μονοδέντρι της Ηπείρου (1414). – ΔΧΑΕ, 2003, No. 24, 231-242.
308
Fig. 3. Dedicatory inscription above the entrance on the western wall, Christ Zoodotos Church,
Borje, 1389/90 (Cat. 11)
authorities are examples where both are mentioned. An example

of this strategy was made by Demetrios Xenos who, in the exter-
nal inscription of his Chrysopege Church (Cat. 15), mentioned Sir
Palamede Gatilusio25 as the governor of the city of Ainos, while in
the interior dedicatory inscription recorded “the rule of our most
devout and friends of Christ, emperors, Manuel and Helen” and
the Constantinopolitan Patriarch Joseph26. However, such a com-
promise could work only in places where the local authorities rec-
ognized, even nominally, the supremacy of the Byzantine Emperor,
and tried to establish personal ties with him, as it was the case of sir
Palamede, who insisted on his Palaiologoan ancestry27.
25 Basso, Enrico. Gatilusio, Palamede. In: Alberto Ghisalberti (ed.). Dizionario Biograico degli
Italiani. Vol. 52. Rome, 1960, 623-626 (with further bibliography).
26 Asdracha, Catherine. Inscriptions protobyzantines et byzantines de la Thrace Orientale et de
l’île d’Imbros (IIIe –XVe siècles). Présentation et commentaire. Athens, 2003, 267-68.
27 Wright, Christopher. The Gattilusio Lordships and the Aegean World 1355–1462. Leiden,
309
Fig. 4. Dedicatory inscription above the entrance on the western wall, St Demetrius’ Church,
Boboshevo, 1488 (Cat. 17)
Church oicials also relied on the inancial support and military

protection provided by regional lords. Therefore, the dedicatory
inscriptions of foundations, erected or restored by priests or bish-
ops (Cat. 8-11), bore names of secular local authorities, regardless of
their ethnic origins (Albanian – Cat. 8-10; Cat. 11 – unknown) and
obscure titles. The four foundations in Ohrid, Elbasan, Kastoria,
and Borje that have been considered in this paper were built after
the batle of Mariza (1371)28, which drastically changed the politi-
cal and ethnic landscape of Macedonia and Epirus. The provinces
were divided into small landholdings held by minor lords which
faced constant raids from Albanian tribes29. Exploiting the pow-
er vacuum, a few Albanian leaders established an informal pow-
er over important cities, such as the great župan Andrea Gropa in
Ohrid (Cat. 8)30, Charles Thopia in Kroja31 or the Mouzaki family in
Kastoria (Cat. 10)32. These newcomers were not distinguished by ti-
tles and, therefore, simply called themselves “πανευγενεστάτους”
(Cat. 10), “πρῶτος“ (Cat. 9), or “αὐτάδελφος πανευτυχέστατος
σεβαστωκράτορος” (Cat. 11). Despite this, they provided suicient
2014, 114-128.
28 About consequence of the Mariza batle, see: Mihaljčić. Kraj, 183-192.
30 Mihaljčić. Kraj, 197-198.
32 Drakopoulou, Eugenia. Η πόλη της Καστοριάς τη βυζαντινή και μεταβυζαντινή εποχή
(12ος–16ος αι.). Athens, 1997, 64-66.
310
funds for churches and created a semblance of order and stability.
They were the ones who most resembled, even if it was only ap-
proximately, the notions of what authority looked like and should
be and were therefore honoured in the inscriptions.
Finally, in the 15th century, in the territories conquered by the Ot-
tomans, some members of Orthodox nobility became Turkish
mounted troops сипахи (sipahi33) or community leaders кметове
(kmetove34), and through such a strategy preserved their status,
possessions, and religion. Probably, some of them could have af-
forded to restore ruined ecclesiastic foundations, as it was in the
case of Dragalevtsi Monastery (Cat. 17), while others built family
churches after becoming monks (Cat. 13 and 18). In any case, after a
change in political and social circumstances, these Orthodox people
recognized the Otoman rulers and oicials as the legal supreme
power that could invest its subjects with their oices and wealth.
Consequently, the names of sultans (Cat. 13, 17-18) took the place
once occupied by the Christian emperors in the conservative formu-
la of dedicatory inscriptions35.
The references to authority in the dedicatory inscriptions consid-
ered in this essay illustrate the diverse reasons for the substitution
of the names of Byzantine or Slavic emperors for references to for-
eign rulers, local lords, and Otoman authorities. These reasons
varied from political and economic opportunism to expressions of
loyalty. However, as a conclusion, I would like to answer a question
concerning the narrative patern employed by the commissioners,
namely, why were these inscriptions writen in Greek and why did
they use precise formulas for indicating the imperial power?
During the period under scrutiny, the northern Greek regions be-
came a place of cohabitation of the Greeks, Serbs, Albanians, Ital-
ians, and of the Turks, who raided the Balkans36, increasing the
ethnic diversity of the region. It seems that Greek became a lingua
33 Kiel, Machiel. Art and Society of Bulgaria in the Turkish Period. Assen, 1985, 66-86.
34 Such as kmet Konstantin who renewed Zrze Monastery, see: Stojanović. Zapisi, 63.
35 Though, all the examples examined here are Slavic, similar changes occurred amongst the
Greek nobility of Asia Minor, see: Hasluck, F. W. Christianity and Islam under the Sultans. Ox-
ford, 1929, 381; Laurent, Vitalien. Note additionnelle: L’inscription de l’église Saint-Georges de
Bélisérama. – Revue des études byzantines, 1968, No. 26, 367-371.
36 Byzantines often used the help of Turkish armies (Cantacuzenus, John. Historiarum libri IV
(ed. L. Schopen). Vol. 3. Bonn, 1832, 246-249, 322-328). See also Novaković, Stojan. Srbi i Turci XIV
i XV veka. Belgrade, 1960.
311
franca, a link language, for all these peoples, at least as long as they
kept Greek as the main administrative language37, used it in court
and for such public media as dedicatory inscriptions.
The Byzantine formulas denoting authority were easily recognized
by readers and, therefore, brought a rapidly understood clarity to
a person’s status. At the same time, the memory of the once-great
Empire of Romans drove some new rulers to contest the imperial
title, while others tried to imitate it. Therefore, the noble and eccle-
siastic founders could use comparisons with Byzantine emperors
for the purpose of latering new authorities and paying homage
to their policies. However, for the commissioners, the presence of a
superior power guaranteed their own legitimacy and status. More-
over, for the church authorities, a ruler was important not only as
a provider of economic beneits, but also as proof of God’s benev-
olence, and the name of a sovereign was an integral part of any
orthodox liturgy, which always included prayers on behalf of the
ruler38. Thus, substituting the names of Byzantine, Serbian, or Bul-
garian emperors with the names of local, non-Byzantine, rulers was
the best way of legitimizing the new political and social order with-
in the conservative vocabulary and structure of medieval Balkan
epigraphy.
37 Solovjev, Alexander and Mošin, Vladimir. Grčke povele srpskih vladara. Belgrade, 1936.; Lam-
pros, Spyridon. Η ελληνική ως επίσημος γλώσσα των σουλτάνων. – Νέος Ελληνομνήμων,
1908, No. 5, 40-78.
38 Skaballanovich, Michail. Толковый Типикон [Tolkovyi tipikon]. Vol. 2. Moscow, 1910, 98-105.
312
Catalogue of the Inscriptions
1. Eleousa Monastery, Mesembia (1342)
…βασιλεύοντος τοῦ εὐσεβεστάτου μεγάλου βασιλέ(ω)

ς Ἰω(άννου) τοῦ Ἀλεξάνδρου κ(αὶ) τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ
εὐσεβεστάτου βασιλέ(ω)ς Μ(ι)χ(αὴλ) τοῦ Ἀσσάνη…
κἀγὼ ὁ περιπόθητος κ(αὶ) γνήσιος θεῖος τοῦ

πανυψηλοτάτου τοῦ βασιλέως Ἰω(άννου) Ἀλεξάνδρου
ἀνεκαίνισα τ(ὸν) πάνσεπτον κ(αὶ) θεῖον ναὸν….
[ἐπὶ τῆς] βασιλ(είας) Ἰω(άννου) Ἀλεξάνδρου κ(αὶ) Μ(ι)

χ(α)ὴλ τοῦ Ἀσάν(η) ὁ π(ε)ρ(ι)πό(θητος) θεῖος α[ὐτῶν Σα]
μοὴλ….
Beševliev, Veselin. Spätgriechische und spätlateinische

Inschriften aus Bulgarien. Berlin 1964, 160.
2. Archangel Michael’s Church, Lesnovo (1349)
…δι’ ἐξόδου τοῦ πανευτυχεστάτου δεσπότου Ιωάννου τοῦ

Λύβερί. κ(αὶ) τῆς πανευτυχεστάτης βασιλείσης Μαρίας
τῆς Λυβερίσης καὶ τῶν τέκνων αὐτῶν, Κράικου κ(αὶ)
Δαμιανοῦ. ἐπὶ τῆς βασιλεί Στεφάνου κ(αὶ) Ἐλένης, κ(αὶ)
τοῦ ὑιοῦ αὐτῶν κράλη τοῦ Ὀυροσι…
Ivanov, Iordan. Български старини из Македония [Balgar-

ski starini iz Makedoniya]. Sofia, 1970, 158.
3. Taxiarches’ metropolis, Kastoria (1359/60)
…δι[ὰ ἐξόδου τοῦ τάτου Δανιὴλ ἱερομόναχου, βασιλεύοντος

Συμεών τοῦ Π[αλαιολόγου ἃμα] τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ [Ἴωάννου
τοῦ Δ]ούκα…
Drakopoulou. Η πόλη, 95-96.
4. The Virgin’s Church, Zaum (1361)
...δι’ ὲξόδου τοῦ πανευτυχεστάτου καίσαρος Γούργουρα

κ(αὶ) κτήτωρος ὰνιστορίθη δὲ παρὰ τοῦ πανιεροτάτου
ἐπισκόπου Δεαβόλαιως κ(αὶ) πρωτοθρόνου κὺρ Γρηγορίου
κ(αὶ) κτήτωρος ἐπὶ τῆς βασιλείας Στεφάνου τοῦ Οὔροσιοι…
313
Grozdanov, Cvetan. Ohridsko zidno slikarstvo XIV veka. Bel-
grade, 1996, 103.
5. Parekklesion of St Gregory, Peribleptos Church, Ohrid

(1364)
...διὰ συνδρομῆς καὶ ἐξόδοῦ τοῦ πανιερωτάτου ὲπισκόπου

Δαβώλεως Γρηγορίου ἤτοι Σελασφόρου. ἐπὶ τῆς
βασιλείας Στεφάνου τοῦ Οὐρέσι. Ἀρχιερατεύοντος δὲ τῆς
Πρώτης Ἰουστινιανῆς τοῦ Πανιερωτάτου Ἀρχιεπισκόπου
Γρηγορίου…
Grozdanov. Ohridsko zidno, 122.
6. The Virgin’s Church, Doupiane, Meteora (1367/8)
…διὰ σ(υν)δρομ(ῆς) κ(αί) ἐξόδου τοῦ τημειοτάτου ἐν

Ἱερομονάχοις κῦ(ρ) Νείλου κ(αί) πρότου τ(ῆς) σκήτεως
Σταγ(ῶν) κ(αί) καθηγουμένου τῆς σεβασμήας μονὴς
Δουπειάνου. Βασιλέυβ(ον)τος δὲ του εὐσεβεστατου
ἡμ(ῶν) βασιλέος κῦ(ρ) Σιμεὼν του Παλαιολόγου κ(αί)
αὐτοκράτορ(ος) Ρομαίων Σερβεί(ας) κ(αί) Ρομανεί(ας) του
Οῦρεσι ἐπεισκοπέβ(ο)ντος δὲ τοῦ πανἁγιοτάτου δεσπότου
ἡμ(ῶν) Βησαρίου…
Subotić, Gojko. Počeci monaškog života i crkvi manastira

Sretenja u Meteorima. – Zbornik za likovne umetnosti, 1960,
No. 2, 145-146.
7. The Virgin’s Church, Mali Grad (1368/9)
…παρὰ του αὐφθέντου αὐτοῦ πὰνευτυχεστάτου

κέσαρος Νοβάκου ἠγουμενέβῶντὸς δὲ Ἰωνὰ (μον)αχ(οῦ).
Ἀὐφθεντεύβ(ον)τος πανυ(ψ)ηλοτάτου κραλήου τοῦ
Βεληκασίνου…
Đurić, Vojislav. Mali Grad – Sv. Atanasije u Kosturu – Borje. –

Zograf, 1975, No. 6, 31-32.
8. Small St Klimentos Church, Ohrid (1378)
…διὰ συνδρομῆς ἐξόδου τὲ κ(αὶ) κόπου οἰκείου τοῦ

θεοσεβαστάτου ιἐρέως Στεφάνου τοῦ Προφήτου’
ἐπικρατούσης τῆς λαμπρὰς πόλεως ταύτης Άχρίδας
θεοσώστου τοῦ πανέυγενεστάτου αὐθεντου ἡμῶν
μεγάλου ζουπάνου κύρ Άνδρέα τοῦ Γρώπα…
314
Grozdanov. Ohridsko zidno, 151-152.
9. St John Vladimir’s Church, Elbasan (1381)
☩Χρῆ γινώσκειν ὅτι ὁ ναός οὕτως ἐκατελύθη ἀπό σεισμοῦ

παντελῶς ἕως θεμελίου εἰς τήν διακράτησιν καὶ ἐν ἡμέραις
αὐθεντεύοντος πασῆς χώρας Ἀλβάνου πανυψιλότατος
πρῶτος Κάρλας ὁ Θεώπιας ἀνεψιός δε καὶ αἵματος ρῆγας
τῆς Φραγγίας. …
Popa, Theofan. Të dhana mbi princët mesjetarë shqiptarë në

mbishkrimet e kishave tona. – Buletin i Universitetit shtetërot
të Tiranës, 1957, No. 11/2, 186-188.
10. St Athanasios Mouzaki’s Church, Kastoria (1383/4)
… παρὰ τοὺς κτιτόρους ἤγου(ν) τοὺς παν[ευγ]ενεστάτους

κυ(ρ) Στώϊα κ(αί) Θεοδώρου τοῦ Μουζάκη . κ(αί) τοῦ ἐν
Ίερο(μον)άχ(οις) Διονυσίου . αὐφθεντευόντ(ων) δὲ τ(ῶν)
αὐτ(ῶν) αὐταδέλφ(ων) πα[ν]ευγενεστάτους κυ(ρ) Στώϊα.
καὶ κυ(ρ) Θεοδώρου τοῦ Μουζάκη. ἀρχιερατ[εύ]οντος
δὲ τοῦ πανιεριοτάτου ἐπισκό[που] κυ(ρ) Γαβριήλ κ(αὶ)
πρωτ[οθρόνου]…
Drakopoulou. Η πόλη, 95-96.
11. Christ Zoodotos Church, Borje (1389/90)
…παρὰ τοῦ κτίτορος τοῦ πανιεροτάτου ἐπισκόπου

[κὺρ] Νίμφωνος αὐθεντεύοντος δὲ τὸν Ἀμ[ηρ]αλάδαν.
αὐτάδελφος πανευτυχέστατος σεβαστωκράτορος Ὶωάνης
καὶ πανυψιλότατος δεσπότης κὺρ Θεοδώρου…
Đurić. Mali Grad, 42.
12. The Eleousa Hermitage, Megale Prespa (1409/10)
…διά σὴνδρομὶς κόπου τε κ(αὶ) ἐξόδου τοῦ τιμιοτάτου ἐν

ἱερομονάχ(οις) κῦρ Σάβα κ(αὶ) κῦρ Ὶακόβου κ(αὶ) Βαρλαὰμ
τ(ὸν) κτητόρον. Αὐθέ<ν>της ὁ Βλουκασήνος.
Subotić, Gojko. Ohridska slikarska škola XV veka. Belgrade,

1980, 34-37.
13. The dedicatory inscription of Stylian, the Monk from

Šumen (1412)
315
… азь с[тил]ианъ мно((го))грэшни писах си слова над врати прэч((и))
стои помилуи ме г(оспо)ди б(о)же мои егда придши въ ц(а)рс(т)
вие писах въ л(э)то... тисущно и Ө сьтьно и К и вь д(ь)ни ц(а)
ра султан(а)…
Tomović, Gordana. Morfologija ćiriličkih natpisa. Belgrade,

1974, 101.
14. The Church of Hagia Paraskeve, Monodendri (1414)
… δι’ ἐξόδου (τε) κ(αὶ) παληρόσεως, τοῦ εὐγ(ε)νεστ(ά)του

κϋρῖ(ου) Μηχ[α]ὴλ Βωηβώνδα τοῦ Θερϊανοῦ. ἤν δέδωκεν
ἐν τῷ νῷ [....]κ(αὶ) τῆς γενεὰς κ(αὶ) ἀδελφότ(η)τ(ος)
αὐτοῦ κ(αὶ) πάντων ὅλων τῶν Βεζητζηνῶν κληρονόμων
κτητόρων μικρῶν τ(ε) κ(αὶ) μηζώνων ἐπὶ τῆς βασιλείας τοῦ
πανυψιλοτ(ά)του δεσπότου ἡμ(ῶν) Κάρουλα τοῦ Δουκὸς…
Acheimastou-Potamianou. Η κτητορική παράσταση, 233.
15. The church of Theotokos Chrysopege at Ainos (1422/3)
…ἀνηγέρθη ἐκ βάθρων παρ’ ἐμοῦ Δημητρίου τοῦ Ξένου,

τηνικαῦτα κρατοῦντος τῆς θεοσώστου πόλεως Αἴνου τοῦ
ὑψηλοτάτου ἡμῶν αὐθέντου σὺρ Παλάμιδες Φραντζέσκου
Γατελιούζου τοῦ Παλαιολόγου…
Asdracha. Inscriptions, 264-267.
16. The church of the Virgin, Dragalevtsi (1476)
…пописа сь потьщаныемь кvръ радославь маверь и сь подружиpм

и сь сынwве pго вь вэчную pму паметь аминь. Вь лэто SЦНД
ендиктiwнь А ц(а)р(ст)вующаго измаила мехмедь челепiе
Balaschev, Georgi. Словенски надписи в Югозападна Бъл-

гария [Slovenski nadpisi v Yugozapadna Balgariaya]. – Ми-
нало [Minalo], 1912, no. 7-8, 206.
17. St Demetrius’ Church, Boboshevo (1488)
...пописа wт свода иеремонах Неwфιть сь синови си попа Дмитромь

и Богданомь прост(и) их б(ог)ь аминь. А вь лэ(то) ҀЧ и С и Ҁ вь
дни ц(а)ра Баязить Бега wбла(да)юще сιе хоры. Wсвэщени епископь
кv(р) Яковь
Balaschev. Slovenski nadpisi, 208.
316
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Между лоялността, паметта и закона:
византийски и славянски посветителни надписи
от църкви, упоменаващи чуждоземни владетели
от XIV и XV век
Анна Адашинская
Като всички византийски и славянски обществени/публични текстове,

структурата на посветителните надписи се характеризира с консерватизъм,
оставяйки малка възможност за нововъведения или промени, като запазва
стриктно описателните правила, отнасящи се до инвокации, ктитори, дати-
ране и упоменаване на владетели. Последният елемент, а именно отнасянето
към светската власт, е бил свързван с политическата принадлежност на кти-
торите и тяхното желание официално да получат покровителство и да бъдат
„облечени“ с титли и положение. Въпреки това, в контекста на отслабващата
централна власт, византийските и славянските ктитори в своите надписи се
стремят да подменят имената на официалните византийски, сръбски и бъл-
гарски владетели с имената на по-преки, местни господари. Независимо от
това, езикът и думите на посветителните надписи продължават да следват ус-
тановената гръцка/славянска традиция, замествайки само името на суверена.
Това са случаи на политически конформизъм, които могат да бъдат наблю-
давани само във времена на кризи, когато се сблъскват три владения (визан-
тийско, сръбско и българско). Тенденцията за подмяна на имената на визан-
тийските императори с тези на местни властници може да бъде проследена
в Сръбското кралство и Българското царство по времето на Стефан Душан и
Иван Александър. Там аристократи са използвали посветителните надписи,
за да популяризират своите владетели сред гръцкоговорещите общности.
По-късно същата схема е била използвана от наследниците на Душан, от не-
говия син Урош, от неговия полубрат Симеон и крал Вукашин, управляващи
различни части на Сръбското кралство и Византийската империя. Техните
имена стават отправна точка в посветителните надписи на местните гръцки
ктитори, подменящи упоменаванията на византийските власти. Това приема-
не на сръбските крале може да се е случило благодарение на двуетническите
и правни политики, насочени към интегрирането на гръцкото население под
сръбско управление.
След разпадането на Сръбското кралство, Македония, Тесалия и Епир стават
бойно поле на много от местните владетели с различен етнически произход.
Благородниците, като ктиторите на Мали град и на църквите в Монодендри,
се обръщат към по-висшестоящите от тях, за да легитимират своите титли и
322
благосъстояние.
Възможен компромис в лоялността към представителите на местната и цен-
тралната власт е упоменаването на двама суверени, т.е. на местния и визан-
тийския, в различните надписи към един и същи паметник. Тази стратегия
избира Димитриос Ксенос, намиращ се под властта на Паламеде Гатилузио,
който също така искал да укрепи своите културни и политически връзки с
Палеолозите.
Църковните власти, които разчитат на финансова подкрепа и военна защита
от местните владетели, пренебрегват низшия произход на албанските пред-
водители на кланове, които идват на власт в градските центрове след загубата
на Сърбия в битката при Марица (1371 г.). Имената на тези нови господари се
появяват в надписите, изписани по време на тяхната власт и ознаменуващи
единственото възможно управление.
През ХV в. на завладените от турците територии някои представители на пра-
вославната аристокрация стават турски спахии и кметове, запазвайки по този
начин своя статус, имущество и религия. В тази си позиция те имат възмож-
ност да възстановяват църква или да строят параклиси, но тяхното добруване
зависи от благосклоността на султана. Следователно тези представители на
дребната аристокрация приемат османското управление и имената на сул-
таните заемат мястото на някогашните християнски царе в консервативната
формула на посветителните надписи.
В заключение подчертавам важността на гръцкия език, бидейки балканска-
та lingua Franca в среда с етническо разнообразие. Също така посочвам как
може да бъде разпознат статутът на управника, ако името му е вплетено в
познатите за четящия формули, като подчертавам важността на царските
имена при отслужването на литургии. Въпреки това смятам, че припозна-
ването на местните владетели с византийските императори би могло да бъде
следствие от политически и икономически опортюнизъм, както и истинска
преданост и признание към властта и достойнствата на новите управници.
323
The Illustrated Slavonic Miscellanies
of Damascenes Studite’s Thesauros – a
New Context for Gospel Illustrations
in the Seventeenth Century
Elissaveta Moussakova1
Abstract: Looking at the older tradition of illustrating the South Slavonic Gos-
pel manuscripts, which was rather poor with regard to themes and iconography,
one becomes aware of the late adoption of a common narrative cycle, represent-
ing Christ’s life, miracles and parables in the so called damaskini. These seven-
teenth-century books with their miniatures, however simpliied and naïve, went
a long way towards extending the limited range of Gospel illustrations that had
dominated the artistic representations of the preceding decades and centuries.
Key words: damaskin, iconography, liturgy, miniature, Adzhar, Kostenets, Rila.
A survey of the extant illustrated South Slavonic Gospels predating

the ifteenth century amounts to a rather brief story. Except for the
Old Slavonic (Old Bulgarian) Glagolitic Codex Assemanianus2, the
1 Dr Elissaveta Moussakova, an art historian, and Professor at the Institute of Art Studies. She
teaches courses at the National Academy of Art and at St Kliment Ohridski University in Soia,
and works on Slavonic and Byzantine manuscript illumination, and on Cyrillic palaeography
and codicology.
2 Several illuminated initials in this manuscript form a kind of a narrative cycle refer-
ring to Christ’s miracles and parables: see Ivanova-Mavrodinova, Vera, Dzhurova, Aksiniya.
Асеманиевото евангелие. Старобългарски глаголически паметник от Х в. [Asemanievoto
evangelie. Starobalgarski glagolicheski pametnik ot X v.]. 1–2. Soia, 1981; Musakova, Elisaveta.
Илюстрираните глаголически евангелия [Ilyustriranite glagolicheski evangelia]. – Izkustvo/
325
Serbian Miroslav Gospel, a lectionary dating to ca 1180s3, and the
Bulgarian Gospels of Tsar Ivan Alexander of 13564, all remaining
Gospel books are adorned solely by portraits of the evangelists.
A similar situation persisted in the period between the ifteenth and
the end of the seventeenth century, when the conquered Balkans
were part of the Otoman Empire. None of the miniatures in the old
Gospels was ever repeated in the later manuscripts. A patern which
withstood the test of time was that of the headpiece, itself drawing
on Byzantine prototypes, featuring the image of the evangelist writ-
ing, as can be seen in the Gospels of Ivan Alexander and the Serbian
Patriarch Sava (1365–1375)5. This developed into a standardized, so-
called Kratovo headpiece6, which was widespread in the sixteenth-
and seventeenth-century Gospel manuscripts produced in the terri-
tories of present-day Bulgaria, Serbia and Macedonia. As to the full-
page portrait miniatures, for the most part, they were simpliied
replicas of distant Palaeologan and late Palaeologan models7. The
rare narrative cycle of (the second) Beočin Gospels8 only conirms
the rule. Therefore, the late appearance of miniatures treating New
Testament subjects, which had for many centuries been depicted
by both Western and Eastern Christian artists, could be seen as an
example of ‘border-crossing’ if manuscripts, lacking any pictorial
embellishment up to the seventeenth century, are considered.
Art in Bulgaria, 1996, No. 33–34, 6-12.

3 Several initials in this manuscript are pictorial; for the manuscript, see: Otašević, Dušan, Rakić,
Zoran, Špadjer, Irena (eds.). The World of Serbian Manuscripts (12th–17th Centuries). Belgrade,
2016, 234-240.
4 Filov, Bogdan. Les miniatures de l’Évangile du roi Jean Alexandre à Londres. Soia, 1934. The
illustrative cycles, exceptional even among the Byzantine illuminated Gospels, were most prob-
ably copied from the eleventh-century cod. Paris. gr. 74, see a recent (though not exhaustive)
summary of the discussion in Boeck, Elena. Displacing Byzantium, Disgracing Convention: The
Manuscript Patronage of Tsar Ivan Alexander of Bulgaria. – Manuscripta, 2007, No. 51/2, 5-6.
5 Otašević, Dušan, Rakić, Zoran, Špadjer, Irena (eds.). The World of Serbian Manuscripts, 282-286.
6 Named after priest Ioan of Kratovo, a prominent sixteenth-century copyist; their distinctive
feature is the adoption of certain Islamic ornaments in the frames around the images; for its
adoption see Kotseva, Elena. Украсата на българските ръкописи през ХV–ХVІІ век [Ukrasata
na balgarskite rakopisi prez XV–XVII vek]. In: Traditsiya i novi cherti v balgarskoto izkustvo.
Soia, 1976, 74-75.
7 Moussakova, Elissaveta. Late Medieval South Slavonic Illumination in the Byzantine Context. –
Art Studies Quarterly, 2017, No. 1, 35-44.
8 AD 1565/1567; one of the rare examples for such miniatures, see: Harisijadis, Mara. Мини-
jатуре и орнаменти Октоиха Р. 64 Градске библиотеки у Загребу [Minijature i ornamenti Ok-
toiha R. 64 Gradske biblioteke u Zagrebu]. – Zbornik za likovne umetnosti, 1968, No. 4, 283; see
Rakić, Zoran. Српска миниjатура ХVІ и ХVІІ века [Srpska minijatura XVI i XVII veka]. Belgrade,
2012, 116, 117, 205-210, ill. 27, 28, 55, 135.
326
The shift to a new kind of visuality is best demonstrated by the so-
called damaskini, Slavonic manuscripts which comprise or which are
based on Damascenes Studite’s Thesauros, a collection of moralizing
sermons writen in vernacular Greek. It was soon recognized as a
book suitable for preaching and, maybe later, for private reading,
as well as a stimulus for the difusion of the vernacular into ear-
ly-modern Bulgarian religious literature9. Its irst, so-called archaic
or Sredna-Gora translation, made in the second half/late-sixteenth
century in Church Slavonic, was revised in the same literary cen-
tre in the next century. From the revised version stemmed several
groups of the contemporary damaskini writen in the vernacular10.
The damaskini of the revised archaic group were among the most
richly illustrated manuscripts of the seventeenth century, even
though their pictures were of rather mediocre workmanship11. The
village of Adzhar (today Svezhen) in Sredna Gora, near Karlovo
is regarded as the main production centre for illustrated liturgical
books, and in particular of damaskini12. In 1686 the most prominent
Adzhar men of leters, the priest and daskal Nedyalko and his son
daskal Filip, signed the Adzhar Damaskin13 (Fig. 1). Daskal Nedyalko’s
handwriting has been identiied in the Kostenets Damaskin of the sec-
ond half of the seventeenth century14. On the basis of its script, or-
9 The sermons, read for the ‘edification of the people’, were composed for the whole calendar
cycle, see: Lavrov, Pavel. Дамаскин Студит и сборники его имя „дамаскины“ в южносло-
венской литературе [Damaskin Studit i sborniki ego imya “damaskiny” v yuzhnoslovenskoy
literatury]. Odessa, 1899; on the subject see also Petkanova, Donka. Дамаскините в българската
литература [Damaskinite v balgarskata literatura]. Sofia, 1965; Demina, Evgeniya. Тихонра-
вовский дамаскин. Болгарский памятник XVII в. Исследование и текст [Tikhonravovskiy
damaskin. Bolgarskiy pamyatnik XVII v. Issledovanie i tekst]. Т. 1-3. Sofia, 1968-1985; Mladenov,
Atanas, ik. Дамаскинските сборници в християнската проповед [Damaskinskite sbornitsi
v hristiyanskata propoved]. Veliko Tarnovo, 2003; Miltenova, Anisava (еd.). История на бъл-
гарската средновековна литература [Istoriya na balgarskata srednovekovna literatura]. Sofia,
2009, 729-740.
10 For a most recent textual analysis, re-examining the relations of the damaskini of the archaic
and vernacular versions see: Mladenova, Olga. Vernacularization of Bulgarian Literacy in the Se-
venteenth Century. – Canadian Slavonic Papers (forthcoming).
11 Single images decorate some of the damaskini of the New-Bulgarian (the vernacular) version.
12 See Doncheva-Panayotova, Nevyana. Аджарски книжовници-илюстратори от ХVІІ век
[Adzharski knizhovnitsi-ilyustratori ot XVII vek]. Soia, 2015, also Radoslavova, Dilyana. The
Scribal Centre of the Village of Adzhar in the 17th Century. New Data. – Scripta & e-Scripta, 2004,
No. 2, 291-309.
13 Saint-Petersburg, Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences cod. 24.4.32 (Sreznevskiy Coll.
No. 79).
14 Musakova, Elisaveta. Илюстрациите на два български дамаскина от ХVІІ век [Ilyustratsiite
na dva balgarski damaskina ot XVII vek]. – Izkustvo, 1983, No. 7, 28-34; Doncheva-Panayotova.
Аджарски книжовници [Adzharski knizhovnitsi], 58; cod. ЦИАИ 503, in the Church-Historical
327
Fig. 1. Adzhar Damaskin, The Fall of Man, f. 88r
328
nament and pictures, the contemporary Rila Damaskin has also been
atributed to both the father and the son15. Hereinafter the three
manuscripts will be referred to as A, K and R respectively.
Since Damascene’s sermons were composed to celebrate the most
important Christian holidays, the narrative cycles of illustrations in
the three damaskini rely on a well-established exegesis and icono-
graphical repertoire. Judging by their choice of subjects, the major-
ity of illustrations in K, A, and R, present the most basic ‘invento-
ry’ of headpiece- and full-page-miniatures illustrating Christ’s life,
his miracles and parables: Annunciation (R), Presentation (K, R),
Theophany (A, R), Healing of the Paralytic (Fig. 2), Healing of the
Blind Man (Fig. 3), Christ and the Samaritan Woman (Fig. 4) (A, K,
R), Transiguration, Raising of Lazarus, Entry to Jerusalem (A, R),
Cruciixion (A), Lamentation (A, R), Resurrection/The Harrowing
of Hell (A, R) (Fig. 5), Christ Appearing to Mary Magdalene (K, A)
(Fig. 6), Myrrhbearers (R) (Fig. 7), Incredulity of Thomas (Fig. 8) (A,
R), Ascension (R), Pentecost (A)16. Those scenes which are based on
Old Testament stories also follow established paterns (Fig. 1).
The artists, that is, the scribes themselves in all the three manu-
scripts, did not search for models in the older Slavonic or Byzan-
tine Gospel manuscript traditions, nor did they borrow from the
rich pictorial repertoire found in the Byzantine manuscripts of the
homilies of the Church Fathers, a genre to which the damaskini be-
long17. Instead, as generally happened with the late medieval South
and Archive Institute at the Bulgarian Patriarchate, see Hristova, Boryana, Darinka Karadzhova,
Anastasiya Ikonomova. Български ръкописи от XI до ХVІІІ век запазени в България. Своден
каталог [Balgarski rakopisi ot XI do XVIII vek zapazeni v Balgariya. Svoden katalog]. T. 1. Soia,
1982, 212, No. 584.
15 Doncheva-Panayotova. Аджарски книжовници [Adzharski knizhovnitsi], 83; her previous
conclusion favoured daskal Filip alone, Idem. Аджарски книжовници-илюстратори от ХVІІ
век [Adzharski knizhovnitsi-ilyustratori ot XVII vek]. Veliko Tarnovo, 1998, 48 (not quoted
further). The manuscript is kept in the Rila monastery library, cod. РМ 4/10. On criticism of
Doncheva-Panayotova’s opinion see Musakova. Илюстрациите [Ilyustratsiite], 34; Radoslavova.
The Scribal Centre, 303, though its atribution to the Sredna Gora – Adzhar group should not be
ignored.
16 Only Second Coming/Hetoimasia in A and Adam and Eve Expelled from Paradise in A and R
rely on other biblical sources. The saints’ images fall outside the scope of this paper.
17 In its content and rhetorical strategies Damascene’s Thesauros agrees in every respect with
the Byzantine tradition of the festal homilies; on the later see: Cunningham, Mary B. The Reading
of Sermons in Byzantine Churches and Monasteries. In: Angeliki Lymberopoulou (ed.). Images
of the Byzantine World: Visions, Messages and Meaning. Studies Presented to Leslie Brubaker.
Farnham, 2011, 85: ‘Another notable feature of the middle and late Byzantine homiletic tradition
is the preponderance of festal sermons that survived… the chief purpose of festal homilies is
329
Fig. 2. Kostenets Damaskin, Healing of the Paralytic, f. 149v
330
Slavonic illumination, the source is once more to be found in the
books printed for the Slavs in the sixteenth and seventeenth cen-
turies. Their woodcuts not only ofered a fusion of familiar imag-
es and a novel stylistics, but established reproduction and stand-
ardization as a valuable artistic device18. The most representative
were the editions of the Venetian printers, but other printing houses
in present-day Serbian, Romanian and Ukrainian towns and mo-
nasteries also supplied the manuscript illuminators with suitable
models19. In fact, the turning point at which narrative illustrations
appeared in the headpieces and full-page miniatures20 of the Ortho-
dox South Slavonic handwriten books for daily use in the service
and for private prayer – horologia, triodia, menaia, and octoechoi – was
the advent of South Slavonic early-printed books. In fulilling their
patriotic yearning to support the religious life and thus to raise the
national consciousness of the Orthodox people within and outside
the Otoman Empire21, the printers carefully selected iconographic
paterns22 from the post-Byzantine and the Creto-Venetian artistic
vocabulary. Easy to print, easy to grasp by the readers and expected
to appeal to them, these condensed pictures belong to the type of il-
to celebrate the day on which an event or holy person is commemorated. By the early eighth
century, the genre was fully formed, drawing its inspiration most noticeably from the great fes-
tal orations of Gregory of Naziansos… but also incorporating other elements.’ One may recall
the programmatic 19th canon of the Council in Trullo (A.D. 692): ‘It behoves those who preside
over the churches, every day but especially on Lord‘s days, to teach all the clergy and people
words of piety and of right religion, gathering out of holy Scripture meditations and determina-
tions of the truth, and not going beyond the limits now ixed, nor varying from the tradition of
the God-bearing fathers.’ (quoted from: Fathers of the Church, htp://www.newadvent.org/fa-
thers/3814.htm).
18 For prints as models for miniatures see: Kotseva. Украсата [Ukrasata], 74; Petković, Sreten.
Илустрациjе из штампаних књига као предлошци српским и бугарским минијатуристима
ХVІ–ХVІІ века [Ilustracije iz štampanih knjiga kao predlošci srpskim i bugarskim minijaturisti-
ma XVI–XVII veka]. In: Zorica Vitić, Tomislav, Jovanović, Irena Špadijer (eds.). Slovensko sredn-
jovekovno nasleđe. Beograd, 2001, 401-423.
19 Bianu, Jon, Nerva Hodoş. Bibliograia Românească veche (1508–1830). T. 1. Bucureşti,
1903; Medaković, Dejan. Графика српских штампаних књига XV–XVII века [Graika srpskih
štampanih knjiga XV–XVII veka]. Beograd, 1958; Pantić, Miroslav (ed.). Пет векова српског
штампарства. Раздобље српскословенске штампе XV–XVII век [Pet vekova srpskog štam-
parstva 1494–1994. Razdoblje srpskoslovenske štampe XV–XVII vek.] . Beograd, 1994; Petković.
Илустрациjе.
20 Kotseva. Украсата, 74-75.
21 For the complex incentives of Božidar Vuković’s printing activity see: Lasić, Мiroslav. Be-
tween Patriotism, Piety and Commerce: Motives for the Publishing Enterprise of Božidar Vuk-
ović. – Archeographical Papers, 2013, No. 35, 49-93.
22 Their iconography, unbiased towards the separation of Eastern and Western Churches, and
the revival of ‘syncretic iconographic models’ in a time of confessional controversy are comment-
ed by Kotseva. Украсата, 74, 69.
331
Fig. 3. Adzhar Damaskin, Healing of the Blind Man, f. 201r
332
Fig. 4. Kostenets Damaskin, Christ and Samaritan Woman, f. 159v
333
lustration Kurt Weizmann once named ‘liturgical’ or ‘lectionary’23.
While a number of miniatures in A represent faithful copies of the
illustrated Triodion-Pentecostarion printed by deacon Coresi in
Târgovişte (Romania) in 155824, the sources of the other two manu-
scripts are still not identiied. The two identical miniatures – Resur-
rection/The Harrowing of Hell and Myrrhbearers – in R and in the
Octoechos No. 64 of 1685 of the Public Library in Zagreb25 hint at
a common, possibly printed model (Fig. 9, 10). The origin of both
manuscripts remains uncertain, in spite of some suggestions of the
Lesnovo monastery as provenance for the Octoechos, and Adzhar
village for R. Their pictures, together with similarities of the orna-
ment and rendering of the igures, and, to some extent, of the script
and orthography, indicate a probable common place of origin, or
close contacts between the scribes. As to the images in K, rendered
in a naïve, not to say primitive, manner, it is evident that while their
artistic idiom is that of the prints, they do not depend on any par-
ticular model26.
Who were the beholders of these pictures of Christ’s life, drawn
23 Weizmann, Kurt. The Narrative and Liturgical Gospel Illustration. In: Merill M. Parvis and
Allen P. Wikgren (eds.). New Testament Studies. Chicago, 1950, 151-174.
24 Doncheva-Panayotova. Аджарски книжовници [Adzharski knizhovnitsi], 137; I would only
disagree with her statement that the Lamentation and Ascension miniatures in R ‘exactly re-
produce’ two of its prints. My gratitude is to Ralph Cleminson for his helpful remarks and for
turning my atention to the correct dating of the edition, registered in Bianu, Hodoş. Bibliograia
Românească, 31-43 as ‘c. 1550’; for recent references see for example Erich, Agnes. Arta orna-
mentală a tipăriturilor româneşti din secolul al XVI-lea. – Studii de Biblioteconomie şi Ştiinţa
Informării, 2003, No. 7, 92-93 [htp://www.lisr.ro/7-erich.pdf, accessed 15.10.2017].
25 Noted in my MA thesis (‘Украса на българските дамаскини от ХVІІ век [Ukrasa na balgar-
skite damaskini ot XVII vek], defended in 1981) but omited in Musakova. Илюстрациите, where
only the reference is given: Harisijadis. Mиниjaтуре, 282-296 + ill. 1–16; for the codex see also
Rakić. Српска миниjaтура, 292-294, il. 255-257.
26 No comments are known to me on whether the Greek editions of Thesauros or their hand-
writen copies had illustrations. On the title page of 1603 Venetian edition Christ and his proph-
ets are represented in a composition, following the patern of the Tree of Jesse, see Biblion seu
liber Thesaurus Sermonum dictus, htps://www.google.bg/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&-
source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjvjZjLy-_VAhUBMBQKHSrZBXcQFg-
g0MAI&url=htp%3A%2F%2Freader.digitale-sammlungen.de%2Fen%2Ffs1%2Fobject%2F-
display%2Fbsb10524526_00572.html&usg=AFQjCNGoInxvrC7ogWnnJdpAuulmPNMc3g
[accessed 03.08.2017]. The references to the editio princeps are sometimes contradictory, for ex-
ample Gerd, Lora. Дамаскин Студит [Damaskin Studit]. In: Pravoslavnaya entsiklopediya. T. 13.
Moscow, 2012, 698–699 [htp://www.pravenc.ru/text/168736.html, accessed 21.08.2017]; Goulet,
Richard. Cinq nouveaux fragments nominaux du traité de Porphyre “Contre les chrétiens”. –
Vigilae Christianae, 2010, No. 64, 140-159 (see p. 153-154, notes 31, 32) [htps://hal.archives-ou-
vertes.fr/halshs-00458046/document, accessed 21.08.2017] who counts about 15 editions, the lat-
est one from 1971 (repr. 1983), and points correctly to the earliest edition of 1557/8.
334
on the pages not of a Gospel but of a moralizing book of sermons?
The colophon in A (f. 219r) testiies to its donation to the church
of St Theodore Tyro in Panagyurishte by a group of ktetores who
bought the book from daskal Nedyalko27. Some scholars suggest that
the seventeenth-century damaskini of both archaic and vernacular
versions best ited a parochial use28 but we do not know whether
this illustrated copy was ever displayed, or whether its reading and
viewing remained a privilege of the priests. For the two other cop-
ies, R and K, there is no information about their commissioners or
purpose.
Even though unclear, the context of the viewer gives an idea about
the new dimensions of the impact on the beholder of the New Tes-
tament pictorial narration, especially if another feature of it is con-
sidered – the inclusion of explanatory inscriptions in the composi-
tions. While sporadically inserted in R and A, the inscriptions are
the most extensive in K, being developed into dialogues between
the protagonists (Christ and the Samaritan) or into a story retold
(Healing of the Paralytic, The Harrowing of Hell, Christ and Mary
Magdalene, Incredulity of Thomas). It is well known that the inter-
play between pictures and writen words of central importance to
the Christian understanding of images29. In our case the simplicity
of the images, which makes a sharp contrast with the author’s rich
and emotional rhetoric, is adequate to the intention of the sermons
in so far as their modernized language and the enlightening, edu-
cational purpose are born in mind. If the example of the Christ and
the Samaritan in K is taken, the respondent’s mind focusses on the
holiday, commemorating the event, by means of several excerpts
from the Gospel (John 4:6 – retold, and part of the verses in John 4:
29-30). The ‘mute image which could speak from the walls’ (after
Gregory of Nyssa) is literally made to speak and thus, without trig-
27 See the full text of the colophon in Doncheva-Panayotova. Аджарски книжовници, 158.
28 Radoslavova, Dilyana. Етрополският книжовен център: проблеми и перспективи на
изследванията [Etropolskiyat knizhoven tsentar: problemi i perspektivi na izsledvaniyata].
In: Etropolskata knizhovna shkola i balgarskiyat XVII vek. Soia, 2011, 73. Petkanova, Donka.
Народното четиво през ХVІ–ХVІІІ век [Narodnoto chetivo prez XVI–XVIII vek]. Soia, 1990,
7, presumes that the irst damaskini particularly, i.e. the archaic ones, were used for preaching in
church.
29 ‘Art and text are parallel streams of communication that create a dialog between what words
can describe and what a picture can show’, Brubaker, Leslie. Every Cliché in the Book: The Lin-
guistic Turn and the Text-Image Discourse in Byzantine Manuscripts. In: Liz James (ed.). Art and
Text in Byzantine Culture. Cambridge, 2007, 58 (as quoted in the review of Franziska E. Schlosser
in Bryn Mawr Classical Review, 2008. 02.12, htp://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2008/2008-02-12.html).
335
Fig. 5. Rila Damaskin, Harrowing the Hell, f. 177r
336
Fig. 6. Kostenets Damaskin, Christ Appearing to Mary Magdalene, f. 138r
337
Fig. 7. Rila Damaskin, Myrrhbearers, f. 212v
338
Fig. 8. Adzhar Damaskin, Incredulity of Thomas, f. 151r
339
gering a subtle exegesis but by echoing the voice of the preacher,
the explanatory inscriptions enhance the pictures’ sovereignty in
conirming of the ‘glorious good news about the Christ’30. The very
presence of texts to be read within and with the picture, certainly
not suitable for reading aloud to an audience, suggests the private
possession of K.
Such a situation, in which an imagery built on the Gospels narration
proved its efect through a moralizing book of sermons, became pos-
sible in a political atmosphere in which ecclesiastical igures sought
to defend the confessional identity of their Christian lock within
the Otoman Empire. This raising of consciousness, formed by po-
litical, social, economic, dogmatic, ecclesiological and other issues,
is too complicated a mater to be treated here. Instead, I would only
refer to the clash of views on defending the Christian self-identi-
ty. The Confession of Faith (1629) of the Ecumenical Patriarch Cyril
Lucaris, who sought the solution in reconciliation with the Calvin-
ist Protestant Church, inlamed a series of Church councils and or-
thodox, though also contradictory, expositions of faith. In 1638 the
Council in Constantinople condemned Lucaris and his Confession;
in 1640 Peter Mogila, Metropolitan of Kiev, wrote his Expositio idei,
endorsed, despite its Catholic tint, by the Council of Jassy (1642) at
which Lucaris was condemned once again. The Synod convened
by Dositheos II Notaras, Patriarch of Jerusalem in 1672, rejected
any further atempts at reformulation of Orthodox teachings and
strengthened Orthodox beliefs against both the Protestant Refor-
mation and Catholicism; Lucaris’ authorship of Confession was
contested as a Calvinist forgery31. One way towards achieving the
goals of the Orthodox church authorities was to enlighten both the
clergy and the congregation regarding the soteriological mission of
the Orthodox faith and teaching, and another, to regulate the every-
day service as a guarantee of righteous life, leading to salvation. In
this light, the illustrated damaskini, though looking like a humble
relative of the imposing decorative programs of certain sixteenth-
and seventeenth-century churches, make another true witness to
the aims and means of Orthodox Christian propaganda32. Never-
30 1 John 2:16.

31 This historical outline is compiled from various generalizing sources.
32 At that time it was less prompted by a fear of Islamisation than by the threat posed by the
vigorous Catholic and Protestant Churches, see, for example: Ribolov, Svetoslav. The Orthodox
340
theless, their impact should not be overestimated regarding their
limited number, concentration in one scribal centre, and probable
commission on special occasions.
The extent to which Orthodox scribes and artists forged an ap-
proach to liturgical texts that was simultaneously innovative and
archaizing is best witnessed by the Zagreb Octoechos and the Fes-
tal Menaion of daskal Philip33, both dating to the late seventeenth
century. They remain unique examples in the entire history of the
South Slavonic manuscript illumination. Here we ind an appropri-
ation by service books of a biblical illustrative cycle that suited their
purpose as tools for catechetical teaching and moral instruction.
The radical change of the ‘social status’ of the liturgical books and,
correspondingly, of their artistic atire, is relected by the execution
of some of them as deluxe copies. The transformation of what was
commonly an ordinary design into a mark of piety and prosperity
of donors (and owners) afected the damaskini as well, especially if,
along with the pictures, one takes into consideration the occasional
application of gold, as in the case of the illumination of R, and of
the Elena Damaskin, a manuscript whose quality of execution and
lavish decoration testify to considerable scribal and ornamental ex-
cellence34.
The manuscript illustrators rediscovered a repertoire of images that
had previously been only incidentally applied and only in the con-
text of Gospel books. They thereby sent a message directly afecting
the viewer35 who, whether priest or lay owner of a damaskin, was
Church in the Otoman Empire and its Perspectives for Theological Dialogue. – Occasional Pa-
pers on Religion in Eastern Europe, 2013, No. 33/2, 7–24 [htp://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/
cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1078&context=ree, accessed 25.09.2017].
33 Registered with inv. No 6252 in the Veliko Tarnovo Metropolitan library, now of unknown
location. For its full-page miniatures, illustrated headpieces and marginal miniatures, some of
which are of amusing profane character and others – still unsolved riddles, see Doncheva-Panay-
otova. Аджарски книжовници [Adzharski knizhovnitsi], 61-64.
34 НБКМ 1418, second quarter of the seventeenth century, Hristova, Boryana, Darinka Karadzho-
va, Nina Vutova. Опис на славянските ръкописи в Софийската народна библиотека [Opis na
slavyanskite rakopisi v Soiyskata narodna biblioteka]. T. 5. Soia, 1996, 131-139.
35 Daskal Filip, the author of the illustrations of A, revived the emphatic introductory zde, usual
for medieval miniatures, in the inscriptions in the Fall of Man; this corresponds to a similar use
of ubi in Latin inscriptions, for the semantics and function of which see Debiais, Vincent. Letering
Medieval Imagination. A Note on the Inscriptions and Images of Daniel Capital in San Pedro de
la Nave. In: Emmanuel Moutafov, Elena Erdeljan (eds.). Texts. Inscriptions. Images /Art Read-
ings. I.2016. Soia, 2017, 150-153. The scene in A is a part of a frieze composition representing the
Fall of Man.
341
Fig. 9. Zagreb Octoechos, Myrrhbearers, f. 86r
342
Fig. 10. Zagreb Octoechos, Harrowing the Hell, f. 72v
recognized by contemporary Church oicials as insuiciently lit-

erate. The reader was not expected to read through a sophisticated
visual interpretation of a literary work. Why later vernacular mis-
cellanies of sermons, which became so numerous over the course
of the 18th and 19th centuries, were not illuminated (with only one
exception), is therefore puzzling. However, this must be left as a
potential subject for further research.
343
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In: Etropolskata knizhovna shkola i balgarskiyat XVII vek.
Soia, 2011, 62-79.
Radoslavova, Dilyana. The Scribal Centre of the Village of
Adzhar in the 17th Century. New Data. – Scripta & e-Scripta,
2004, No. 2, 291-309.
Ribolov, Svetoslav. The Orthodox Church in the Otoman
Empire and its Perspectives for Theological Dialogue. – Oc-
casional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe, 2013, No.
33/2, 7-24.
Rakić, Zoran. Српска миниjатура ХVІ и ХVІІ века [Srpska
minijatura XVI i XVII veka]. Belgrade, 2012.
Weizmann, Kurt. The Narrative and Liturgical Gospel Illus-
tration. In: Merill M. Parvis and Allen P. Wikgren (eds.). New
Testament Studies. Chicago, 1950.
346
Илюстрираните славянски сборници,
съдържащи „Съкровище“ на Дамаскин Студит –
нов контекст за евангелските илюстрации през
ХVІІ век
Елисавета Мусакова
Славянските ръкописи, широко известни като дамаскини, съдържат превод-

ния текст на „Съкровище“ (1558), сборник от поучителни проповеди, съста-
вен от Дамаскин Студит и написан на говоримия гръцки език. Неговото съчи-
нение се оказва изключително продуктивна литературна форма за поучение
и катехетично образование както на „простия народ“, така и на не особено
грамотното свещеничество, както се вижда от запазените преводи и прера-
ботки на съчинението от втората половина/края на ХVІ в. и през ХVІІ в. и
от по-късните сборници с прибавени други слова към само част от дамаски-
новите. Дамаскините бележат явление, специфично за българската литера-
турна традиция, като особено важна е ролята на дамаскинската проповед за
модернизирането на езика и въвеждането на новобългарския в религиозната
литература. Ръкописите, съдържащи преработката на първоначалния, т.нар.
архаичен превод, които са преписвани в Аджарското книжовно средище към
края на ХVІІ в., представят най-богато илюстрираните ръкописи от епохата –
дамаскини, наред с други богослужебни книги. На фона на сравнително огра-
ничения иконографски репертоар на ръкописното южнославянско Евангелие
до края на ХІV в., а и по-късно, илюстрирането на дамаскините със сцени,
типични за украсата на евангелия във византийската традиция, е разгледано
като пример за „преминаване на границите“. Изработени без особено май-
сторство, миниатюрите в Аджарския, Костенечкия и Рилския дамаскин (по-
следният с несигурен, но възможен средногорски произход), следват модели,
вече зададени в славянските първопечатни книги. Именно там започва илю-
стрирането с евангелски теми на книгите за ежедневно богослужение, чието
изработване и разпространение от страна на печатарите е подтикнато от же-
ланието им да спомогнат за засилването на националното самосъзнание на
православните християни в Отоманската империя и извън нея. Дамаскините
се появяват в сложния политически, икономически и верски контекст на уси-
леното съперничество между православието, протестантството (калвинизма)
и католицизма през ХVІІ в., така че освен текстовете, техните опростени илюс-
трации – в някои случаи съпроводени с обяснителни текстове, са подходящо
средство, служещо на православната пропаганда. Авторът обръща внимание,
347
че въпреки казаното, ролята на илюстрираните дамаскини не бива да се пре-
увеличава, тъй като техният брой не е голям и вероятно са били поръчвани
по специални поводи, а също и поради факта, че през следващите два века
внушителният брой сборници със смесено съдържание от дамаскински тип,
остават – с едно изключение – отново без украса.
348
Jovan Četirević Grabovan –
an 18th Century Itinerant Orthodox
Painter. Some Ethnic and Artistic
Considerations
Aleksandra Kučeković1
University of Arts, Faculty of Fine Arts, Belgrade
Abstract: The paper presents new insights into some ethnic and artistic circum-
stances in the life and work of painter Jovan Četirević Grabovan in Slavonia and
northern Croatia during the last quarter of the 18th century. His probable origin
as an Aromanian from what is now eastern Albania can be seen as crucial for the
development of his business connections, due to extensive, mainly trade-related,
migrations of his fellow countrymen to the southern provinces of the Habsburg
Monarchy. Their signiicant inancial and consequently cultural inluence in the
Orthodox communities of the region greatly contributed to Četirević’s success and,
to some extent, determined the iconographic and stylistic traits of his painting.
Key words: Jovan Četirević Grabovan, Aromani, Serbian religious painting – 18th
century.
The biography and extensive Balkan and East European travels of

painter Jovan Četirević (Çetiri) from Grabova in eastern Albania
have atracted the atention of researchers since the beginning of the
1 Aleksandra Kučeković is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Arts
and a lecturer at the Academy of Serbian Orthodox Church for Arts and Conservation in Bel-
grade; a member of the Board of the Department of Fine Arts of Matica srpska in Novi Sad; a
scholar of Serbian early modern and modern religious painting, with a special focus on the art of
Slavonia and northern Croatia.
349
Fig. 1. Dedicatory inscription with the name of painter Jovan Četirević from the iconostasis in
Velike Sredice (Northern Croatia), 1780
20th century2. This scholarly interest is probably in part the result of

the many and far-reaching journeys undertaken by this artist during
the 18th century – modern Albanian, Bulgarian, Hungarian and Ser-
bian scholars alike have posed questions as to his ethnic origins, his
artistic training and the iconographic characteristics of his painted
works3. They have also investigated the ways in which Četirević
established his connections in Orthodox communities in this wide,
culturally and confessionally disparate, European region4. In spite
of the signiicant amount of pioneering research that has been gen-
erated on this painter’s life and work, this essay argues for the ne-
cessity of a fresh outlook, which would move beyond the “national”
2 For the latest survey of known biographical data about Četirević, with extensive references to
older research and previously unpublished archival sources see Todić, Branislav. Srpski slikari od
14 do 18 veka. Novi Sad, 2013, Vol. 1, 281-291.
3 Bogdanović, Lazar. Srbi slikari. Jovan Četirević-Grabovan ili Jovan Čatir-Grabovan. – Srp-
ski Sion, 1900, No. 10, 553-554; Kašić, Dušan. Jovan Četirević Grabovan srpski slikar 18 veka.
– Glasnik Srpske pravoslavne crkve, 1955, No. 36, 85-87; Popa, Theofan. Piktorët mesjetarë shqip-
tarë. Tiranë, 1961, 105-119; Jovanović, Miodrag. Jovan Četirević Grabovan. – Recherches sur l’art,
1965, No. 1, 199-222; Šelmić, Leposava. Jovan Četirević Grabovan. In: Majstori prelaznog perioda
srpskog slikarstva 18. veka. Novi Sad, 1981, 24-30; Nagy, Marta. Ortodox ikonostázionok Mag-
yarországon. Budapest, 1994, 150-151; Moutafov, Emmanuel. Ioannes Tsetiris from Grabovo or
Jovan Četirević Grabovan? – Ζητήματα μεταβυζαντινής ζωγραφικής στη μνήμη του Μανόλη
Χατζηδάκη, Athens, 2002, 217-228; Kučeković, Aleksandra. Ikonostas Jovana Četirevića Grabova-
na u Orahovici. – Receuil du Museé national à Belgrade, 2004, No. 17/2, 178-200; Todić, Branislav.
Skica za portret Jovana Četirevića Grabovana. In: Radovi o srpskoj umetnosti i umetnicima 18
veka: po arhivskim i drugim podacima. Novi Sad, 2010, 355-389; Ševo, Ljiljana. Crkva Rođenja
Svetog Jovana Preteče u Stonom Beogradu. Banja Luka, 2011, 99-122.
4 Jovanović. Jovan Četirević Grabovan, 201-202; Moutafov. Ioannes Tsetiris from Grabovo, 223-
225; Todić. Skica za portret, 360-365; Ševo. Crkva Rođenja Svetog Jovana Preteče, 25-26, 30-31.
350
Fig. 2. Signature of Jovan Četir(ević) on the despotic icon of Christ on the iconostasis
in Veliki Poganac (Northern Croatia), 1779
approaches that have hitherto dominated Četirević scholarship. It

proposes a new line of investigation, which takes into consideration
the “channels” through which the artist moved, and which – the
present essay posits – were determined mainly by contemporary
confessional and ethnic circumstances.
Četirević (Četirevič), the Serbianised variant of his last name that
he probably coined himself 5, left much information about his own
life and work, mainly in surviving inscriptions on icons and iconos-
tases he painted (Figs. 1, 2), and in biographical notes he wrote on
the margins of the manuscript copy of his painter’s manual – the
Hermeneia Zographikes6. However, entirely in keeping with the
custom among Balkan Orthodox Christians in the 18th century of
not specifying one’s ethnicity, Četirević never made any mention
of his ethnic or national ailiation7. On several occasions in his in-
scriptions he explained his origins mainly in geographic (“from the
town of Grabova” or “now an inhabitant of Osijek”), and, more im-
portantly, in confessional and church jurisdictional terms. In 1775,
on the iconostasis in the church in Orahovica in Slavonia, he stated
5 Četirević left several variants of his surname written and/or painted in Church-Slavonic:
четиринги, четиръ, чатиръ, цатиръ, четирлевичъ, четиревичъ. For variants he wrote in Greek
also see Todić. Skica za portret, 358.
6 Jovanović. Jovan Četirević Grabovan, 200-209; Todić, Skica za portret, 355-389. It needs to be
stressed that Četirević’s painter’s manual is writen in Greek. The biographical notes he wrote
on its margins are almost entirely in Greek language too, as cited and commented by Moutafov.
Ioannes Tsetiris from Grabovo, 218-221. Greek was the language of “daily use” of the Aromani in
the south of Balkans; their mother tongue was not writen during the 18th century. Nandriş, John.
The Social Being of the Aromâni; the Vlahs of the Balkans and their Predilection for the Book.
In: Travaux de symposium international le livre. La Roumanie. L’Europe, Tome 4: la quatrième
section: Latinite Orientale, Bucharest, 2010, 15; cf. Zef, Mirdita. Vlasi, polinomičan narod. –
Povijesni prilozi, 2007, 33, 263-264.
7 Popović, Dušan J. O Cincarima: prilozi pitanju postanka našeg građanskog društva. Belgrade,
1937, 15.
351
that he was born in the “Ochrid Eparchy”8. Confessional ailiation
as “Christians” was the dominant mode of group self-identiication
among Četirević’s countrymen who found themselves scatered
over the wide territories of the Otoman Balkans and Habsburg
Monarchy9. Although not conclusively, it can be proposed that
Jovan Četirević was ethnic Aromanian (Vlach or Tsintsar)10. Some
recent linguistic and ethnological researches of his native village
strongly suggest that it was almost exclusively inhabited by Aro-
mani until the third quarter of the 18th century11. The migrations of
Grabovans, as well as of other “Christians” from towns and villages
in the area of Moschopolis, Elbasan and Korçe, and their subsequent
setlement in the Habsburg Monarchy, would decisively determine
Četirević’s sojourns in the second half of the 18th century.
The nature of Četirević’s early travels after 1736, before the inal
setlement in Osijek in Slavonia, probably in 177112, makes it likely
that he planned to lead a life typical of an 18th century enterprising
Aromanian professional: taking long and distant trips in search of
work, and making intermitent visits to his family back in his native
village. The trading networks of his fellow countrymen established
in the Balkans and in Eastern and Central Europe opened channels
for his connections, engagements and further recommendations.
Unfortunately, this irst part of Četirević’s professional life, marked
mainly by his travels to Wallachia and Moldavia and by his returns
to native Grabova, remains largely unknown. It is worth noting
that his inal crossing to the Habsburg lands came in 1769, when
8 Jovanović. Jovan Četirević Grabovan, 204; Todić. Skica za portret, 358.

9 Davidov, Dinko. Kult svetog Nauma u Budimskoj eparhiji. In: Spomenici Budimske eparhi-
je. Belgrade, 1990, 165; cf. Moutafov. Ioannes Tsetiris from Grabovo, 228. The phenomenon was
described by Cvetan Grozdanov as “a kind of diocesan patriotism”. Grozdanov, Cvetan. Portreti
na svetitelite od Makedonija od IX–XVIII vek. Skopje, 2016, 229-230; cf. Zef. Vlasi, polinomičan
narod, 262-263.
10 The arguments for his Greek ethnicity were elaborated by Moutafov. Ioannes Tsetiris from
Grabovo, 217, 227. Later considerations, mostly due to exploration of Četirević’s associations
after his setlement in Osijek, speak in favour of his Aromanian ethnicity. Todić. Skica za portret,
359.
11 Bardu, Nistor. La aromânii din localitatea Grabova (Graeva) din Albania. Observaţii socio-
lingvistice. In: Distorsionâri in comunicarea linguistică, literară si etnofolclorică romanescă si
contextual European, Section lingvistică. Bucharest, 2009, 17-27; Kocój, Eva. Artifacts of the Past
and Traces of Memory. The Aromanian Cultural Heritage in the Balkans. – Res Historica, 2016,
No. 41, 167, 189.
12 Todić. Skica za portret, 364.
352
he brought his whole fam-
ily to Novi Sad13, and that
this move coincided with
the irst sack of Moschopolis
by the Turks, an event that
traumatized and scatered
its Aromanian inhabitants
and immediately thereafter
acquired the aura of their na-
tional doomsday14.
The role of Aromanian trad-
ers and their families in the
establishment and subse-
quent economic strength of
the Orthodox community in
Osijek in eastern Slavonia
(Croatia) during the 18th cen-
tury is well documented15.
They were the main inancial
contributors to the building
and decoration of the Ortho-
dox church of the Assump-
tion of the Virgin in Osijek’s
lower town, built after 1756.
It was one of the irst ba-
roque Orthodox churches
in Slavonia and for a short
time the cathedral of the Pa-
krac-Slavonian Bishopric16.
The iconostasis in the church
was painted in 1761 by Janko
Halkozović (or Halkozo, as Fig. 3. Jovan Četirević, Pentecost,
his surname also appears in Orahovica (Slavonia), 1774/5
13 Todić. Skica za portret, 361-364.

14 Popović. O Cincarima, 66; cf. Bardu. La aromânii din localitatea Grabova, 21.
15 Bösendorfer, Josip. Pravoslavni elemenat kao sekundarni faktor u oblikovanju građanskog
staleža u Osijeku. – Osječki zbornik, 1948, No. 1-3, 48-126; Todić. Skica za portret, 357-360.
16 Kučeković, Aleksandra. Umetnost Pakračko-slavonske eparhije u 18 veku. Belgrade, 2014, 26-
27.
353
Fig. 5. Christoph Weigel, Baptism of Christ, Biblia
Ectypa. Bildnußen auß Heiliger Schrift deß Alt- und
Neuen Testaments. Augsburg 1695
Fig. 4. Jovan Četirević, Baptism of Christ,
Orahovica (Slavonia), 1774/5
sources), probably another Aromanian. Četirević came to Osijek a

decade later, following his stay in Novi Sad, where Halkozović per-
manently resided17. Family ties caused Četirević’s relocation, since
his brother Anastas, a trader in “Austrian goods”, bought a house in
17 Šelmić, Leposava. Janko Halkozović. In: Majstori prelaznog perioda srpskog slikarstva XVIII
veka, 80; cf. Todić. Srpski slikari, vol. 1, 231-237.
354
Osijek in 176518. Četirević’s irst big engagement, the painting of the
iconostasis (Figs. 3, 4), choirs and the bishop’s throne in the church
of the Virgin in the Slavonian town and trading post of Orahovica,
probably came as a result of the acquaintances and connections he
made after setling in Osijek.
The largest Orthodox monastery in the region – Orahovica (Fig.
6), also had important ties to, and even property in, Osijek19. The
parochial church in Orahovica was under the monastery’s jurisdic-
tion, and Četirević mentioned the hegoumenos’ name in the inscrip-
tion on the iconostasis20. But, more importantly, archival sources al-
low us to appreciate the inluence of the Orthodox traders from his
homeland in the Orahovica parish proper. Četirević’s inscription
on the iconostasis stated the name of the church tutor – Konstantin
Dimčović. In the list of “Turkish” merchants in Virovitica County,
issued by the Habsburg customs in 1777, he was registered as Kosta
Dimčovič, a merchant born in Moschopolis21. Another merchant
from Moschopolis, named only as Georgije, was probably a major
inancial contributor to the church building in Orahovica, since he
earned the honour to be buried by the western portal in the narthex
when he died in 177722. As to Četirević himself, after inishing the
job in Orahovica in 1775, he started working on a series of iconos-
tases in northern Croatia, irst in the Lepavina Monastery, then on
iconostases in villages with strong Orthodox communities in the
regions of Koprivnica, Križevci and Bjelovar in northern Croatia,
where he worked until 1785. Koprivnica was an important des-
tination for Orthodox setlers since the 17th century23. During the
18th century their number increased; in contemporary sources they
were registered as “Greek” (Graccum) merchants of diferent eth-
nic provenance24. The Orthodox population of Koprivnica was ob-

19 Kučeković. Umetnost Pakračko-slavonske eparhije, 71.
20 íàïèñàñќ с∙е темпло златарство ¶ ∙кw(íè) при игумену ма¿¶му попвичу и при туторомъ господ константин
димчович. тру(д) же ¶wана четиревич грабованъ, родом же wт епарх¶1 wхридцкои wт вароша грабово н∙нý
же жител ос1чк1 мŤсца мŤрт 1775 лýта. Jovanović. Jovan Četirević Grabovan, 204; cited after: Todić.
Srpski slikari, Vol. 1, 284. (Some corrections in the Old-Church-Slavonic text, re-cited here, were
made by Emmanuel Moutafov in his capacity of an editor for this volume.)
21 Gavrilović, Slavko. Prilog istoriji trgovine i migracije Balkan – Podunavlje 18 i 19 stoleća. Bel-
grade, 1969, 5, 266, 272-275.
23 Petrić, Hrvoje. Koprivnica u 17. stoljeću. Samobor, 2008, 178-179.
24 Petrić. Koprivnica, 179.
355
structed in their eforts to erect a church in the city centre for most of
the 18th century, and only managed to obtain permission and build
the church in 1791–179425. Preserved documents concerning the
plights to the state authorities of the “Greek” merchants from the
trading town of Križevci show that in the mean time they were us-
ing the church in the nearby village of Vojakovac, where Četirević
had painted the iconostasis in 178226. The trading town of Slatina in
Slavonia was also a hub for Orthodox merchants from the southern
Balkans. Četirević painted the iconostasis there, probably also due
to the fact that his countrymen from Moschopolis were the most nu-
merous traders in this town. Indeed, it is possible to ind evidence
of the setlement of merchants from his native Grabova in the near-
by small town of Voćin27. We can estimate their inluence among
the Orthodox in Slatina and the surrounding region by Četirević’s
inscription on the iconostasis of the church – after a long series of
inscriptions in Church-Slavonic and in the Cyrillic script, here he
reverts to Greek, stating his profession and residence in Osijek28.
It seems that this situation was a result of a favourable atitude
of Habsburg authorities towards the setlement of “Turkish” or
“Greek” merchants, as they were denoted in contemporary docu-
ments, in Slavonia and northern Croatia during the 18th century29.
The economy of this region was not stable and trade was particular-
ly underdeveloped. The social class of merchants was weaker than
in other parts of the Monarchy inhabited by Orthodox population30.
In many market towns of the region “Turkish” merchants were the
only people practicing a trading profession31. As archival sourc-
25 Gavrilović. Prilog istoriji trgovine, 83-90; cf. Kučeković. Umetnost Pakračko-slavonske eparhije,
71-72.
26 Gavrilović. Prilog istoriji trgovine, 94-95. About the iconostasis in Vojakovac see Todić. Skica za
portret, 373; cf. Todić. Srpski slikari, Vol. 1, 287-288 and Kučeković. Umetnost Pakračko-slavonske
eparhije, 278.
27 Gavrilović. Prilog istoriji trgovine, 266, 274-276.
28 The inscription was writen in Greek language but in Cyrillic script: кvр (probably χείρ) Iwанну
чатир грабовану ис(т)ориографу ек полеос осеке 1785. Jovanović. Jovan Četirević Grabovan, 209. Unfor-
tunately, its characteristics could not be veriied because the entire iconostasis was destroyed in
the Second World War; cited after: Todić. Srpski slikari, Vol. 1, 288.
29 The common terms denoting Orthodox traders from Otoman dominions, used by Habsburg
administration during the 18th century, were: Graeci quaestores, Graeci, Graccum, Griechiche
Handelsleute, turcici quaestores, turcici negotiatores, Türkische Handelsleute. Gavrilović. Prilog
istoriji trgovine, 5.
30 Popović. O Cincarima, 78-79; cf. Gavrilović. Prilog istoriji trgovine, 48.
31 Gavrilović. Prilog istoriji trgovine, 48.
356
Fig. 6. Orahovica monastery church (Slavonia), second half of the 16th century
es show, the large majority of them were, from the beginning of

the century, migrating primarily from Moschopolis, but also from
Kozani, Grabova, Sipiska and other villages inhabited by Aromani32.
They created small but tight-knit colonies, and their ierce commit-
ment to Orthodoxy was, in many cases, the driving force behind the
prosperity of the Orthodox Church municipalities throughout the
region. Although many of them were of Aromanian ethnicity, in the
Habsburg Monarchy during the 18th century they were subjected to
32 Popović. O Cincarima, 23.
357
Fig. 7. Holy Virgin with angels and saints, Orahovica monastery, irst half of the 16th century
(left wing repainted by Jovan Četirević)
intensive assimilation into the Serbian majority and the jurisdiction

of Serbian Orthodox Church, i.e. the Metropolis of Karlovci33.
Inscriptions in the Greek language found on icons painted by Jo-
van Četirević can be considered indicators of his Aromanian (or in-
deed Greek) countrymen living in Slavonia and northern Croatia,
and of their roles as patrons or purchasers of his works. It is worth
noting that most of his painted inscriptions in Greek can be found
on portable icons, probably largely originating from the sphere of
private devotion34. Another indicator of Četirević’s Aromanian cli-
entele could be the choice of particular saints that he painted, whose
cults were strong among the Aromanians in the South Balkans, and
particularly in the Archbishopric of Ochrid. Unfortunately, many
33 Davidov. Kult svetog Nauma, 165-167.

34 The full list of Četirević’s surviving portable icons is yet to be compiled. One of those with
Greek inscriptions, representing the Coronation of the Virgin, belongs now to the Orthodox
Church in Hungarian town of Miskolc, where the inluence of the Orthodox population from
the Southern Balkans (including Aromani) was very prominent during the second half of the
18th century. Četirević signed it: X(ε)ιρ δε Іωάνου Γραμποβάνου 1773, as cited by Todić. Srpski
slikari, 1, 290; cf. Nagy, Marta. A magyarországi görög diaszpóra egyházmüvészeti emlékei 1.
Iknok, ikonostázionok, Debrecen, 1998, 123-125.
358
Fig. 8. Jovan Četirević, Virgin Kykotissa with Archangel Michael and Saints Athanasius and
Naum the Miracle Worker, Orahovica monastery (Slavonia), around 1775
of them are now lost and known only indirectly through earlier de-
scriptions or photographs. In 1777, Četirević painted the vita icon
of St Jovan Vladimir with Greek inscriptions. It has been suggested
that the icon was probably done for one of his countrymen from
the vicinity of Elbasan or the Ardenica Monastery, where the saint’s
relics were venerated35. The cult of St Jovan Vladimir was strength-
35 Until the Second World War the icon was in the possession of the Serbian Orthodox church in
Virovitica in central Slavonia. Todić. Skica za portret, 370; Pavlović, Leontije. Kultovi lica kod Srba
359
ened among the Orthodox population in the Habsburg Monarchy
when Hristofor Žefarović included the saint’s image in Serbian
Stematographia, in 174136. A year later, in Vienna, Žefarović made
a separate graphic vita icon of St Jovan Vladimir that might have
been known to, and used by, Jovan Četirević37. The famous Arden-
ica Monastery vita icon of the saint painted by Constantine in 1739
could also have been the model for Četirević’s painting in Slavonia38.
Another lost icon of Četirević but fortunately known from photo-
graphs, belonged to the Orahovica Monastery. The popular Virgin
Kykotissa was represented together with three-quarter igures of
saints Michael, Athanasios and Naum of Ochrid with Church-Sla-
vonic inscriptions (Fig. 8). But, the well-known text on the scroll
in Christ’s right hand (Is. 61,1; Luc. 4,18) was writen in Greek39,
reinforcing the transfer of thaumaturgic potential of the Athonite
original. As far as we know, this is the only baroque version of the
Kykotissa known from Slavonia and northern Croatia from the 18th
century40. The selection of saints accompanying the Virgin, especial-
ly St Naum, strongly indicates the patron of the icon as yet another
from Četirević’s homeland41. His high reputation in the Orahovica
Monastery may be the reason why the brethren entrusted him with
the repainting of the left wing on the inner side of the triptych icon
depicting Virgin with saints and Serbian Sts Simeon and Sava (Fig.
7), dating from the irst half of the 16th century, and probably origi-
i Makedonaca: (istorijsko-etnografska rasprava). Smederevo, 1965, 33-41; Đekić, Đorđe, Živanov,

Dragojla. Kult Svetog kralja Jovana Vladimira u Karlovačkoj mitropoliji. – Communications,
2016, No. 48, 275-290.
36 Žefarović, Hristofor. Σтематографїа… [или] Избраженїе оружїі Иллирíческихь / аυторомь
Паυломъ Рíттеромъ Вʹ дїалектѣ Латíнскомъ изданное На свѣтъ… На Славено Сербскїі Язıкъ
Преведенное..., Vienna 1741, 8.
37 Davidov, Dinko. Srpska graika 18. veka. Novi Sad, 1978, 259-260, ill. 34; cf. Đekić, Živanov.
Kult Svetog kralja Jovana Vladimira, 282-283.
38 Drakopoulou, Eugenia. Catalogue (Saint John Vladimir and Scenes from his Life). In: Anasta-
sia Tourta (ed.). Icons from the Orthodox Communities of Albania. Thessaloniki, 2006, 136-144;
Grozdanov. Portreti na svetitelite, 241-248.
39 Borčić, Vera. Zbirka ikona odjela Srba u Hrvatskoj. Zagreb, 1974, 68, cat. No. 240; ill. 28.
40 Četirević’s version adheres to the famous Axion Estin from Protaton on Mount Athos, i.e.
the image beneath the actual ornate plaque on the icon dating from 1863, beter known by nu-
merous 18th and 19th century prints. Tatić-Đurić, Mirjana. Ikona Bogorodice Kikotise. In: Studije o
Bogorodici. Belgrade, 2007, 429-442; cf. Tsigaridas, Evthimios N. L’icone de la Vierge Axion Estin
du Protaton et ses copies. – Receuil des travaux le l’Institut d’etudes byzantines, 2007, No. 44,
341-353.
41 Davidov. Kult svetog Nauma, 170-176.
360
Fig. 9. Jovan
Četirević,
Saint John the
Forerunner,
despotic
icon on the
iconostasis in
Veliki Poganac
(Northern
Croatia), 1779
361
nating from the Chilandariou Monastery42.
The pre-eminence of Jovan Četirević as a painter favoured by the
Orthodox communities in Slavonia and northern Croatia in the last
quarter of the 18th century was facilitated by connections he made
along ethnic and confessional lines, as was probably the case also
with his occasional travels and works in Hungary43. But, his entre-
preneurial spirit greatly contributed to this status – he, with his col-
laborators, ofered a full service to his clientele – complete painting
of the icons and decorative painting of the iconostasis and church
furniture, and we know that he employed a wood carver as well44.
Somewhat traditional iconographic features of his iconostases and
his distinctive style, due to his initial training in the Greek tradition,
also contributed to his popularity among the Orthodox population
in the areas constantly under pressure to yield to the Church Union45.
Četirević’s works can be seen as a sort of counterweight to elaborate
baroque schemes introduced into this territory by Ukrainian painter
Vasilij Romanovich in the mid-18th century46. However, the two had
an important common feature – the extensive use of Biblia Ectypa
of Christoph Weigel47. It is known that Jovan Četirević had his own
copy of this famous volume, and relied heavily on its illustrations
(Figs. 4, 5)48. We can not tell for certain where or when Četirević
acquired an Ectypa copy – his four-year “Moscovite” sojourn (1746-
50), undertaken in order “to study painting”, might be considered
pivotal for his adoption of the Western baroque iconographic tem-
plates. He probably went to Kiev Pechersk Lavra49. Painters educat-
ed here favoured the Ectypa50. Some preliminary assumptions, yet
42 The triptych was one of the most prized possessions of the monastery in the 18th century and
permanently displayed in front of the iconostasis. Kučeković, Aleksandra. Manastir Orahovica u
Slavoniji. Zagreb, 2007, 140-143, ill. 68.
43 Todić. Skica za portret, 365-366, 369-370; Ševo. Crkva Rođenja Svetog Jovana Preteče, 25-26,
30-31.
44 Kučeković. Umetnost Pakračko-slavonske eparhije, 150-152.
46 Kučeković. Umetnost Pakračko-slavonske eparhije, 258-271; Kučeković, Aleksandra. Vasilije
Romanović – još jedan ikonostas u Slavoniji. – Receuil du Museé national à Belgrade, 2016, No.
22/2, 178-200.
47 Stošić, Ljiljana. Zapadnoevropska graika kao predložak srpskom slikarstvu XVIII veka. Bel-
grade, 1992, 38-52.
48 Kučeković. Umetnost Pakračko-slavonske eparhije, 273-274, 281-284.
50 Stošić, Zapadnoevropska graika, 38-40.
362
to be conirmed, about Četirević’s subsequent travel to Moldavia
and work in the town of Roman in 1755, suggest that he might have
started using the Ectypa graphic illustrations very early on in his
career51.
As far as we know, Jovan Četirević was the most sought after paint-
er from the south of the Balkans in the Orthodox communities in
Slavonia and northern Croatia in the second half of the 18th centu-
ry. He developed a successful career, even a kind of monopoly. At
what point his career came to an end is still not precisely known,
but he probably died sometime after his last recorded iconostasis in
Kula in Bačka in 1787 (aged around 70)52. No reliable clues as to his
activity after this date exist, although there have been suggestions
that he returned to Albania and worked there for another quarter
of a century53. The painter Jovan Cetiri from Grabova, whose works
date from the last two decades of the 18th century, is almost certainly
the namesake of our Četirević. He may even be a member of his ex-
tended family, which produced several painters in the 18th and 19th
centuries54. He developed his painting style with more pronounced
post-Byzantine features and less contact with the contemporary ba-
roque stylistic tendencies characteristic of Orthodox painters active
in the Habsburg Monarchy55. The comparison of some of the best
works of Jovan Četirević (Fig. 9) and those of his later namesake
make this quite clear. Jovan Četirević’s two sons were also active as
painters in Slavonia, but neither was as successful as their father –
Nikolas is recorded working in their resident city of Osijek up until
1824, and Constantine was probably the one who was favoured by
his father and who inherited his business connections, along with
his precious copy of Biblia Ectypa56.
51 Sabados, Marina I. Catedrala Episcopieì Romanului, Roman, 1990, 104-106.

53 Moutafov. Ioannes Tsetiris from Grabovo, 225.
55 Tourta (ed.). Icons from the Orthodox Communities of Albania, 184-191.
56 Gavrilović, Slavko. Ispisi iz stare arhive srpske crkvene opštine u Oseku (18-19 vek). – Receuil
des travaux sur les Serbes en Croatie, 2009, No. 7, 458; Todić. Skica za portret, 376-377; cf. Todić,
Srpski slikari, Vol. 1, 299.
363
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Photo credits
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366
Йован Четиревич Грабован –
един пътуващ зограф от ХVIII век.
Етнически и художествени значения
Александра Кучекович
Пресичащата културните граници значимост на живота и творчеството

на зографа Йован Четиревич Грабован в изследването на художествените
взаимодействия на Балканите и в Централноевропейския район от втората
половина на ХVIII век е заявена още от началото на ХХ век с вниманието,
което получава в научни изследвания на международно ниво. Макар че
той е задълбочено изследван, един съвременен поглед върху етническите и
религиозните обстоятелства в творческото му развитие в Славония и Северна
Хърватия в последната четвърт на XVIII век разкрива нова информация,
свързана с неговите връзки и „канали“, по които той се е придвижвал. По
презумпция арумънският му произход е смятан за един от ключовите фактори
на неговия успех като предпочитан зограф в православните общности на
Славония и Северна Хърватия, където по-голямата част от градовете и
търговските средища през XVIII век са с подчертано арумънски елементи.
Финансовото влияние върху сънародниците на Четиревич, което идва от
района на Москополи, както и от останалите, преимуществено арумънски
области на Южните Балкани, при превръщането на православните общини
в прилежащи на Хабсбургите територии допринася значително за неговата
популярност и достъп до скъпо платени поръчки, които гореспоменатите
общности могат да предложат. Иконографските и стилови предпочитания
в неговата работа също могат да бъдат видени в контекста на посочените
обстоятелства. Той постига симбиоза между традиционно поствизантийски
и барокови елементи в резултат на художествения опит, който придобива,
както и на пътуванията си, простиращи се от Гърция до – вероятно –
Киево-Печерската лавра, като създава един съвършен визуален продукт за
православна общност, съществуваща в преимуществено католическа среда.
367
Painters of Western Training Working
for Orthodox Patrons – Remarks on
the Evidence of Late-medieval Tran-
sylvania (14th–15th Century)
Dragoş Gh. Năstăsoiu1

Central European University,
Budapest, Hungary
Abstract. The article deals with the question of medieval painters trained in the
West, who decorated murals in Eastern-rite churches and who received their com-
missions from Orthodox patrons. It focuses on two case studies – the mural dec-
oration of the sanctuaries of the Orthodox churches in Strei (irst half of the 14th
century) and Hălmagiu (late-14th – early-15th century) – coming from the Voivodate
of Transylvania and the Kingdom of Hungary, respectively, regions where Ortho-
dox Romanians lived alongside Catholics but under the Latin rule of the later.
Such context led to the emergence of frequent phenomena of hybridization in the
sphere of religious art.
Key words: church decoration, religious iconography, Byzantine painting, Catho-
lic painting, artistic hybridity, patronage.
The southern area of the Voivodate of Transylvania and the

south-western counties of the Kingdom of Hungary, respectively,
represented during the Middle Ages regions where several ethnic
and confessional groups coexisted2, each of them bringing into play
1 Dragoş Gh. Năstăsoiu is a PhD Candidate in Medieval Studies at Central European Univer-
sity, Budapest. He is an Art Historian working on the religious art of medieval Hungary with
particular emphasis on Transylvania. His research interests include: church iconography and
the cult of saints in medieval Central Europe and the Balkans; the phenomena of artistic hy-
bridity in cultural contact zones (e.g., medieval Transylvania, Cyprus, Crete, etc.).
2 Pop, Ioan-Aurel. The Ethno-confessional Structure of Medieval Transylvania and Hungary
369
their own cultural and religious traditions. Under the Hungarians’
Latin rule, Orthodox Romanians3 lived together with Catholic Hun-
garians, Szeklers, and Saxons, creating a long-lasting conviventia
which generated many cultural contacts with the ‘other’. These fre-
quent encounters have left meaningful traces in the religious art of
both confessional groups.
Orthodox patrons had a complex relationship with Western art,
often commissioning builders who were active on nearby Catho-
lic sites. These masters created religious ediices with prevailing
Western appearance for their patrons, but which, in fact, served
the Orthodox rite. Accordingly, the churches of Orthodox Roma-
nians in 14th- and 15th-century Transylvania often have rectangu-
lar sanctuaries separated from the nave by built iconostases; their
architectural structures are dominated by tall western towers, and
their windows and portals are decorated with Gothic stonework4.
Most of the time, Orthodox patrons entrusted the mural decoration
of their rural churches to painters of Byzantine tradition who – as
their work atests – unevenly mastered their craft. Regardless of
their abilities, these painters’ diverse skills and techniques were ac-
quired somewhere within the Eastern/Orthodox world. Given their
peripheral position in relation to the center(s) of Byzantine art and
their integration into a Latin state, these painters also proved to be
highly receptive to themes and motifs typical for Western/Catholic
iconography5.
(9th–14th Centuries). – Bulletin of the Center for Transylvanian Studies, 1994, No. 4, 1-48; Pop,
Ioan-Aurel. Nations and Denominations in Transylvania (13th–16th Century). In: Csaba Lévai, Va-
sile Vese (eds.). Tolerance and Intolerance in Historical Perspective. Proceedings of a Conference
Held in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, and Debrecen, Hungary, September 2003. Pisa, 2003, 111-123.
3 This conventional term designates the Romance-speaking people living in medieval Tran-
sylvania, and it does not refer to present-day Romanian national identity. There are no self-ref-
erential sources of this people, to whom others referred to as “Vlachs”. On Romanian cultural
speciicity during the Middle Ages, see: Panaitescu, P. P. Perioada slavonă la români şi ruperea de
cultura Apusului. In: Silvia Panaitescu (ed.). Interpretări româneşti. Studii de istorie economică
şi socială. Bucharest, 1971, 28-49; Pop, Ioan-Aurel, The Romanians as a Border People during the
Middle Ages. Between Slavonianism and Latinity. – Eurolimes, 2008, No. 5, 21-27.
4 Greceanu, Eugenia. Inluenţa gotică în arhitectura bisericilor româneşti de zid din Transilvania.
– Studii şi Cercetări de Istoria Artei. Seria Artă Plastică, 1971, No. 1, 33-59; Popa, Radu. La început-
urile evului mediu românesc. Ţara Haţegului. Bucharest, 1988, 225-247; Rusu, Adrian Andrei and
Pascu Hurezan, George. Biserici medievale din judeţul Arad. Arad, 2001, 36-53.
5 For overviews of Orthodox mural painting in late-medieval Transylvania, see: Drăguţ, Vasile.
Pictura murală din Transilvania (sec. XIV–XV). Bucharest, 1970; Drăguţ, Vasile (ed.). Pagini de ve-
che artă românească. Repertoriul picturilor murale medievale din România (sec. XIV–1450) V/1.
Bucharest, 1985 (henceforth: Drăguţ, Repertoriul); Popa, Corina. La peinture murale orthodoxe
en Transylvanie au XIVe siècle et ses relations avec le monde serbe. – Revue Roumaine d’His-
370
Given the multicultural and bi-confessional situation of Transylva-
nia and Hungary during the Late Middle Ages, it is not surprising
that borders – understood both artistically and confessionally –
were often easily crossed in the ield of religious art. Subsequently,
one can ind a signiicant number of cases where Western painters
worked for Orthodox patrons or, vice versa, painters of Byzantine
tradition working for Catholic commissioners. In the text that fol-
lows, I shall briely discuss two instances of this paradigm, empha-
sizing the most striking cases of artistic hybridity. A comprehensive
analysis, as well as a discussion of the later model will be the sub-
ject of another paper.
The church in Strei (Hunyad County), built sometime after 1300 and
serving the local Orthodox community, was probably dedicated to
St Nicholas and decorated with frescoes sometime during the irst
half of the 14th century by a workshop that employed several paint-
ers6. Judging by their linear-narrative manner, all of them received
their training in a Western milieu, where they acquired formal fea-
tures speciic for a provincial, early-Gothic style unevenly mixing
elements of Romanesque-Gothic, Italian Trecento, and even Byzan-
tine style. In an atempt to adapt their modest skill and knowledge
to the requirements of their Orthodox commissioners, this eclectic
workshop created a hybrid iconographic programme, which com-
bined Western and Byzantine themes and motifs7. However, to a
great extent the painters retained the iconographic layout speciic
to Catholic sanctuaries, which seemingly did not pose a great chal-
lenge to be understood by their Orthodox patrons (Fig. 1).
The painters represented Christ in Glory (Maiestas Domini) in a man-
dorla supported by two angels on the eastern webbing of the quad-
ripartite rib vault. The same depiction could usually be found in
toire de l’Art. Série Beaux-Arts, No. 33, 1996, 3-19; Porumb, Marius. Dicţionar de pictură veche
românească din Transilvania sec. XIII–XVIII. Bucharest, 1998.
6 For the secondary literature on this monument, see: Porumb. Dicţionar de pictură, 385. The
most comprehensive study on the church’s murals is: Popescu, Maria Irina, Tugearu, Liana. Bi-
serica ortodoxă din satul Strei (Călan, jud. Hunedoara). In: Drăguţ. Repertoriul, 234-283. For a
critical treatment of previous literature, see: Burnichioiu, Ileana. Biserici parohiale şi capele din
comitatele Alba şi Hunedoara (1200–1550). PhD diss., Universitatea Naţională de Arte Bucureşti,
Bucharest, 2009, 319-324.
7 Prioteasa, Elena Dana. Western and Eastern Themes in the Iconography of the Sanctuary of
the Church of Strei (Hunedoara County, Romania). – Annual of Medieval Studies at CEU, No.
9, 2003, 181-196.
371
Fig. 1. Interior view of the sanctuary, Orthodox church in Strei
a similar position in Catholic churches across medieval Hungary8,

but it was in fact an iconographic solution occurring predominant-
8 Drăguţ, Vasile. Iconograia picturilor murale gotice din Transilvania (Consideraţii genera-
le şi repertoriu pe teme). In: Pagini de veche artă românească. Bucharest, 1972, Vol. 2, 13-17;
Dvořáková, Vlasta, Krása, Josef, and Stejskal, Karel (eds.). Stredoveká nástenná mal’ba na Sloven-
sku. Bratislava, 1978, 15-7.
372
ly in Transylvania’s Orthodox churches9. The customary image of
the Virgin with the Child in the sanctuary’s conch10 was sometimes
replaced by that of the Pantokrator in Byzantine churches without
a dome11, or in religious ediices built in the eastern periphery of
Byzantium (e.g., Cappadocia or Georgia12). In Transylvania, how-
ever, the Pantokrator type, occurring only in Densuş, was usually
dropped in favor of the types of Maiestas Domini or Christ in Glo-
ry13. In Strei, medallions with busts of Old Testament Prophets are
portrayed on the intrados of the triumphal arch, whereas standing
igures of apostles are shown conversing and holding each of their
own atributes on the side walls. Both types of depictions are en-
countered in the sanctuary of many Hungarian Catholic churches,
displaying similar iconographic arrangements and compositional
devices14.
Following most likely their Orthodox commissioners’ request, the
Western painters in Strei depicted holy bishops in the sanctuary’s
lowermost register (Fig. 1-4), as was customary in the altar space of
Byzantine churches15. Five out of six igures of holy bishops are iden-
tiied by inscriptions in Old Church Slavonic which give their names
and are placed next to their heads: St Callinicus (of Constantinople),
St John (Chrysostom), St Cyril (of Alexandria or Jerusalem), St Peter
9 Streisângeorgiu (1313–1314), Densuş (before 1443), Hălmagiu, and probably Ribiţa. Bratu,
Anca. Biserica ortodoxă Sf. Gheorghe din satul Streisângeorgiu (Călan, jud. Hunedoara). In: Dră-
guţ. Repertoriul, 283-300; Cincheza-Buculei, Ecaterina. Le programme iconographique des absides
des églises à Rîu de Mori et Densuş. – Revue Roumaine d’Histoire de l’Art. Série Beaux-Arts, No.
13, 1976, 81-103. The iconography of the later two sanctuaries is discussed below.
10 Parani, Maria G. Reconstructing the Reality of Images. Byzantine Material Culture and Reli-
gious Iconography (11th–15th Centuries). Leiden, 2003, 194-195.
11 Skawran, Karin M. The Development of Middle Byzantine Fresco Painting in Greece. Pre-
toria, 1982, 54; Kalopissi-Verti, Sophia. Osservazioni iconograiche sulla pitura monumentale
della Grecia durante il XIII secolo. In: Rafaella Farioli Campanati (ed.). Seminario Internazionale
di studi su “La Grecia paleocristiana e bizantina”: Ravenna, 7 – 14 aprile 1984. Ravenna, 1984,
199-200.
12 Byzantine periphery: Velmans, Tania, Korać, Vojislav, and Šuput, Marica (eds.). Rayonnement
de Byzance. Paris, 1999, 43-92. Cappadocia: Jolivet-Lévy, Catherine. Les églises byzantines de Cap-
padoce. Le programme iconographique de l’abside et de ses abords. Paris, 1991, 337-340. Georgia:
Velmans, Tania. L’image de la Déisis dans les églises de Géorgie et dans celles d’autres régions du
monde byzantin. – Cahiers archéologiques, No. 29, 1980–1981, 47-102.
13 Cincheza-Buculei, Ecaterina. Din nou despre pictura bisericii Sf. Nicolae din Densuş. – Ars
Transsilvaniae, No. 19, 2009, 90.
14 Drăguţ. Iconograia picturilor, 15-17, 63, 80.
15 Walter, Christopher. La place des évêques dans le décor des absides byzantines. – Revue de
l’Art, No. 24, 1974, 81-89; Gerstel, Sharon E. J. Beholding the Sacred Mysteries. Programs of the
Byzantine Sanctuary. Seatle, 1999, 15-36.
373
Fig. 2. Sts Cyril and
Peter lanking the
model of a Romanesque
church, lower register
of the eastern and
southern walls of the
sanctuary, Orthodox
church in Strei.
Fig. 3. Sts John and

Cyril lanking the Man
of Sorrows, lower
register of the eastern
wall of the sanctuary,
Orthodox church in
Strei
Fig. 4. Model of
Romanesque church,
St Nicholas, and
supplicant Grozie,
lower register of the
southern wall of the
sanctuary, Orthodox
church in Strei
(of Alexandria), and St Nicholas16. However, the Church Fathers are
dressed in Latin episcopal vestments composed of albs and chasu-
bles decorated with Latin crosses; some of them wear mitres and
hold either closed or open books (Fig. 2-4). Four of them stand on
the side walls next to the models of Romanesque churches with two
western towers, whereas the remaining two lank the symbolic de-
piction of the Man of Sorrows depicted in the sanctuary’s axis (i.e.,
below the eastern window and above the former altar table). The
symbolic image of the Melismos typical of Byzantine sanctuaries17
was most likely unknown to these Western-trained painters, who
replaced it with another depiction endowed with strong Eucharis-
tic meaning, namely, the Man of Sorrows (Fig. 3). The Eucharistic
component of this representation prevailed in the Latin West ever
since the transfer of this iconography from Byzantium to the West18.
This is most likely the reason why the Western-trained painters in
Strei, unfamiliar with the Byzantine depiction of the Melismos (i.e.,
the symbolic image of the Transubstantiation occurring during the
Liturgy and representing the sacriiced Christ as a naked baby on
the altar or on a bowl-shaped paten), resorted to their own (Catho-
lic) iconography of the Eucharist (i.e., the Man of Sorrows). Sub-
sequently, having been requested by their Orthodox patrons to
represent in the axis of the sanctuary a symbolic image of the Tran-
substantiation, the Western-trained painters in Strei came up with a
literal version of it, namely, the depiction of a sacriiced, wounded
Christ placed actually above the medieval altar table of the sanctu-
ary (now vanished19).
16 For the holy bishops’ identifying inscriptions, see: Popescu, Tugearu. Biserica ortodoxă, 268-
270.
17 Konstantinidi, Chara. O Μελισμός. Thessaloniki, 2008; Walter. Place des évêques, 85; Gerstel.
Beholding the Sacred, 37-47.
18 Byzantium: Belting, Hans. An Image and Its Function in the Liturgy: The Man of Sorrows in
Byzantium. – Dumbarton Oaks Papers, vol. 34, No. 5, 1980–1981, 1-16; Simić-Lazar, Draginja. Sur
le thème de Christ de Pitié en Serbie à la in du moyen âge et dans les Balkans à l’époque post-by-
zantine. In: A. Paliouras (ed.). Μίλτος Γαρίδης (1926–1996): Αφιέρωμα. Vol. 2. Ioannina, 2003,
689-728. In Byzantine art, the representation of the Man of Sorrows occurs sometimes as decora-
tion for the prothesis niche, i.e., on the altar’s northern side. West: Panofsky, Erwin. Imago Pietatis:
Ein Beitrag zur Typengeschichte des Schmerzensmanns und der Maria Mediatrix. In: Festschrift für
Max J. Friedländer zum 60. Geburstage. Leipizg, 1927, 261-308; Bertelli, Carlo. The Image of Pity
in Santa Croce in Gerusalemme. In: Douglas Fraser, Howard Hibbard, Milton J. Lewine (eds.).
Essays in the History of Art Presented to Rudolf Witkower. London, 1967, 40-55. For the Eucha-
ristic variant of the Vir dolorum, see Sallay, Dóra. The Eucharistic Man of Sorrows in Late Medieval
Art. – Annual of Medieval Studies at CEU, No. 6, 2000, 45-80.
19 The white, trapezoidal area without paint below the image of the Man of Sorrows marks the
place where the medieval altar table was originally atached to the wall.
375
Fig. 5. Interior view of the triumphal arch and sanctuary, St Nicholas Orthodox Church in Hălmagiu
Equally peculiar is the integration of the lay supplicant Grozie into

the sanctuary’s register of Church Fathers (Fig. 4). He is dressed
according to the Western fashion, makes a prayer gesture typical
for the Catholics (i.e., hands joined in front of his chest), and stands
next to St Nicholas. The supplicant together with the holy bishop,
who is depicted in the proximity of one of the four idealized church
models, recalls remotely the iconographic layout of Byzantine vo-
tive compositions. This was probably another result of the Western
painters’ atempt at adjusting their existing paterns to new Ortho-
dox circumstances, even though the inclusion of laymen in the reg-
ister of the Church Fathers and, moreover, in a size comparable to
that of the holy bishops would have hardly been possible in the
most sacred space of Byzantine sanctuaries20.
20 For the recent discussion on the image, see Năstăsoiu, Dragoş Gh. The Social Status of Roma-
nian Orthodox Noblemen According to Donor Portraits and Church Inscriptions. In: Nicolae-Şer-
ban Tanaşoca, Alexandru Madgearu (eds.). Études Byzantines et Post-Byzantines. Bucharest and
376
Fig. 6. Old Testament Prophets lanking the Lamb of God and Christ in Glory,
vault of the sanctuary, St Nicholas Orthodox Church in Hălmagiu
The decoration of the sanctuary and triumphal arch of St Nicholas

Church in Hălmagiu (Zaránd County) was commissioned by ju-
pan Moga and his brother from a workshop, which seems to have
been trained in a Central-European artistic milieu21 (Fig. 5). Its pro-
vincial, late-Gothic manner deriving from the so-called “School of
Friul” has close parallels with the murals of a signiicant number of
Hungarian Catholic churches, which were painted at the turn of the
14th and 15th century22. The iconographic program of the sanctuary
Brăila, vol. 7, 2016, 223-227.

21 For the monument’s literature, see: Porumb, Dicţionar de pictură, 185. The most compre-
hensive study on the murals is: Cincheza-Buculei, Ecaterina. L’ensemble de peinture murale de
Hălmagiu (XVe siècle). Iconographie et fondateurs. – Revue des Études Sud-Est Européennes,
No. 1, 1984, 3-25. For historical data on the setlement’s noble owners, see: Rusu and Hurezan,
Biserici medievale, 97-105.
22 Stylistic analogies in Prioteasa, Elena Dana. Medieval Wall Paintings in Transylvanian Ortho-
dox Churches and Their Donors. PhD diss., Central European University, Budapest, 2011, 149,
ig. 7.56-7.61.
377
in Hălmagiu is closely related to that of the sanctuary of St Nicho-
las Church in Ribiţa (Zaránd County), another religious foundation
patronized by Romanian Orthodox noblemen and which had its
sanctuary decorated probably in 139323. Iconographically, the two
sanctuaries in Hălmagiu and Ribiţa, respectively, are similar in their
selection of themes and their distribution on church walls. Whereas
the sanctuary in Hălmagiu was decorated by a workshop composed
most likely of Western-trained painters, the sanctuary in Ribiţa was
undoubtedly decorated by painters of Byzantine tradition. Judging
by the similarity between the iconographic programs of both the
sanctuaries in Hălmagiu and Ribiţa, the Western painters of the for-
mer church followed more closely the directions set out by their Or-
thodox commissioner/iconographer, even though they relied partly
on more familiar iconographic solutions.
In Hălmagiu, the apocalyptic vision of Christ in Glory shown bless-
ing with two hands in-between the Sun and Moon is placed on the
barrel vault of the rectangular sanctuary24 (Fig. 6). The busts of the
Old Testament Prophets who foresaw Christ’s Second Coming are
depicted in the medallions on the vault’s western side25 and lank
the Agnus Dei in the apex26. Eucharistic and eschatological symbol
alike, this image appears rarely in Byzantine iconography, and, if
it does, it occurs only under Western inluence27. This was possibly
23 For a reevaluation of the murals’ various dating hypotheses (1393, 1404, 1407, 1414, 1414/5,
and 1417, respectively), see Năstăsoiu, Dragoş Gh., Adashinskaya, Anna. O ipoteză privind datarea
picturilor murale ale bisericii Sf. Nicolae din Ribiţa în lumina unor informaţii noi. In: Ioachim
Lazăr, Florin Dobrei (eds.). Cultură şi spiritualitate în comuna Ribiţa (jud. Hunedoara). 600 de
ani de la atestarea bisericii “Sfântul Ierarh Nicolae” din Ribiţa (1417) şi 25 de ani de la reactivarea
Mănăstirii Crişan (1992). Cluj-Napoca and Deva, 2017, 54-92; a revised, English version of this
study is going to be published this year in Museikon. For the secondary literature on the frescoes,
see Porumb. Dicţionar de pictură, 336. The murals’ uncovering and restoration is not completed
yet, so the ensemble lacks a comprehensive study. Cincheza-Buculei, Ecaterina. Ipoteze şi certitu-
dini în frescele descoperite la Ribiţa. – Ars Transsilvaniae, No. 5, 1995, 85-92; Prioteasa. Medieval
Wall Paintings, passim.
24 For this iconography, see: Belting-Ihm, Christa. Die Programme der christlichen Apsismalerei
vom vierten Jahrhundert bis zur Mite des achten Jahrhunderts. Stutgart, 1992; Poilpré, Anne-Or-
ange. Maiestas Domini: Une image de l’église en Occident (Ve–IXe siècle). Paris, 2005. In Ribiţa,
the image on the vault is largely destroyed, but remaining traces of a crucifer halo indicate that
here, too, a representation of Christ was initially painted.
25 Streisângeorgiu, Strei, and Ribiţa ofer direct analogies.
26 The composition in Ribiţa is partly whitewashed and partly damaged, so one can no longer
be certain what was depicted on the arch’s apex.
27 Jolivet-Lévy, Catherine. Le Canon 82 du Concile Quinisexte et l’image de l’Agneau: À propos
d’une église inédite de Cappadoce. – ΔΧΑΕ, No. 17, 1993–1994, 45-52; Folda, Jaroslav. Crusader
Art in the Holy Land, from the Fourth Crusade to the Fall of Acre, 1187-1291. Cambridge, 2005,
378
Fig. 7. Unknown holy bishop, lower register of the northern wall of the sanctuary,
St Nicholas Orthodox Church in Hălmagiu
379
Fig. 8. Sts Basil the Great and Nicholas lanking the Holy Chalice on the altar table and Arius
falling down, lower register of the southern wall of the sanctuary, St Nicholas Orthodox Church
in Ribiţa
the case with Hălmagiu, too, as the Lamb of God was placed in a
similar, lofty position and Old Testament-themed seting in many
Catholic churches of medieval Hungary28. Witnesses and dissem-
inators of Christ’s redemptive work, the Evangelists in Hălmagiu
and Ribiţa, represented in the postures of siting and writing, are
depicted in the proximity of the Maiestas Domini. Their placement
on the sanctuary’s vault betrays yet another connection with West-
ern iconography29. This time, however, the model was adapted rath-
316-317.
28 Analogies in Čečejovce, Szalonna, or Tornaszentandrás. Dvořáková, Krása, and Stejskal, Stre-
doveká mal’ba, 81-82, ig. 30; Bécsi, János and Pintér, Atila. A szalonnai református templom
falképeinek helyreállítása. – Herman Otó Múzeum Évkönyve, No. 20, 1981, 61-71, ig. 12-13;
Tornaszentandrás – Valter, Ilona. A tornaszentandrási templom r. k. templom kutatása. – Herman
Otó Múzeum Évkönyve, No. 19, 1980, 117.
29 Analogies in Prioteasa, Medieval Wall Paintings, 154-155, igs. 7.54-7.56, 7.58-7.66.
380
Fig. 9. Angel with censer next to the painted altar table, lower register of the eastern wall of the
sanctuary, St Nicholas Orthodox Church in Hălmagiu
er than being directly followed, as it is a regular feature of Catholic

iconography that the Latin Church Doctors are represented seated
at their writing desks and not the Evangelists. The Evangelists are
usually represented only through their symbols, and are often de-
picted in the company of the Latin Doctors30. For obvious reasons,
the Latin Doctors are absent from the vaults of the sanctuaries of
the Orthodox churches in Hălmagiu and Ribiţa, but the Evangelists
are represented instead, seated at their writing desks, that is, in the
Latin Doctors’ usual hypostasis for Catholic iconography.
In the sanctuaries of Hălmagiu and Ribiţa, whose iconographic
30 Direct analogies in Chyžné, Rákoš, Rimavské Brezovo, Mălâncrav; when alone on the vault,
the Evangelists are depicted only through their symbols (e.g., Kraskovo and Poniky). Dvořáková,
Krása, and Stejskal, Stredoveká mal’ba, 107-112, 131-132, 135-136, 139-40; Drăguţ, Vasile. Picturile
murale din biserica evanghelică din Mălîncrav. – Studii şi Cercetări de Istoria Artei. Seria Artă
Plastică, No. 1, 1967, 87, 89.
381
programs display striking similarities despite their execution by
Western and Byzantine painters respectively, the side walls are dec-
orated with the holy bishops shown frontally, blessing, and holding
inscribed scrolls or closed books (Fig. 7-8). In Hălmagiu, ive of the
six holy bishops dressed in Western liturgical vestments, includ-
ing the alb, chasuble, and pallium, are identiied by inscriptions in
Old Church Slavonic ofering their names: St Sylvester, St Clem-
ent, St John Chrysostom, St Basil the Great, and St Nicholas31 (Fig.
7). Dressed instead in the Eastern episcopal atire composed of the
omophorion and either a simple sakkos or the polystavrion, only two
of the six holy bishops in Ribiţa are currently identiiable (Fig. 8).
They are Sts Basil and Nicholas, who occupy the same place as their
namesakes in Hălmagiu. In both sanctuaries, a deacon (St. Stephen
in Ribiţa) joins the Church Fathers on the eastern side of the south-
ern wall. He is unusually close to the archangels with censers, who
lank the Melismos in the sanctuary’s axis32 (Fig. 9). The patron of the
two churches, St Nicholas, is similarly placed on the western side
of the southern wall, and he stands in both cases next to a chalice
placed on an altar table, in the lower part of which the bent igure of
Arius is falling down33 (Fig. 8). The painters used the compositional
scheme of the Vision of St Peter of Alexandria, but substituted the
igure of the Alexandrian bishop with that of St Nicholas, transfer-
ring upon the holy bishop of Myra the Eucharistic and anti-hereti-
cal stance of the composition34. Trained in diferent traditions, the
painters of the two sanctuaries created similar, highly original, and
unparalleled representations. This supports the idea that a creative
and speciic iconographic canon existed in Orthodox Transylvania
at the turn of the 14th and 15th century and, moreover, reinforces
the idea that the Western-oriented workshop in Hălmagiu followed
31 Cincheza-Buculei. Ensemble de peinture, 8.

32 Only the altar table has survived in both cases. On the upper register of the sanctuary’s east-
ern wall, there are seraphs/cherubs above the archangels’ igures. Cincheza-Buculei. Ensemble de
peinture, 8; Cincheza-Buculei. Ipoteze şi certitudini, 89-90.
33 The partially-preserved inscription in Hălmagiu contains an invocation of the Holy Trinity,
Cincheza-Buculei. Ensemble de peinture murale, 10; additionally, the recently-uncovered inscrip-
tion in Ribiţa features also Arius’ name.
34 For the identiication and meaning of this scene, see Cincheza-Buculei. Ensemble de peinture,
9-11; see also Prioteasa. Medieval Wall Paintings, 170-181. For St Peter of Alexandria’s Vision,
see: Koukiaris. Archimadrite Silas. The Depiction of the Vision of Saint Peter of Alexandria in the
Sanctuary of Byzantine Churches. – Zograf, No. 35, 2011, 63-71; Cvetkovski, Sašo. The Vision of
Saint Peter of Alexandria, from the Church of St Archangels in Prilep. Iconographical Research.
– Zograf, No. 36, 2012, 83-88.
382
Fig. 10. Holy Apostle Bartholomew, lower register of the northern wall of the sanctuary,
St Nicholas Orthodox Church in Hălmagiu
383
closely the recommendations of their Orthodox iconographers.
Additionally, near by the prothesis niche in Hălmagiu, there is the
depiction of the Holy Apostle Bartholomew, who is oddly repre-
sented as a naked, layed man holding his skin on a staf, i.e., ac-
cording to his Western iconography35 (Fig. 10). This depiction was
often encountered in Catholic churches across medieval Hungary,
where the saint was venerated as the patron of animal-skin process-
ing crafts and a protector against skin diseases and nervous disor-
ders36. The image is not unique in the context of Orthodox Tran-
sylvania, as this hypostasis of the holy apostle appears also in St
Nicholas Church in Densuş (Hunyad County). This iconographic
transfer from the West to the East occurred during the Late Middle
Ages in other Orthodox territories found under Latin rule: St Bart-
holomew’s Western iconography appeared, thus, in several Ortho-
dox churches of Venetian-ruled Crete37. As cultural contact zones,
both Catholic-ruled Crete and Transylvania experienced broadly
comparable social, political, and confessional circumstances, and
one should not be surprised if the hybridity of their religious art
brings them together, too. In Hălmagiu, however, St Bartholomew’s
sacriice acquired an Eucharistic emphasis by being placed next to
the prothesis niche, rather comparable to the signiicance of this holy
apostle’s igure in the Western/Catholic iconography across medie-
val Hungary38.
As it could be seen from the two case studies that have been put
forward in this essay, when painters trained in the West worked for
Orthodox patrons, they showed the tendency towards maintaining
the general iconographic layouts speciic for Catholic cult spaces.
35 Cincheza-Buculei. Ensemble de peinture, 8-9.

36 Prioteasa. Medieval Wall Paintings, 182-191.
37 St Pelagia Church in Ano Viannos (1360) and Holy Apostles Church in Drys (1382–1391).
Vassilakis-Mavrakakis, Maria. Western Inluences in the Fourteenth Century Art of Crete. – Jahr-
buch der Österreichischen Byzantinistik, No. 5, 1982, 303-304, ig. 7-8; Lymberopoulou, Angeliki.
Regional Byzantine Monumental Art from Venetian Crete. In: Angeliki Lymberopoulou, Rem-
brandt Duits (eds.). Byzantine Art and Renaissance Europe. Burlington, 2013, 65, ig. 3.2, pl. IV.
38 Examples in Drăguţ, Vasile. Picturile murale de la Mediaş. O importantă recuperare pen-
tru istoria artei transilvănene. – Revista Muzeelor şi Monumentelor. Monumente Istorice şi de
Artă, No. 2, 1976, 14. St Bartholomew’s depiction in Čerín is associated to the Eucharistic Man of
Sorrows, both images functioning as a mural retable for a secondary altar in the church, which
had sacrifice and Eucharist as iconographic focus. Dvořáková, Krása, and Stejskal, Stredoveká
mal’ba, 86. In Remetea, St Bartholomew’s Martyrdom and the iconic, layed image are both
placed in the sanctuary next to the niche used for keeping the Eucharist. Lángi, József and Mihály,
Ferenc. Erdélyi falképek és festet faberendezések. Vol. 2. Budapest, 2004, 71-4.
384
This did not pose too great a challenge for the understanding of
the Catholic iconography by the Orthodox faithful, as both Catho-
lic and Orthodox systems of sanctuary decoration in late-medieval
Transylvania shared a signiicant number of iconographic features
(e.g., the selection and arrangement of scenes in the sanctuary’s up-
per side). The obvious formal diferences between the visual tradi-
tions of the West and East proved to be unimportant, as they did
not hinder, nor alter signiicantly the religious content meant to be
communicated. Trying to meet the unfamiliar demands of com-
missioners belonging to a diferent confession than their own, the
Western-trained painters followed two paths when making the dec-
oration of the sanctuary’s lower register. They either adjusted their
previously-learned paterns in order to meet the expectations of
their Orthodox commissioners (e.g., the Vir Dolorum replacing the
Melismos, the holy bishops with the models of Romanesque church-
es, or the pseudo-votive composition in Strei), or followed closely
the directions prescribed by the Orthodox iconographers (e.g., the
iconography of the sanctuary in Hălmagiu relecting faithfully the
iconography of the sanctuary in Ribiţa or vice versa). Even when
they took the later path, they observed the prescriptions in their
general lines and made sure to communicate the meaning they were
supposed to. However, they allowed themselves certain variations,
whenever they were not speciically instructed to do otherwise or
when their innovations didn’t change radically the iconographic
content of a program (e.g., the holy bishops’ Western and Eastern
vestments in Hălmagiu and Ribiţa, respectively). During these pro-
cesses of “negotiation of meaning”, the Western-trained painters
often adapted their iconographic and formal vocabulary, in order
to respond to the requirements of the particular worship space they
had to decorate or to their commissioners’ devotional sensibilities
and demands. These processes of adjustment sometimes led to the
phenomena of hybridization in the sphere of religious art, phenom-
ena which, on the one hand, challenge traditional, art-historical la-
beling (i.e., Western versus Eastern/Byzantine or Catholic versus Or-
thodox) and, on the other hand, indicate that borders, understood
either artistically or confessionally, are not so much dividing lines
as they are, in fact, meeting points.
385
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389
Художници със западна школовка, работещи
за православни поръчители – бележки върху
данните от късносредновековна Трансилвания
(XIV–XV век)
Драгош Нъстъсою
През Средновековието южните и югозападните части на Войводство Тран-

силвания и Унгарското кралство са райони, в които съжителстват по няколко
конфесионални групи, всяка от които има своя културна и религиозна тради-
ция. При управлението на латините православните румънци (власи) живеели
с унгарци католици, шеклери и саксонци, като тяхната conviventia генерира
чести взаимодействия, а това оставя дълбоки следи в религиозното изкуство
и на двете религиозни групи. Православните дарители имат сложна релация
със западното изкуство, възлагайки често поръчки на строители, които рабо-
тят в съседните земи с католически градове, като в резултат на това създават
религиозни сгради със „западен“ облик. Въпреки че православните ктитори
поверяват украсата на своите църкви на майстори, работещи във византий-
ската традиция, тези художници проявяват висока степен на възприемчивост
по отношение на сюжети и мотиви, характерни за западната/католическата
иконография. А може да се добави, че православните дарители предоставят
на западни ателиета да украсят техните религиозни сгради със стенописи.
Тази статия се фокусира върху два характерни казуса – стенописната украса
на православните храмове в съседни области: в Стрей (област Хуняд, Войвод-
ство Трансилвания) и в Хълмаджю (област Заранд, Кралство Унгария), изпъл-
нени респективно през първата половина на XIV в. и между късния XIV в. и
ранния XV в. При декорирането на олтарното пространство на тези право-
славни храмове двете западни ателиета се принуждават последователно да
пригодят своя иконографски и формален изказ, за да отговорят на изисква-
нията на това специфично култово пространство или на чувствителността на
поръчителите. Това „нагаждане“ често води до хибридизация на явленията
в областта на църковното изкуство, което бяга от обичайните си категории,
и представлява предизвикателство за традиционното изкуствоведско етике-
тиране на познатите ни опозиции: византийско/източно versus западно или
православно versus католическо.
390
The Scene of the Road to Calvary
in St George’s Church
in Veliko Tarnovo
Maria Kolusheva1
Abstract: The study focuses on a rare iconographic type of Pilate’s Escort from the
scene of the Road to Calvary in the nave of St George’s Church in Veliko Tarnovo.
It highlights some peculiarities of the image by comparing it to a number of ex-
amples from the central region of the Balkans dating to the 15th–17th centuries. The
study also includes several iconographic types of the scene that were used by icon
painters at the end of the 16th and in the beginning of the 17th centuries.
Key words: post-Byzantine painting, iconography, the Road to Calvary, Pontius

Pilate’s scroll, Archbishopric of Ochrid, Theban painters, Monastery of Kučevište
According to the founder’s inscription, the nave of St George’s

Church in Veliko Tarnovo was painted in 1616 by anonymous paint-
ers. The composition the Road to Calvary is located on its western
wall2 (Fig. 1). It represents a combination of two episodes from the
1 Maria Kolusheva has a PhD in Art History; she has worked since 2016 at the Institute of Art
Studies of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Her research interests include iconography, Byz-
antine art, post-Byzantine painting, icon-painting workshops and artistic centres in the Balkans.
2 It is signed by an inscription Ο ΕΛΚΟΜΕΝΟС ΕΠΙ СΤΑΥΡΟΥ (‘led to the cross’; ‘led to the
Passion’). Stefanov, Pavel. On the Greek-Bulgarian art relations in the 17th century (based on mate-
rial from St George’church in Veliko Tarnovo). – Etudes Balkaniques, 1992, No. 1, 91 (22); Gergova,
Ivanka, Penkova, Bisserka. „Св. Георги“, Велико Търново [“Sv. Georgi”, Veliko Tarnovo]. In:
Корпус на стенописите от XVII век в България [Korpus na stenopisite ot XVII vek v Balgariya].
Soia, 2012, 59; Kolusheva, Mariya. Църквата „Св. Георги“ във Велико Търново и нейните сте-
нописи [Tsarkvata “Sv. Georgi” vav Veliko Tarnovo i neynite stenopisi]. Unpublished PhD The-
sis, Soia, 2016, 87-91, ill. 44.
391
Gospel narrative: Christ Helkomenos and Pilate’s Mounted Escort.
The present study focuses on the episode of the escort led by Ponti-
us Pilate accompanying Christ on the way to his cruciixion. In this
part of the scene one of the high priests holds a scroll with a text
that imitates Arabic writing (Fig. 2); quite an extraordinary detail,
particularly considering that commonly the Roman prefect himself
carries the scroll, and that its textual content reveals his account on
what is happening at that particular moment.
The distinct features of the scene from the church in Veliko Tarnovo
become clear in the context of the development of this particular ep-
isode in Orthodox art in the Balkans. Moreover, such an overview
allows us to distinguish several iconographic types of the image
that have not been the subject of study so far.
In contrast to the episode Christ Helkomenos, whose irst icono-
graphic atestations date back to the Early Christian period3, Pi-
late’s Mounted Escort does not emerge as an element of the Christ’s
Passion cycle before the fourteenth century. It depicts the episode
of Pilate ascending the Calvary in order to install the inscription
‘Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews’ in Hebrew, Latin and Greek
(John, 19:19 – 22). This composition is believed to originate from
the Quatrocento compositions of the groups of horsemen leaving
the gates of Jerusalem on route to Calvary4. The episode emerges in
Orthodox art approximately at the same time, in the mural decora-
tion of the Dečani Monastery (1348)5 and the Lesnovo Monastery
(1347/8)6. In both cases the episode of Pilate’s Mounted Escort is a
3 For the typology of the scene with examples from diferent periods see Millet, Gabriel. Re-
cherches sur l’iconographie de l’évangile aux XIVe, XVe et XVIe siècles d’après les monuments de
Mistra, de la Macédoine et du Mont-Athos, Paris, 1960, 362-379; Katselaki, Andromachi. Ο Χριστός
ελκόμενος επί σταυρού. Εικονογραφία και τυπολογία της παράστασης στη βυζαντινή τέχνη
(4ος αι.–15ος αι.). – ΔΧΑΕ, 1996–1997, No. 19, 170-181.
4 Images from the 14th and the 15th century in Western European art can be found in: Leventis,
Antonis. Η σκηνή του εφίππου Πιλάτου στη ζωγραφική Βαλκανικών ναών (14ο –18ο αιώνα). –
Ηπειρωτικά Χρονικά, 1997, No. 32, 56-62, ill. 2-9. Leventis’ article includes a detailed description
of the best known examples from monuments on the Balkans from the 14th–18th centuries. A great
number of the images from the beginning of the 17th century, which are included in the present
study, are not covered in Leventis’ article. Examples of Western European painting can be found
also in: Stefanov, Pavel. Сцената „Носене на кръста” от наоса на църквата „Рождество Хри-
стово“ в Арбанаси [Stsenata “Nosene na krasta” ot naosa na tsarkvata “Rozhdestvo Hristovo” v
Arbanasi]. – Art Studies Quarterly, 2004, No. 3, 15-21.
5 Kesić-Ristić, Sanja. Циклус Христових Страдања [Ciklus Hristovih Stradanja]. In: Зидно
сликарство манастира Дечана. Грађа и студије [Zidno slikarstvo manastira Dečana. Građa i
studije]. Beograd, 1995, 127, ig. II, 55.
6 Millet, Gabriel, Frolow, Anatole. La peinture du Moyen Age en Yougoslavie (Serbie, Macédoine
392
Fig. 1. St George’s Church in Veliko Tarnovo (1616). Photo: N. Haralampiev
secondary element that complements the

content of the scenes from the Passion
cycle, without being inextricably bound
to the episode of Christ Helkomenos7. In
these compositions Pilate, accompanied
by a few Jews (most probably the high
priests), is depicted in the background
of the main scene, against a landscape.
The image of Pilate’s Escort in Lesnovo
is partially damaged; on that in Dečani,
however, none of the horsemen holds a
scroll.
In the irst century of Otoman rule, the
theme is still included in the repertory of
the mural-painting workshops decorat-
ing churches on the territory of the Arch-
et Monténégro). Т. III. Paris, 1963, Pl. 10, 22.

7 The episode in Dečani is Christ Refuses to Drink Vine- Fig. 2. St George’s Church in Veliko
gar with Gall; in Lesnovo it is The Road to Calvary. Tarnovo – a detail of the scroll
393
bishopric of Ochrid8. It is found in the following churches: Dor-
mition of the Theotokos in Zeugostasi, in the vicinity of Kastoria
(1432)9; St Nicholas in Vevi (1460)10; the churches of Leskovec Mon-
astery (1461)11, Dragalevtsi Monastery (1476) 12 (Fig. 3) and Matka
Monastery (1496)13; and the St Nicholas Magaliou church in Kasto-
ria (1505)14. Based on the substantial number of examples, we can
assume that in this period the episode Pilate’s Mounted Escort is
associated with the scene Christ Helkomenos in particular. In con-
trast to the examples from Dečani and Lesnovo, the episode is de-
picted more frequently in the foreground of the composition; how-
ever, Pilate’s Escort appears smaller in size than Jesus Christ and
the other igures represented in the scene. This ‘size deformation’
of the igures is a reference to the secondary role this episode plays
in the afore-mentioned monuments from the Palaiologan period,
and it provides evidence for a continuity of earlier artistic tradition
in the irst century of Otoman rule. Even in this early stage of the
development of the scene, Pilate holds an open scroll in his hands.
In both examples of the text of the scroll that survive today (in the
church in Zeugostasi and in St Nicholas Magaliou), it bears the
words of vindication of the Roman prefect ΑΘΩΟС ΕΙΜΙ ΕΚ ΤΟΥ
ΑΙΜΑΤΟС ΤΟΥ ΔΙΚΑΙΟΥ (‘I am innocent of the blood of this just
person’) (Mathew, 27:24). In the 16th century, the images in these
churches from the territory of the Archbishopric of Ochrid serve as
a model that was imitated numerous times by painters working on
8 The scene is depicted also in the Romanian monuments that have been strongly inluenced
by some of these paintings (Harlau, Moldovita, Dobrovat, Humor). These examples have
been presented with bibliography in: Paissidou, Melachroini. Οι τοιχογραφίες του 17ου αιώνα
στους ναούς της Καστοριάς. Συμβολή στη μελέτη της μνημειακής ζωγραφικής της δυτικής
Μακεδονίας. Athens, 2002, 91, ref. 604.
9 Tsigaridas, Eythimios. Συμβολή στη χρονολόγηση των τοιχογραφιών του ναού της Κοιμή-
σεως της Θεοτόκου στο Ζευγοστάσι Καστοριάς. In: Φίλια Έπη εις Γεώργιον Ε. Μυλωνάν.
Τ. ΙΙΙ. Athens, 1989, 335, ill. 83b-84a; Sisiou, Ioannis. Οι σκηνές των Μεγάλων Εορτών και των
Παθών στο ναό της Παναγίας Ζευγοστασίου Καστοριάς. – Niš & Byzantium XIV, 2016, Niš,
409, ill. 8.
10 Subotić, Gojko. Охридска сликарска школа XV века [Ohridska slikarska škola XV veka].
Beograd, 1980, ig. 70, ill. 60; Paissidou, Melina. The Frescoes of Agios Nikolaos at Vevi: A Land-
mark in the Monumental Painting of 15th Century in Western Macedonia. – Egnatia, 2007, No. 11,
120-121, ig. 7.
11 Subotić. Охридска сликарска школа, fig. 79.
12 Subotić. Охридска сликарска школа, ill. 86.
13 Subotić. Охридска сликарска школа, ig. 112.
14 Pelekanidis, Stylianos. Καστορία Ι. Βυζαντιναί τοιχογραφίαι. Πίνακες. Thessaloniki, 1953,
ill. 168a,b.
394
Fig. 3. Church of the Theotokos in Dragalevtsi Monastery (1476). Photo: I. Vanev
commission in its diocese, as well as by those inluenced directly

by the tradition in this region. Such an example can be found in the
work of the icon painter Ioan of Gramosta who painted the murals
of St Nicholas church in the Monastery of Toplica (1536/7)15. A dis-
tinctive feature of his composition (Fig. 4) is the background of the
riding horsemen, which consists of an uninterrupted line of rocky
ridges, while the fortiied walls of Jerusalem are not depicted at all.
The text on Pilate’s scroll is copied from the earlier monuments.
These two features serve as the main distinguishing features of al-
most all paintings that can be atributed to this Ochrid-Kastorian
15 The village of Grammosta falls within the diocese of the Archbishopric of Ochrid. For the
painting from Toplica see Spahiu, Jehona. Страдалниот циклус во црквата Свети Никола
Топлички [Stradalniot ciklus vo crkvata Sveti Nikola Toplički]. – Balcanoslavica, 2007–2010, No.
37-39, Prilep, 53-54, ill. 6.
395
iconographic type. Further examples that are closest to the scene
from the Monastery of Toplica are the images from Temska Monas-
tery (1576)16 (Fig. 5) and St Petka’s Church in Vukovo (1598)17. This
type can be observed also in the frescoes of the following churches:
in Strupetski Monastery (end of 16th c.)18; in Lomnitsa (1607/8)19; St
Nicholas in Shelcan (1625)20; in Riljevo, close to Prilep (1627)21; in the
Church of the Theotokos in the Agioi Anargyroi district in Kastoria
(1634)22; and even in the monastery in Damandrio on the Island of
Lesbos (second half of 16th c.)23. The uninterrupted fortiied wall that
replaces the rocky landscape background in St Nicholas Church in
Plati (1591)24 and in the Monastery of Oreoec (1595)25 suggests that
the images belong to the same model, as this background is still
lacking in detail and the text of the scroll remains the same26.
In the second quarter of the 16th century the scene is adopted and
reproduced by some of the most talented masters of post-Byzantine
art together with other themes distinctive of the Ochrid-Kastorian
group of monuments dating to the 15th century. These painters came
from Thebes, and they executed the fresco decorations of the highly
signiicant monuments from the region of Ioannina in Epirus; hence
they are recognized in art history as members of the Epirus school27.
16 This reference is based on my own observations; I could not access L. Pavlovic’s monograph
on the monastery: Pavlović, Leontije. Манастир Темска [Manastir Temska]. Smederevo, 1966.
17 Floreva, Elena. Средновековни стенописи. Вуково 1598 [Srednovekovni stenopisi. Vukovo
1598]. Soia, 1987, 77-80, ill. 51.
18 Kisyova, Margarita. Стенописите в старата църква на Струпецкия манастир [Stenopisite v
starata tsarkva na Strupetskiya manastir]. – Art Studies Quarterly, 1998, No. 4, ill. on p. 15.
19 Ševo, Ljiljana. Манастир Ломница [Manastir Lomnica]. Beograd, 1999, 113-114, ill. 45.
20 Skavara, Mariya. Το έργο των Λινοτοπιτών ζωγράφων Μιχαήλ και Κωνσταντίνου στη Νό-
τια Αλβανία. Συμβολή στη μελέτη της μνημειακής ζωγραφικής του 17ου αιώνα. Unpublished
PhD Thesis, Ioannina, 2003, ill. 478.
21 The frescoes here are the work of Linotopites painters: Tourta, Anastasia. Οι ναοί του
Αγίου Νικολάου στη Βίτσα και του Αγίου Μηνά στο Μονοδένδρι. Προσέγγιση στο έργο των
ζωφράφων από το Λινοτόπι. Athens, 1991, 31-32, ill. 118a.
22 Paissidou. Οι τοιχογραφίες του 17ου αιώνα, 96, ill. 49b.
23 Gounaris, Georgios. Μεταβυζαντινές τοιχογραφίες στη Λέσβο (16ος–17ος αι.). Athens, 1999,
67-68, ill. 49.
24 Paissidou Melachrini. Ζητήματα μνημειακής ζωγραφικής του 16ου αιώνα από την περιοχή
των Πρεσπών. In: Ζητήματα μεταβυζαντινής ζωγραφικής στη μνήμη του Μανόλη Χατζηδά-
κη. Athens, 2002, 188, ill. 20.
25 Mašniќ, Mirjana. Манастирот Ореоец [Manastirot Oreoec]. Skopje, 2007, 48-49, ig. 48, ill. 20.
26 Only the text of the scroll from the church in Plati survives today.
27 There is substantial literature on these painters and their decorations. Here we will men-
tion only Stavropoulou-Makri, Аnghéliki. Les peintures murales de l’église de la Transiguration à
396
Fig. 4. St Nicholas Church in the Monastery of Toplica (1536/7). Photo: I. Vanev
Fig. 5. St George’s Church in Temska Monastery (1576). Photo: I. Vanev
397
In contrast, the Cretan painters who worked on Mount Athos and
in the Meteora during the same period did not include this scene
in their repertory. The Theban painters, on the other hand, paid
special atention to the depiction of Pilate’s Escort. In some of their
fresco programmes, this episode’s role becomes equally import-
ant to that of the remaining scenes from the cycle, and it is framed
separately from the composition Christ Helkomenos28. The Theban
painters added new elements to the iconographical scheme of the
episode – its main feature becomes a back-facing Pilate heading the
group of horsemen29. Another typical feature of the Epirus mod-
el are the fortress gates, which are given a prominent place in the
composition. Without exception, one of the horsemen and his horse
is depicted at the precise moment of exiting the Jerusalem fortress,
in some instances as viewed from the side, and in others – from a
frontal point of view30. Another distinctive feature of these images is
the content of the scroll held by Pilate. The words inscribed on it are
a precise visualization of the testimony in the Gospel of John (19:17
– 22). Thus in the scenes painted by members of the Epirus school
we read the following: ΙΗСΟΥС ΝΑΖΩΡΑΙΟС ΒΑСΙΛΕΥС ΤΩΝ
ΙΟΥΔΕΩΝ31. In the composition from the Monastery of St Nicholas
ton Philanthropinon32, the two lines following the common text in
Greek – ὁ βασιλεύ[ς] τῶν Ἰ[ου]δαίων, – are illed with undecipher-
Veltsista (1568) en Epire et l’atelier des peintres Kondaris. Ιωάννινα, 1989. Acheimastou-Potamia-
nou, Myrtali. Ζητήματα μνημειακής ζωγραφικής του 16ου αιώνα. Η τοπική ηπειρωτική σχολή.
– ΔΧΑΕ, 1992, No. 16, Athens, 1992, 13-32; Acheimastou-Potamianou, Myrtali. Οι τοιχογραφίες της
μονής των Φιλανθρωπηνών στο νησί των Ιωαννίνων. Athens, 2004.
28 As is done in the following monasteries: St Nicholas Dilios and Eleusa in Ioannina, Varlaam
in Meteora, Transiguration in Veltsista (present-day Klimatia).
29 This feature is mentioned by A. Karamperidi in her dissertation on Pateron Monastery; see
Karamperidi, Argyro. Η Μονή Πατέρων και η ζωγραφική του 17ου αιώνα στην περιοχή της Ζί-
τσας Ιωαννίνων. Unpublished PhD Thesis, Ioannina, 2006, 160, ref. 1144, 1145.
30 For example in the Monastery of St Nicholas of Philanthropinon: Acheimastou-Potamianou,
Myrtali. Η μονή των Φιλανθρωπηνών και η πρώτη φάση της μεταβυζαντινής ζωγραφικής.
Athens, 1983, 83-86, ill. 10b, 54; or in St Nicholas Dilios Monastery: Liva-Xanthaki, Theopisti. Οι
τοιχογραφίες της Μονής Ντίλιου. Ioannina, 1980, 69-72, ill. 29.
31 With insigniicant variation this text is found in the monasteries of Philanthropinon, St Nich-
olas Dilios, Transiguration in Veltsista, Varlaam in Meteora and in the church of St Demetrios
in Veltsista; see Acheimastou-Potamianou. Η μονή των Φιλανθρωπηνών, 85, ref. 647. The scroll
from St Demetrios Church in Veltsista has not been published – our observations come from ield
research.
32 On dating the murals in the nave see the interpretations of Acheimastou-Potamianou. Η μονή
των Φιλανθρωπηνών, 21-34, as well as of Semoglou, Athanasios. Ο εντοίχιος διάκοσμος του
καθολικού της Μονής Μυρτιάς στην Αιτωλία (φάση του 1539) και η θέση του στη ζωγραφική
του Α` μισού του 16ου αιώνα. – Egnatia, 2001–2002, No. 6, Thessaloniki, 185-238.
398
Fig. 6. Nave of the catholicon of the Varlaam Monastery, Meteora (1548). Photo: I. Vanev
able symbols, which – according to M. Acheimastou-Potamianou

who has studied the monument, – probably represent the addition-
al inscriptions in Latin and Hebrew that the Evangelist mentions33.
The same detail is present also in the Varlaam Monastery in Meteo-
ra (1548)34 (Fig. 6).
The inluence of this new iconographical model is already evident
in the art of some painters after the middle of the 16th century, for
example in the frescoes in St Athanasius (St. Nicholas) Church in
Šiševo (1565), produced by an anonymous painter35. A rare example
33 Acheimastou-Potamianou. Η μονή των Φιλανθρωπηνών, 85, ref. 647.

34 There is still no monograph on this monument, a true representative of the art of the Theban
painters.
35 J. Novakovic does not mention this scene in her article on the work of the artistic workshop
that has produced the frescoes; see Nikoliќ-Novakoviќ, Jasminka. Црквата во Градовци и една
сликарска работилница од втората половина на XVI век во околината на Скопје [Crkvata
vo Gradovci i edna slikarska rabotilnica od vtorata polovina na XVI vek vo okolinata na Skopje].
399
Fig. 7. Dormition of the Virgin Church in the village of Priboy, Pernik Province (17th century).
Photo: I. Vanev
of the distribution of the ‘Epirus type’ in the Bulgarian lands is the

image from the church of the Dormition of the Virgin in the village
of Priboy (17th c.)36 (Fig. 7). Painters from some of the workshops,
originating from the village of Linotopi, also adhere closely to the
elaborate artistic style of the Theban master painters. For example,
a certain Michael and his son Constantine consecutively ran a work-
shop that was active for a long period in the region of Epirus37 (Fig.
8).
To summarize, we can distinguish two main iconographical types
of the episode of Pilate’s Mounted Escort in the Central Balkan
– Kulturno nasledstvo, 1997, No. 22-23, Skopje, 91-107. For the image see Vasileski, Aleksandar.
Св. Атанасиj (Св. Никола), с. Шишево [Sv. Atanasij (Sv. Nikola), s. Šiševo]. In: E. Dimitrova,
V. Lilčiќ, K. Antevska, A. Vasileski (eds.). Матка. Културно наследство [Matka. Kulturno
nasledstvo]. Skopje, 2011, ill. on p. 240, 242.
36 Penkova, Bisserka. „Успение Богородично“, Прибой [“Uspenie Bogorodichno“, Priboy]. In:
Корпус на стенописите от XVII век в България [Korpus na stenopisite ot XVII vek v Balgariya].
Soia, 2012, 203-205, ill. on p. 205.
37 The main scholarly work on the painters is the following book: Tourta. Οι ναοί του Αγίου
Νικολάου στη Βίτσα, as well as the newer study by Tsampouras, Theocharis. Τα καλλιτεχνικά
εργαστήρια από την περιοχή του Γράμμου κατά τον 16ο και 17ο αιώνα. Ζωγράφοι από το
Λινοτόπι, την Γράμμοστα, τη Ζέρμα και το Μπουρμπουτσικό. Unpublished PhD Thesis, Thes-
saloniki, 2013. For examples from the region, painted by members of the workshop, see Karam-
peridi. Η Μονή Πατέρων, 159-161, ill. 116, 272, 238.
400
Fig. 8. St Nicholas Church in Vitsa, Epirus (1612) (An. Tourta)
Peninsula in the post-Byzantine period: the irst is used mostly by

painters working on the territory of the Archbishopric of Ochrid;
the second is the version created by the Theban painters and subse-
quently recreated far outside the borders of Epirus.
In comparison with the preceding period, the end of the 16th and
the beginning of the 17th century was a time when many painters’
workshops were active and productive. Quite often they did not
sign their work. The problem of their identiication is complicated
further by the syncretism of their painting style: in their reperto-
ry the same painters include models that were used by diferent
401
schools from the middle of the 16th century, together with the pre-
ceding models from the end of the 15th century, as well as from the
Palaiologan period. In such a complex environment the typology of
the scene that is suggested in the current study could contribute for
determining the origin of the painters that worked on a particular
fresco programme. In combination with a number of other icono-
graphic features this typology could serve as one of the markers,
hinting at the place where the painters received their education, or
indicating the region where they were hired most frequently.
Could the image from St George’s Church in Veliko Tarnovo be-
long to one of the two iconographical types mentioned earlier? And
what would that association reveal about the origin or the place of
education of the painters that worked in Tarnovo in 1616? In the
scene, recreated by the painters in St George, the body of the last
horse from the escort is depicted halfway through the gates of the
Fortress of Jerusalem – a feature that is typical for the Epirus school.
At the same time, Pilate is not facing backwards; this sets the image
apart from this iconographical type, and makes it more similar to
the Ochrid model. There is another detail that is not found in ei-
ther of the aforementioned models: the scroll – traditionally held
by Pilate – is in the hands of one of the high priests. Even more ex-
traordinarily, the text on the scroll does not correspond with either
version; the scroll from the church in Veliko Tarnovo contains sym-
bols that are neither Cyrillic nor Greek, with elements and lexemes
in Arabic; these, however, do not form a coherent text38. It should be
noted that this is not a case of Pseudo-Kuic ornamentation, as the
purpose of the scrolls is to convey particular information; in other
words, in their essence they have semantic value (even when their
content is unclear, as is the case here), whereas Kufesque in Chris-
tian art has a mainly decorative function39.
An earlier example of imitated text on Pilate’s scroll can be found
38 My deepest gratitude goes to Dr Anka Stoilova, archivist-Arabist at the Oriental Collections
Department of Sts Cyril and Methodius National Library for her help with the inscription. We
could presume that the painters are familiar with examples of Arabic writing, they can imitate it
but they are hardly transcribing an existing text. Besides, there are some elements from the Greek
writing on the scroll.
39 On this topic see: Orlova, Maria. О некоторых декоративных приемах в стенописи
собора Рождества Богоматери Антониева монастыря в Новгороде (1125) [O nekotorykh
dekorativnykh priyemakh v stenopisi sobora Rozhdestva Bogomateri Antoniyeva monastyrya v
Novgorode (1125)]. – Art Studies Quarterly, 2010, No. 1, 3-11.
402
Fig. 9. Holy Archangels Church in the Monastery of Kučevište (1591) (An. Seraimova)
Fig. 10. Detail

of the scroll
from the
Monastery of
Kučevište
403
on the frescoes in Yashunski Monastery St John the Baptist (1524) in
the vicinity of Niš40; however, in iconographical terms the episode
of Pilate’s Escort there difers from all images known at present, so
it will not be discussed here. The closest parallel to the scene from
Veliko Tarnovo can be found in the Monastery of the Holy Arch-
angels in the vicinity of Kučevište (1591)41 (Fig. 9). Here the scroll
is once again held by one of the horsemen, and its inscription is an
imitation of text (Fig. 10); the last of the horsemen, coming out of
the fortress, is depicted only halfway visible passing through the
gate. Certain similarities with these images can be found also in the
scenes from Pustinja Monastery (1622)42, as well as in Monastery of
the Holy Apostles in the Patriarchate of Peć (1633/4)43; hypothetical-
ly, they could also be ascribed to this peculiar type.
It is not easy to interpret the painter’s decision to ill the scroll with
an imitation of Arabic writing. The fact that the painters in Veliko
Tarnovo – who beyond doubt spoke Greek, – omited the Greek text
that is present in the scene from the Philanthropinon Monastery, as
well as from the Varlaam Monastery, reveals that this is not a mod-
iication of the Epirus model of Pilate’s Escort. Furthermore, in the
scene from Veliko Tarnovo – same as in the scene from Kučevište, –
the scroll is not in Pilate’s hands but in those of one of the horsemen
from the escort, i.e. the meaning of the text must be diferent both
from Pilate’s vindication (in the Ochrid-Kastorian type), as well as
from the depiction of the Gospel narrative (in the Epirus type). We
believe that the unique iconographic similarities between the im-
ages in the two churches suggest the existence of a common model
that was rarely used in the post-Byzantine period on the Balkans.
According to the scholar Aneta Seraimova – who studies the Mon-
astery of Kučevište – the authors of the frescoes in the nave were
40 No special research has been carried out on this monument, and the image has not been
published. The scene is extraordinary also because the episode Pilate’s Escort has been added
to the scene Cruciixion, and not the scene The Road to Calvary. For some information about
the monastery and the frescoes see Rakocija, Miša. Јашуњски манастир Св. Јована [Jašunjski
manastir Sv. Jovana.]. In: Манастири и цркве јужне и источне Србије [Manastiri i crkve južne
i istočne Srbije]. Niš, 2013, 113-115.
41 Serafimova, Aneta. Кучевишки манастир Свети Архангели [Kučeviški manastir Sveti
Arhangeli]. Skopje, 2005, 82-83, ill. 26, 28.
42 Pejić, Svetlana. Манастир Пустиња [Manastir Pustinja]. Beograd, 2002, 108-9, ill. 77.
43 Đurić, Vojislav. Ćirković, Sima. Korać, Vojislav. Пећка патријаршија [Pećka patrijaršija].
Beograd, 1990, 294, ill. 190.
404
educated on the territory of the Archbishopric of Ochrid44. She be-
lieves that this scene in particular follows the ‘Kastorian model’,
and its closest iconographic parallels can be found in the church
of St Athanasius (St Nicholas) in Šiševo (1565), and in St Nicholas
Šiševski Monastery (1630)45. As we have demonstrated, both sug-
gestions are inconclusive.
The clariication of the main iconographical models of the scene and
thence the speciication of the type, used in St George’s Church in
Veliko Tarnovo, aimed to take us one step closer to identifying the
origin of the painters who worked here. The general study of the
painting style, used in the church,46 led us to the suggestion that
the painters were most frequently hired from Thessaly, as their
iconographical repertory was inluenced most prominently by the
mural decorations in the region atributed to the famous Dzordzis
from Crete47. But this scene is not observed either in the repertory of
the Cretan painters, or in that of Dzordzis. However, this can only
partially account for its divergences from the two main types. The
unusual iconography of the episode, along with a few other dis-
tinctive features of the repertory of the painters working in Veliko
Tarnovo48, provide evidence that the later followed models that are
not typical for the Balkans; their origin – as well as their authors’ – is
yet to be determined and clariied.
44 Serafimova. Кучевишки манастир, 306.

45 Serafimova. Кучевишки манастир, 83. The painting from the Мonastery of Šiševo has not
been published.
46 Kolusheva. Църквата „Св. Георги“, 188.
47 Several fresco paintings from Thessaly are also atributed to Dzordzis from Crete and mem-
bers of his workshop, besides their works on Mount Athos – namely, the main churches of the
monasteries of Metamorphosis (The Great Meteoron) (1552) and Roussanou (1560) in Meteo-
ra, as well as St Vissarion Monastery (Doussikou) (1557) in the vicinity of Trikala. A detailed
bibliography about research on Dzordzis’ work can be found in: Perrakis, Ioannis. Συγκριτικές
εικονογραφικές παρατηρήσεις στα έργα του Θεοφάνη και του εργαστηρίου του Τζώρτζη, σε
παραστάσεις του Χριστολογικού κύκλου. In: Ανταπόδοση. Μελέτες βυζαντινής και μετα-
βυζαντινής αρχαιολογίας και τέχνης προς τιμήν της καθηγήτριας Ελένης Δελιγιάννη-Δω-
ρή. Athens, 2010, 370, ref. 2. See also: Anagnostopoloulos, Aleksandros. Οι τοιχογραφίες του
καθολικού της Μονής Ρουσάνου των Μετεώρων. Unpublished PhD Thesis, Thessaloniki, 2010.
48 Kolusheva. Църквата „Св. Георги“, 244.
405
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409
Сцената Пътят към Голгота
от църквата „Св. Георги“
във Велико Търново
Мария Колушева
В наоса на църквата „Св. Георги“ във В. Търново (1616) е представен

популярният в поствизантийското изкуство епизод на Конницата на Пилат
като част от сцената Пътят към Голгота. В текста е обърнато внимание на ня-
колко интересни иконографски детайла от изображението, които го отлича-
ват от повечето известни примери от периода. За да бъдат откроени по-ясно
особеностите на епизода от търновската църква, в изследването са набеля-
зани два основни иконографски типа на сцената, използвани от зографите
в края на XVI и началото на XVII в., които досега не са били предмет на
специално проучване. Единият от тях е утвърден в Охридско-костурския
регион през XV и XVI в., а другият е разработка на зографите, изпълнили
стенописите на редица важни църкви и манастири в района на Епир през
XVI в. Вариантът, представен в църквата „Св. Георги” в Търново, не съвпа-
да с нито един от разгледаните иконографски типове. Най-близък негов па-
ралел е известен от църквата на Кучевишкия манастир (1591). Сходствата
между двете изображения показват съществуването на общ модел, рядко
прилаган през поствизантийския период на Балканите. Заедно с още няколко
характерни особености в репертоара на зографите, работили в Търново, той
е свидетелство за следването на редки за Балканите модели, чийто произход
все още не е установен и предстои да бъде изясняван.
410
Костадин Геров-Антикаров –
даскал и зограф
Владимир Димитров1
Нов български университет
Abstract. The text summarises what is known about the Gerov-Antikarovs family
from academic literature, providing new information about them. It follows the rela-
tionships between the two branches of the Gerov-Antikarovs family, examining the
way in which the unconventional trade of glyptics (gemstone carving, antikarstvo in
Bulgarian) has made its way to Master Dimitar, giving the family a double-barrelled
surname. It studies Kosta Gerov’s activity as a teacher and icon-painter, as well as
the current state of his heritage of a painter.
Key words: Dimitar Gerov-Antikar, Bulgarian Revival art, painting, iconography.
Има една група зографи и техните паметници, които доскоро не

привличаха интереса на историците на изкуството, а работата
им бе определяна като слаба и незаслужаваща внимание2. Нещо
повече – това изкуство се смята за накърняващо националното
ни самочувствие3. Това мнение нанесе безвъзвратни загуби, а и
днес продължава да причинява много щети на паметниците от
1 Dr. Vladimir Dimitrov is a lecturer in the Department of Art Studies and History of Culture
at New Bulgarian University. Doctor of Art Studies since 2010. His main research interests are
directed in the realm of Bulgarian Revival Art, Iconography and Preservation of Cultural Herit-
age. Member of the Bulgarian National Commitee at the International Council of Monuments
and Sites (ICOMOS).
2 Kamenova, Dora. Наивистични стенописи от Възраждането [Naivistichni stenopisi ot Vaz-
razhdaneto]. – Изкуство [Izkustvo], No. 10, 1979, 15-19.
3 Kamenova. Наивистични стенописи.
411
тази група. Изкуството, разпространено най-масово през втората
половина на ХІХ в., понякога е занемарено целенасочено, защото
е смятано за упадъчно и неестетично. Напоследък се събуди ин-
терес и към този тип паметници, но за съжаление, в изкуствозна-
нието няма установена терминология по този въпрос. Най-често,
за да се обозначат паметниците от този тип, се използват терми-
ните „примитив“, „наив“, а майсторите, изработили тези памет-
ници, се наричат „нешколувани“.
Паметниците, определяни като примитивни, са разнородни по
особеностите на иконографските им програми и стила на рабо-
та. Това своеобразие е продиктувано от различните исторически
основания на поръчителите и изпълнителите за промяна в стила
и репертоара на стенописите. Сложната ситуация в края на ХІХ
в., слабият контрол от страна на църковната администрация, ди-
намично развиващото се общество в свободните земи и възрож-
денският дух, усилил се след връщането в границите на Осман-
ската империя на част от земите, чиито жители имат българско
етническо самосъзнание, образуват един вакуум и стенописта
в храмовете, запазена дотогава за големите енорийски и мана-
стирски църкви, се разпространява и в по-малките селища. „На-
ивът е представа на гражданина за селското...“4, но в контекста
на тези паметници той се превръща в представа за „градското“,
или по-точно в представа за „високото“. Взимайки предвид спе-
цификата на двата термина и тяхното взаимно допълване, смя-
там за уместно да използвам термините „примитив“ и „наив“
като синонимни и изцяло в техния позитивен аспект. Струва ми
се най-подходящо определението на Ернст Гомбрих за прими-
тива – като термин, изразяващ възхищение, а не снизхождение5.
***
Един будещ възхищение даскал и зограф е самоковчанинът
Коста Геров. Коста Геров е част от самоковския род Герови с
прозвището Антикарови, което явно е възприето и от нашия
зограф. В спомените на днешните потомци на семейството съ-
ществува преданието, че родът се е преселил от Македония, но
4 Kraev, Georg. Наивът [Naivat] – Изкуство [Izkustvo], No. 5, 42-45.

5 Gombrich, Ernst. Примитивното в изкуството [Primitivnoto v izkustvoto]. – Лик [Lik], 1979,
No. 16, с. 5.
412
Фиг. 1. Храм „Св. св. Петър и Павел“ в с. Доспей. Небесно войнство. Фрагмент
подробности на са запазени. До момента изследване на рода Ге-

рови/Антикарови не е правено. Васил Захариев публикува ста-
тия за Димитър Антикаров в два варианта през 1930 и 1958 г.6
Асен Василиев дава сходни сведения за Димитър Антикаров, но
публикува и по-обширна статия за Коста Геров7. Сведенията,
публикувани от Васил Захариев и Асен Василиев, са в основата
и на настоящата публикация. Към известните вече сведения ще
добавя и информацията от един неподписан лист, съхраняван у
наследниците на Антикарови, наименован „История на фами-
лия Антикарови“8.
6 Zahariev, Vassil. Димитър Атанасов Геров-Антикар [Dimitar Atanasov Gerov-Antikar]. –

Художествена култура [Hudozhestvena kultura], No. 9-10, 1929–1930, 91-94; Zahariev, Vassil.
Димитър Анастасов Геров-Антикар (1815–1904) [Dimitar Anastasov Gerov – Antikar (1815–
1904)]. – Изкуство [Izkustvo], No. 29-32.
7 Vasiliev, Asen. Български възрожденски майстори [Balgarski vazrozhdenski maystori]. So-
ia, 1965, 468-472.
8 Ръкописът ми бе предоставен от г-н Владимир Антикаров, потомък на Димитър Ге-
ров-Антикаров. Изказвам специална благодарност за предоставения ръкопис и цялостно-
то съдействие.
413
Фиг. 2. Храм „Св. Петка“ в с. Чуйпетльово. Бог Отец дава имена на животните
Фиг. 3. Храм „Св. св. Петър и Павел“ в с. Кралев дол. Възпоменателен надпис
414
Най-ранният познат ни представител на фамилията е Атанас Ге-
ров9 – кръчмар и бояджия на шаяци10, за когото знаем, че е имал
двама синове – Димитър и Костадин.
Димитър Атанасов Геров-Антикар (1815–1904) според Асен Васи-
лиев е единственият у нас майстор гравьор на скъпоценни и по-
лускъпоценни камъни. Този занаят той е възприел от своя вуйчо
йеродякон Йосиф от Хилендарския манастир. Вуйчото на мал-
кия Димитър е пътувал на Изток чак до Джеда11 и Йемен, където
се смята, че е усвоил гравьорския занаят. Семейното предание
твърди, че той е бил иконописец, сведение, което не е потвърде-
но с факти до този момент. В годините на Гръцкото национално-
освободително въстание (1821–1830) настъпили неспокойни дни
за Света гора и йеродяконът се завърнал в родния Самоков. Там
той си припомнил умението да изработва „антики“ и си напра-
вил примитивен „струг“, който е запазен и до днес – част е от
постоянната експозиция на градския музей в гр. Самоков. Име-
то на йеродякон Йосиф се среща сред спомоществователите на
„Христоитията“ на Райно Попович.
Димитър Геров е учил занаята от своя вуйчо, а след неговата
смърт е наследил както инструментите, така и клиентите му, а
те са били заможни търговци, занаятчии, еснафи, манастирски
братства, църковни настоятелства. С подобни на изработваните
от Антикаровци печати са подпечатвани молбите на църковните
общини до Цариград за признаване на църковна независимост
от Вселенската патриаршия, за строеж или възстановяване на
храмове, както и всякакви други молби до столичната админи-
страция. При Антикаровци учи и синът на Никола Карастоянов
– Анастас, който при дългия си принудителен престой в Бел-
град12, за да се издържа, е изработвал печати от пиринч пред
входа на Висшата школа в града.
Освен печати за общини, настоятелства и сдружения Дими-
9 Коста Геров изписва името си в различни варианти, от там идва и различното изписване
сред авторите, писали по темата.
10 Zahariev. Димитър Атанасов Геров-Антикар.
11 Град в Саудитска Арабия на Червено море, докъдето са транспортирани поклонници-
те, търгнали на хадж в Мека и Медина.
12 Докато Анастас Карастоянов е в Белград, за да закупи букви за семейната печатница.
Поради избухналите междудинастични борби неговото завръщане в Османската империя
е било затруднено и той прекарва дълго време в столицата на Сръбското княжество.
415
Фиг. 4. Храм „Св. св. Петър и Павел“ в с. Кралев дол. Св. св. Петър и Павел – патрони на
храма
тър Антикар е изработвал и венчални пръстени за заможните

жители на Самоков. Сред клиентите си Антикарят имал както
християни, така и мюсюлмани, вторите си носели скъпоценни и
полускъпоценни камъни, закупени от Мека по време на хаджи-
лъка. Най-предпочитаният материал бил ахатът (акът камик)13.
Поръчките очевидно са били много, а и добре платени. Майсто-
рът антикар е изработвал по 7-8 по-прости антики на ден, а от
по-сложните – по 3-4 на ден. Заплащало се от 10 до 20 гроша
според големината и сложността на антиката.
Поръчките майстор Димитър записвал в тефтер с дата, име на
клиента, заплатена сума, както и отпечатък на антиката от саж-
ди. Сред най-предпочитаните изображения е женската фигура,
права или седнала (Атина Палада и/или Нике), а също така хар-
13 Zahariev. Димитър Атанасов Геров-Антикар, 93.
416
пии, конници, кентаври, еро-
си, театрални маски, двуглави
орли, гълъби. Често се срещат
и инициалите на притежателя
на гемата. Сред притежателите
на пръстени печати, изработени
от Антикаровци, е и прочутият
самоковски зограф Захарий. Ос-
вен пръстени печати по поръчка
Димитър Антикар е изготвял
и такива, които е отнасял на
най-прочутите панаири: Узун-
джовския, в Ески Джумая и др.,
където е продавал всичко и е
получавал от турските търговци
нови поръчки. Поръчвали му
пръстени чак от Моравия.
Майсторът антикар Димитър
Геров се ползвал с уважение
сред жителите на Самоков, име-
то му се среща, също както на
неговия вуйчо Йосиф, сред спо-
моществователите на книги и в Фиг. 5. Храм „Св. арх. Михаил“ в
църковните кондики. Името му с. Студена. Възпоменателен надпис
е записано в кондиката от 1857
до 1880 г. на храма „Успение Богородично“. Бил е избиран за
училищен настоятел и за касиер на земеделческата каса. След
Освобождението на България интересът към изработваните от
Димитър Антикар пръстени е изместен от евтината фабрична
продукция. Майсторът изработва последния си пръстен с два
чифта очила през 1885 г.14
Средата на ХІХ в. Димитър се жени за Елена Хаджийска от с.
Костенец и двамата имат 5 деца: Никола (1857), Атанас (1859),
Марийка (1865), Катерина (1874) и Анна (1882). В семейните спо-
мени той е запомнен като много консервативен и недалновиден.
Не е можел да повярва, че новоизбраната столица на княжество-
14 Zahariev. Димитър Атанасов Геров-Антикар; Zahariev, Vassil. Димитър Анастасов Геров-
Антикар (1815–1904).
417
Фиг. 6. Храм „Св. св. Кирил и Методий“ (Св. Крал) Люлински манастир.
Отците литургисти: св. Василий Велики, св. Григорий Богослов и св. Йоан Златоуст
то ще остане в София – град, много по-назад от Самоков, Русе

или Търново, и при изселването на турците, макар и да е разпо-
лагал със значителни средства, закупил имоти в Самоков, а не
в София. Димитър Антикар умира на 89-годишна възраст на 1
октомври 1904 г. Връщайки се от млекарницата, бил нападнат
от градския бик, който му счупил ребра, което става причина за
смъртта му според семейната хроника15.
Нито едно от децата на Димитър Антикар не наследява неговия
занаят. Синът му Атанас е помагал на баща си в последните го-
дини при обработката на камъните, но не е продължил с това
занимание. За Атанас се знае, че е бил учител в Самоков и Берко-
вица. В Берковица е имал изява и като актьор.
15 История на фамилия Антикарови (ръкопис).
418
Фиг. 7. Храм „Св. Николай“ в Кладнишкия манастир. Обетованата земя
Дъщеря му Катерина се омъжва за Йеротей Сирманов (22 юни

1861 г., Габрово – 15 септември 1954 г., Пловдив), който достига до
чин генерал-майор. Ген. Сирманов се е занимавал с фотография.
Наред с многобройните фотографии от времето на Балканските
и Първата световна война до нас са достигнали и много фотогра-
фии на семеството, включително на неговата съпруга Екатерина
Антикарова-Сирманова. За дъщерите на майстор Димитър, Ма-
рийка и Анна, няма запазена информация16.
Родът е продължен и до днес от най-големия му син Никола Ан-
тикаров (р. 1857), който е бил сред доверените лица на Георги
Бенковски, на когото е препоръчал верни за българската кауза
16 Потомци на Йеротей Сирманов не открих. През 1958 г. Васил Захариев посвещава своя-
та статия на стоматолога Васил Геров, „потомък на големия майстор Димитър“. Това све-
дение ни подсказва, че част от семейството са запазили фамилията Герови.
419
Фиг. 8. Храм „Св. Николай“ в кв. Църква, Перник. Ангел
хора от Самоков. След Освобождението учи в Санкт Петербург.

Заради заслугите му в Сръбско-българската война през 1886 г.
получава капитански чин, майор от 1888 г., а през 1909 г. е награ-
ден с медал „За независимостта на България 1908“.
***
Вторият син на Атанас Геров – Костадин (Коста) Атанасов Ге-
ров-Антикаров, е роден в Самоков през 1831 г. Умира в същия
град на 28 юли 1905 г. Работи като бояджия при баща си, но
когато минава 20-тата си година, започва да изучава живопис
при Йоан Иконописец – учи заедно със сина на Йоан Никола
Образописов. Работи в населените места предимно по-горното
течение на река Струма, като най-дълго време прекарва в село
Студена – важно транспортно средище през ХIХ в. с множество
ханове, а до средата на века работи и видна (мадан) за преработ-
ка на желязна руда. Наличието на подобни доходоносни пред-
приятия е създало благосъстояние сред местните жители, а това
води до възможност и развитие на все по-родолюбива дейност
сред местните първенци. За пръв път в селото е имало учител
през 1873/74 г., казвал се е Стойчо, наследен от Коста Геров през
1874 г. Работи в селото 4 години, а след известно прекъсване – и
през 1881–1884 г. Преподава предимно четмо, и то по взаимо-
учителната метода. Калемите, върху които пишели учениците,
сами си намирали по-време на излетите, които учителят правел
по южните склонове на Витоша. Класът му достигал до 40 души.
В него имало момчета и момичета от съседните села. От разго-
ворите на Асен Василиев със сина му Михаил Геров научаваме,
че по време на учебните си часове той шиел дрехи. Освен на чет-
420
Фиг. 9. Храм „Св. Николай“ в с. Широки дол. Покров Богородичен
мо и писмо К. Геров наблягал на историята, като преподавал по

Петър Сапунов, на географията (землеописание) и смятането,
като таблицата за умножение била изучавана под формата на
песен. Учениците му знаели всички песни на Добри Чинтулов и
е запомнен като голям родолюбец, призоваващ към революция
селото. Това е и причината да бъде прекъсната учителската му
кариера. Местен първенец разяснил на османската управа зна-
чението на Чинтуловите песни. Основал и вечерно училище, в
което занимавал по-възрастните жители на Студена с приказки
и смешки, свързани с тогавашните недъзи на обществото. По не-
гово време започва да се отбелязва и празникът на българските
просветители св. св. Кирил и Методий17.
17 Vasiliev, Asen. Български възрожденски майстори [Balgarski vazrozhdenski maystori]. So-
ia, 1965, 468-472.
421
Учителства и рисува в селата Попово (1880) и Кладница (1885),
заплащането му като даскал било скромно – 21 гроша (една бяла
меджидия) на година, а храна му носели самите ученици. Така
през зимата учителствал, а през лятото рисувал в местния храм.
Запомнен е като скромен, сладкодумен и добър певец18.
Според Асен Василиев той е работил в селата Дрен, Доспей
(1868), Чуйпетльово (1865), Боснек и Кралев дол (1867), Студена
(1869, 1878, 1884), манастира „Св. Крал“ (1877), Попово (1880),
Кладница (1885), Калкас (1891/92), Църква (1892/93), Крапец, ма-
настира „Св. Пантелеймон“, Горна Диканя, Широк дол, Моши-
но, Драгодан, Трекляно, Бобошево (1888), Просокомидията на
митрополитската църква в Самоков и Радуил (1897). Според спо-
мените на Михаил Геров, цитирани от Асен Василиев, той ходил
да работи и в Търновско, включително в Плаково, но авторът не
открива там следи от неговата работа, аз също не открих19.
През последните години обстойно проучих съвременното със-
тояние на живописното наследство, оставено ни от Коста Геров, а
то е следното: в селата Дрен, Горна Диканя, Трекляно и манасти-
ра „Св. Панталеймон“ няма следи от неговата работа, а и трудно
можем да допуснем, че е работил в тях20. Според Виктор Банов21
той е майстор строител на храма в село Калкас, но информици-
ята е спорна. В с. Доспей има следи само от стенописи, но може
да се допусне с висока степен на сигурност, че те са негови (фиг.
1). В съавторство с други (неизвестни) зографи работи в селата
Чуйпетльово (фиг. 2), Кладница (фиг. 7), Широки дол (фиг. 9) и
един съвсем малък фрагмент в храма „Успение Богородично“ в
гр. Бобошево (фиг. 10). Храмовете в селата Попово, Крапец, Кал-
кас и Мошино, Пернишко, днес не съществуват. Те са под води-
те на създадени в средата на ХХ в. водоеми или просто са били
разрушени, без да бъдат документирани предварително. В село
Драгодан стенописите са от друга група зографи22. Безспорно,
18 Vasiliev. Български възрожденски майстори.

19 Vasiliev. Български възрожденски майстори, 470.
20 Теренното проучване проведох през лятото на 2015 г. Изказвам специална благодар-
ност за помощта на отец Ангел (протосингел на Софийската мирополия), доц. д-р Кон-
стантин Вълчев и г-жа Мина Топузова.
21 Banov, Victor. Православните храмове на Перник [Pravoslavnite hramove na Pernik]. Per-
nik, 2014, 63.
22 Dimitrov, Vladimir. От национални герои към светци или за живописта в църквата в село
422
негови ансамбли са запазени в
селата Боснек, Кралев дол (фиг.
3 и 4), Студена (фиг. 5), Църква
(фиг. 8) и Люлинския манастир
„Св. св. Кирил и Методий“ („Св.
Крал“) край кв. Горна баня, Со-
фия (фиг. 6).
В част от паметниците са запа-
зени подписите на зографа. В
Кралев дол (фиг. 3) той се под-
писва като Костадин Анастасов
Геров, а в Студена (фиг. 5) се
подписва Костантин А. Анти-
каров. Надписите, включително
начините на изписване на лич-
ното му име, ще коментирам в
отделен текст, тук се спирам на
факта, че с течение на времето
той все по-често започва да из-
ползва името Антикаров.
Димитър Геров-Антикаров и
неговите наследници възпри-
емат прозвището на майстора
на антики като фамилно име,
нещо, напълно нормално при
формиране на именната систе-
ма на възрожданските българи.
Коста Геров, който не се зани-
мава със същия занаят и е бил
15 години по-млад от брат си,
очевидно постепенно възприе-
ма вече утвърденото прозвище
на по-големия и с уважавана
професия брат Димитър. От
публикуваните от Асен Васили-
Драгодан [Ot natsionalni geroi kam svetsi ili za

zhivopista v tsarkvata v selo Dragodan]. – Art Фиг. 10. Храм „Успение Богородично“
Studies Quarterly, 2016, No. 2, 44-49. в гр. Бобошево. Св. Петка
423
ев надписи в манастира „Св. Крал“, които днес не са запазени,
синът на Коста Геров, Михаил, се подписва със старото фамилно
име Геров. Явно той не е възприел новата фамилия Антикаров,
нещо, което са сторили и други от потомците на този заслужа-
ващ по-задълбочено изследване възрожденски род23.
В настоящия текст си поставих за цел да обобщя известното до-
сега за фамилията, от която произхожда самоковският зограф
Коста Геров-Антикаров и по-големият му брат Димитър Ге-
ров-Антикаров, един от малкото майстори, владеещи занаята за
обработка на полускъпоценни камъни и изработване на печати
по нашите земи. Статията е първата стъпка в посока документи-
ране и проучване на цялото творческо наследство на Коста Ге-
ров-Антикаров – даскал и зограф, работил в последните години
на Българското възраждане. Чрез цялостното проучване на не-
говото творчество ще се допълни картината на възрожденското
изкуство в района на Пернишко.
23 Vasiliev, Asen. Църкви и манастири из Западна България [Tsarkvi i manastiri iz Zapadna
Balgariya]. – Разкопки и проучвания IV [Razkopki i prouchvaniya ІV], Soia, 1950, с. 57.
424
Библиография
Banov, Victor. Православните храмове на Перник [Pravo-

slavnite hramove na Pernik]. Pernik, 2014.
Vasiliev, Asen. Трем на Българското възраждане [Trem na
Balgarskoto vazrazhdane]. Soia, 1936.
Vasiliev, Asen. Църкви и манастири из Западна България
[Tsarkvi i manastiri iz Zapadna Balgariya]. Разкопки и
проучвания [Razkopki i prouchvaniya ІV]. Soia, 1950.
Vasiliev, Asen. Български възрожденски майстори [Balgarski
vazrozhdenski maystori]. Soia, 1965.
Gombrih, Ernst. Примитивното в изкуството [Primitivnoto v
izkustvoto]. – Лик [Lik], 1979, No. 16, 4-11; No. 17, 4-12.
Dimitrov, Vladimir. От национални герои към светци или за
живописта в църквата в село Драгодан [Ot natsionalni geroi
kam svetsi ili za zhivopista v tsarkvata v selo Dragodan]. – Art
Studies Quarterly, 2016, No. 2, 44-49.
Zahariev, Vasil. Димитър Атанасов Геров-Антикар [Dimitar
Atanasov Gerov – Antikar]. – Художествена култура [Hu-
dozhestvena kultura], 1929–1930, No 9-10, 91-94.
Zahariev, Vasil. Димитър Анастасов Геров-Антикар (1815–
1904) [Dimitar Anastasov Gerov-Antikar (1815–1904)]. –
Изкуство [Izkustvo], No. 6, 29-32.
Kamenova, Dora. Наивистични стенописи от Възраждането
[Naivistichni stenopisi ot Vazrazhdaneto [Наивистични
стенописи от Възраждането]. – Изкуство [Izkustvo], No. 10,
1979, 15-19.
Kraev, Georg. Наивът [Naivat]. – Изкуство [Izkustvo], 1989,
No. 5, 42-45.
425
Kostadin Gerov-Antikarov:
A Teacher and Icon Painter
Vladimir Dimitrov
During the period of the Bulgarian National Revival, representatives of the Bulgari-
an intelligentsia sought to revive Bulgarian historical memory and to create a nation-
al mythology in order to bolster national pride and enhance their status among the
general public and the members of their own communities. In the process of shaping
the national identity, a particularly important role was ascribed to national legends,
which provided a sense of legitimacy within the communities as well as beyond.
Gradually, a national history was developed with a strong mythical element.
The oeuvres of 19th-century icon painters have not been suiciently explored. Some
of their works are only now being rediscovered by modern scholars, while others
seem to be irretrievably lost. Kosta Gerov Antikarov (1831–1905) was a teacher and
icon painter, who worked in the second half of the 19th century. In the places, where
he worked, he was remembered as a ‘patriot’ and a ‘remarkable man’. Between the
Feasts of St Demetrios and St George, he typically worked as a teacher: he taught
his pupils, both boys and girls, revolutionary songs by Dobri Chintulov, conducted
evening courses for adults, removed Turcisms from common use in the Bulgarian
language, and introduced the celebration of the Feast of Sts Cyril and Methodius. He
also joined the struggle against Deli Matei, Bishop of Samokov.
During school holidays, Kosta Gerov Antikarov devoted himself to painting church-
es. His role as a progressive educator is abundantly in evidence in his artistic legacy.
The repertory of his church murals is the focus of the present study, including both
his secular and religious subjects, by which he aspired to rekindle and reinforce a
sense of national identity among the Bulgarian people.
426
Religious and National Mythmaking:
Conservation and Reconstruction
of the Social Memory
Antonios Tsakalos1
Byzantine and Christian Museum, Athens
Abstract. This essay examines the notions of otherness; the making of a past, and
the shaping of a national/religious/cultural identity, using the example of the vil-
lage of Nea Karvali as a case study. The village was founded in the mid-1920s in
northern Greece by Orthodox Christian Turkish-speaking refugees from the vil-
lage of Gelveri in Cappadocia, Turkey. This study focuses on a series of religious
and national myths that were created to secure honourable past for the group; to
preserve and reconstruct its social and cultural memory, and, ultimately, to facili-
tate the community’s process of integration into the new social environment.
Key words: Cappadocia, Gelveri – Karbala, Nea Karvali, St. Gregory of Nazianzus
(the Theologian), collective memory, national identity, ethnic myth.
The conservation and reconstruction of the social and cultural me-

mory of a group, through the transmission of religious and national
myths, has been extensively analyzed from multiple angles in the
context of both small and large communities2. Taking full advantage
1 Dr Antonios Tsakalos is Curator of Antiquities at the Byzantine and Christian Museum, Athens.
He is an archaeologist, working on church painting, liturgy, donors’ activity and monastic rock-
cut architecture in Byzantine Cappadocia. He is also a social anthropologist, working in the ields
of oral tradition, social memory and religious/national identity.
2 Halbwachs, Maurice. Les cadres sociaux de la mémoire. Paris, 1925; Halbwachs, Maurice.
La mémoire collective. Paris, 1950; Connerton, Paul. How Societies Remember. Cambridge,
1989; Hobsbaum, Eric, Ranger, Terence. The Invention of Tradition. Cambridge, 1989; Fen-
tress, James, Wickham, Chris. Social Memory. Oxford, 1992; Alvarez-Pereyre, Frank (ed.). Mi-
427
of recent scholarship in this ield, the present study focuses on the
notions of otherness, of making of a past, and of shaping a natio-
nal/religious/cultural identity, as applied in the case of the village
of Nea Karvali, founded in the mid-1920s in northern Greece by
Orthodox Christian Turkish-speaking refugees from the village of
Gelveri in Cappadocia, Turkey3.
Gelveri (actually Güzelyurt) was an important Christian center in
western Cappadocia4. The area was highly populated during the
Early-Christian period, even though very few monuments survive
from then. Among the best-preserved examples, Kızıl Kilise (the
Red Church), probably dating back to the 5th century, may have
been the funerary chapel of Gregory of Nazianzus5 (Fig. 1). Gelveri
has been associated with the place mentioned as Karbala in writen
sources, where Gregory of Nazianzus, one of the three Hierarchs,
also known as Gregory the Theologian, spent part of his life during
the 4th century6 (Fig. 2). The saint’s relics were believed to be kept
and venerated in the village’s main church, which was dedicated
to him7 (Fig. 3). Later, during the 9th–11th centuries, the abundance
of rock-cut monuments testiies to the prosperity of Cappadocia8.
The Christian populations continued to live in Cappadocia after the
batle of Mazikert (1071) and the Seljuk conquest of Asia Minor, as
lieux et mémoire. Jerusalem, 1993; Becquelin, Aurore. Molinié, Antoinette (eds.). Mémoire de
la tradition. Nanterre, 1993.
3 Tsakalos, Antonios. Conservation et reconstruction de la mémoire sociale: l’exemple de Néa Ka-
rvali, village de réfugiés en Grèce (unpublished Masters’ degree thesis, École des Hautes Études
en Sciences Sociales). Paris, 1997.
4 Hild, Friedrich, Restle, Marcell. Kappadokien (Kappadokia, Charsianon, Sebasteia und Lykan-
dos). Vienna, 1981 (Tabula Imperii Byzantini 2), 200-201.
5 Thierry, Nicole and Michel. Nouvelles églises rupestres de Cappadoce. Région du Hasan
Dağı. Paris, 1963, 9, 25-26. On the monuments of the area in general, see Ramsay, William Mitch-
ell, Bell, Gertrude Lowthian. The Thousand and One Churches. London, 1909.
6 As mentioned in his Letter 203: Gregory of Nazianzus. P.G. No. 37, col. 333f., col. 1451–1477.
7 The church of Haghios Grigorios Theologos (probably from the 11th century) has been subject
to major renovation since 1896, and is actually converted into a mosque (Kilise Camii). The un-
derground haghiasma is still accessible: Thierry. Nouvelles églises rupestres, 24.
8 Cappadocia is particularly famous for numerous Middle-Byzantine monuments (painted
churches, monasteries and residential complexes) carved into the soft volcanic tufa that covers
the whole region: Jerphanion, Guillaume de. Les églises rupestres de Cappadoce. Une nouvelle
province de l’art byzantin. Paris, 1925–1942; Thierry, Nicole. Haut Moyen Âge en Cappadoce.
Les églises de la région de Çavuşin. T. I: Paris, 1983, T. II: Paris 1994; Jolivet-Lévy, Catherine. Les
églises byzantines de Cappadoce. Le programme iconographique de l’abside et de ses abords.
Paris, 1991. On the setlement/town at Çanlı Kilise (not far from Gelveri) with paintings of the 11th
and 13th century in the main church: Ousterhout, Robert. A Byzantine Setlement in Cappadocia.
Washington D.C., 2012.
428
Fig. 1. Kızıl Kilise (the Red Church) in Cappadocia, a free cross-plan with high dome (probably
5th century), associated with St. Gregory of Nazianzus
atested by a number of 13th century rock-cut monuments9 and the

Otoman census records of the 15th and 16th centuries10. Towards the
second half of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, Gel-
veri enjoyed a period of prosperity (from about 1840 to 1914), like
many Cappadocian villages at that time. The male members of the
community migrated en masse to Constantinople or other important
cities in search of work, from where they were able to send money
back to their families which funded the building of elegant hous-
es (Fig. 4), as well as big churches, public buildings and important
schools, such as the parthenagogeion (school for girls, currently used
as a hotel), (Fig. 5). During that period, the village was inhabited
by around 300 Muslims and 3,000 Orthodox Christians who were
Turkish-speaking, but demonstrably conscious of their Byzantine
9 For a comprehensive presentation of the 13th century monuments: Jolivet-Lévy, Catherine. La

Cappadoce médiévale. Images et spiritualité. Paris, 2001, 82-87.
10 Beldiceanu-Steinherr, Irene. La géographie historique de l’Anatolie centrale d’après les re-
gistres otomans. – Comptes Rendus de l’Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Letres, 1982, 470-
502; Beldiceanu-Steinherr, Irene. Les Bektaşī à la lumière des recensements otomans (XVe–XVIe
siècles). – Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes, 1991, No. 81, 50.
429
past and a certain Hellenic national identity11.
The period of prosperity suddenly ended in 1922, with the defeat
of the Greeks by the Turkish army. The Exchange of Populations
(1923) resulted in the obligatory simultaneous removal of Greeks
and Turks, who were classiied according to their religious ailia-
tion, from Turkey to Greece and vice versa12. All Christian inhabit-
ants of Gelveri (about 500 families, or 3,000 people) were Karaman-
lides13. They were forced to collectively migrate from Cappadocia
to northern Greece. In 1924, after several months of preparations,
the villagers of Gelveri left their homeland, having been allowed
to take with them only their personal and valuable belongings, and
accompanied by an important number of icons, religious utensils
and furnishings of the churches, as well as the relics of their patron
saint, Gregory the Theologian. After a long trip by boat, the major-
ity inally setled in northern Greece, at 12 kms east of the city of
Kavala, in a swampy land that was granted to them by the Hellen-
ic state, which had to organize the reception of almost 1.5 million
refugees. On that land, in the mid-1920s, the village of Nea Karva-
li was founded, under the strain of unsanitary conditions, poverty
and psychological pressure14.
11 On the history of the village of Karbala/Gelveri and the etymology of its name, see
Karatza, Eleni. Καππαδοκία: Ο τελευταίος ελληνισμός της περιφέρειας Ακσεράι-
Γκέλβερι (Καρβάλης). Athens, 1985, 134-141, 147-158. On the population: Petropoulos,
Dimitris, Andreadis, Ermolaos. Η θρησκευτική ζωή στην περιφέρεια Ακσεράι – Γκέλβερι.
Athens, 1971, 63-64.
12 In the aftermath of the Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922, there was a mutual expulsion of
around 1.5 million Anatolian Orthodox Christians from Turkey to Greece, and of fewer than
400,000 Muslims from Greece to Turkey. It is important to draw atention to the fact that the Con-
vention classiied Greeks and Turks according to religious ailiation. As a consequence, many
Greek Muslims (living in Greece and speaking litle or no Turkish) were classiied as Turks and
were forced to leave their homes. Similarly, many Turkish-speaking Christians from north-east-
ern Anatolia and Cappadocia were classiied as Greeks and were expelled to Greece. On the
historic and social context of that period: Svoronos, Nicolas. Histoire de la Grèce moderne, Par-
is, 1972, 84-98; Chaziiosif, Christos (ed.). Ιστορία της Ελλάδας του 20ού αιώνα, vols. A, B: Οι
απαρχές 1900–1922. Athens, 1999.
13 The Karamanlides were Turkish-speaking Orthodox Christians who wrote in Turkish but
with Greek characters, known as karamanlidika. See recently, with the previous literature on the
subject: Balta, Evgenia, Kappler, Mathias (eds.). Cries and Whispers in Karamanlidika Books.
Proceedings of the First International Conference on Karamanlidika Studies (Nicosia, 11th – 13th
September 2008). Turcologica No. 83. Wiesbaden, 2010.
14 According to oral testimonies, the number of people setled in Nea Karvali reached 2,500, of
whom about 1,000 died of malaria during the irst years: Karatza, Καππαδοκία: Ο τελευταίος
ελληνισμός, 332, footnote 820. According to the census carried out by the National Statistic
Office of Greece, by May 1928 there were 1,090 inhabitants.
430
Fig. 2. Icon of the Three Hierarchs: St. Gregory the Theologian (on the left), St. John Chrysostom
and St. Basil (detail from side B of a bilateral icon with Panaghia Hodegetria on side A), irst half
of 14th century, Byzantine and Christian Museum, inv. no. BXM 992
Process of integration and the notion of otherness

Group feeling was an important safeguard of the community’s uni-
ty at this time. Refugee groups in particular show a strong tendency
towards remembering and recreating, as a priority, the characteris-
tics of their place of origin in their new homeland15. The word “Nea”
(new, in Greek) preceding the name of the village Nea Karvali, re-
sponded to the group’s need for keeping a direct link with the past
and thus retaining its own cultural, ethnic and local identity. In re-
sponse to a similar requirement, priority was given to the erection
of the new church of St. Gregory the Theologian in the very centre
15 Halbwachs. La mémoire collective, 132, 133; Bastide, Roger. Mémoire collective et socio-
logie du bricolage. – L’Année sociologique, 1970, No. 21, 86.
431
Fig. 3. The church of
Haghios Grigorios
Theologos in the
village of Gelveri,
Cappadocia, Turkey
Fig. 4. Detail
from the exterior
decoration of a
private house in
Gelveri, Cappadocia,
end of 19th century
Fig. 5. Gelveri, the

parthenagogeion
(school for girls, cur-
rently used as a hotel),
end of 19th – beginning
of 20th century
432
Fig. 6. The church of Haghios Grigorios Theologos, Nea Karvali, Greece
of the village (Fig. 6), where the patron saint’s relics would be kept,
together with the icons and sacred utensils brought from the old
village in Cappadocia. Through the conservation of relics and reli-
gious objects as guarantors par excellence of antiquity, authenticity
and respect for stable traditional values, the church of Nea Karvali
assumed the privileged and almost exclusive role of becoming the
vessel of the entire community’s collective memory16.
As regards religious afairs, the integration process was not very
diicult, because the Greek “host culture” and the Cappadocian
“guest culture” were of the same Orthodox Christian religion. Ne-
vertheless, the notion of otherness remained quite strong for the
community members during their irst decades in Greece. The main
reason was that they were Karamanlides and, despite their Christian
religion, their mother tongue was Turkish. Because of their Tur-
kophony, the indigenous Greeks greatly despised the newcomers
and called them “Turkish spawns” (Tourkosporoi), holding them in
16 On this subject: Halbwachs. La mémoire collective, 162. See also: Augé, Marc. Génie du pa-
ganisme, Paris, 1982, 38 (where the author reminds us of the function of religion, according
to Durkheim, to act as a source of solidarity and identification for the individuals within
a society).
433
contempt. The male members of the community were obliged to
learn Greek as soon as possible in order to ind jobs, while children
were integrated by acquiring luent command of Greek at school.
On the contrary, women learned Greek less quickly and not very
well because they rarely worked outside of the village; even today
the oldest ones still feel more comfortable speaking Turkish, conir-
ming that language ofers to those who share it a feeling of cohesion
and of being part of a group. Learning Greek helped the social in-
tegration of the refugees, and it was the only way to improve their
professional and inancial situation. The State too considered edu-
cation very important: it acquired a public character and became
free and compulsory, providing a very efective means of difusing
oicial ideology and promoting national unity among the diferent
populations of the country.
Along with learning Greek, the Cappadocian immigrants tended
to modify their family names by “Hellenizing” them, so that they
could be beter adapted to the language of their new setlement.
Erasing any distinctive signs of their foreign origin, they tended
to faithfully translate the meaning of their surnames from Turkish
into Greek, and to replace the termination –oğlu (deriving from the
Turkish oğul = son of) by –idis, –adis or –opoulos, which were com-
mon in Greek17.
One of the main axes for investigating the integration of a group
within its social environment is the study of matrimonial connec-
tions. Research in the archives of the Nea Karvali community shows
that village endogamy was the main characteristic during the irst
years in of new setlement. Nevertheless, the situation changed after
the World War Two, when marriages between refugees and people
outside of their community proper became much more frequent.
A number of convergence points can be detected between the Cap-
padocian “guest culture” and the Greek “host culture”, and it is not
surprising that they seem to be contradictory to each other. On the
one hand, the community instinctively showed a tendency to wit-
hdraw into itself, and realized the importance of maintaining their
17 Just to name several examples, the surname Kayaoğlu was transformed into Petridis (kaya in
Turkish and petra in Greek mean stone, rock); Boyacoğlu was turned into Vafeiadis (boyacı and
vafeas mean painter in Turkish and Greek respectively); Osmanoğlou (osmanlı meaning the man
who makes himself respected, who terrorizes his entourage, in Turkish) became Gennaiopoulos
(gennaios means brave, in Greek).
434
traditions and preserving a ‘proper’ identity. On the other hand,
the group became conscious of the need to be promptly integrated
into the “host culture”, and to acquire a social identity conforming
to their new social environment. Nevertheless, the reception of the
immigrants was quite hostile and their integration into Greek so-
ciety was a diicult process. In that context, various atempts were
made in Nea Karvali to ensure a respectable past and reconstruct
the group’s social memory, in order to endow the community with
a common ancestry and prove that its members were direct des-
cendants of important religious (i.e. Christian) and national (i.e.
Greek) ancestors. Since they were treated as “Turkish spawns”,
they invented and disseminated a mythology about their religious
and ethnic origins, to demonstrate that they were both suiciently
Christian and suiciently Greek.
Myths are paterns in the form of narratives which do not princi-
pally explain the world, but deine the place of a group or a na-
tion within it18. From a psychological and psychiatric point of view,
myths are fundamental in giving meaning and importance to hu-
man existence, and conidence to people’s lives19. They are often in-
vented in a time of crisis or turmoil, when it is important to build
unity among the members of a group and create a national identity.
Telling myths about a common past is crucial in binding societies
together and forging a collective identity within a group of people.
“To be member of a community is to share its myths”20.
Religious mythmaking
As was mentioned before, Gelveri was associated with Karbala,
where St. Gregory the Theologian lived and oiciated as a priest21,
so the saint is considered to be a kind of religious and spiritual an-
18 On the function of myths and their transmission in modern societies see, for example: Bel-
mont, Nicole. Mythes et croyances dans l’ancienne France. Paris, 1973; Belmont, Nicole. Pa-
roles païennes. Mythe et folklore. Paris, 1986; Ginzburg, Carlo. Clues, myths and the His-
torical Method. Baltimore, 1992.
19 May, Rollo. The Cry for Myth. New York, 1991.
20 May. The Cry for Myth, 45.
21 See, the extensive article in two parts in the newspaper “Anatoli” published by the Cultural
Association of Nea Karvali: Loukidis, Ioannis D. Μια σύντομη βιογραφία του Γρηγορίου του
Θεολόγου. – Ανατολή, June 1990, No. 4, 2/ September 1990, No. 7, 4.
435
cestor of the community22. Nowadays, in Nea Karvali, various le-
gends refer to the miraculous foundation of the saint’s church in
Cappadocia23, and to important miracles performed by the saint
for the salvation of the group24. Moreover, several pseudo-scienti-
ic arguments claim the authenticity of St. Gregory’s relics that are
nowadays displayed for veneration25. Every inhabitant of Nea Kar-
vali is even nowadays able to narrate these legends, which are so
widely reproduced to make very many people confused, believing
that they do not tell stories about 5th- or 10th-century Cappadocia,
but about real events that happened in 20th century Nea Karvali.
These legends are very well rooted in the collective memory of the
group, indicating that the social memory does not reproduce real
facts, but it rather reshapes and reconstructs the historic past, accor-
ding to the community’s needs. As Maurice Halbwachs notes, the
faculty of reproducing a speciic memory is not to ind it again, but
rather to reconstruct it: it is iction rather than truth, inaccurate and
incomplete26.
The Feast of St. Gregory of Nazianzus is celebrated on January 25th,
a public holiday and one of the most important days in the religious
and social calendar of Nea Karvali, which has evolved into a ma-
22 On the notion of the religious ancestor/hero: Rossignol, Marie-Jeanne, Marienstras, Elise (eds.).
Mémoire privée, mémoire collective dans l’Amérique pré-industrielle. Paris, 1994.
23 According to oral traditions, faithful people carrying the relics of St Gregory on a camel in
Early Christian Cappadocia decided to build a church on the spot where the animal would stop.
Even though they did not like the place “indicated” by the camel, it was impossible to make the
animal move. Finally, a source of holy water (haghiasma) emerged and they were thus convinced
to build the church where it still stands today in the Cappadocian village.
24 As for example, the miracle during a terrible storm or a big ire that happened while the re-
fugees were travelling by boat from Turkey to Greece, in 1924. It is worth saying that similar and
stereotyped miracles have also been reported by other refugee groups that traveled to Greece by
ship at that time. On that phenomenon, which is frequently observed: Belmont, Nicole. Mythes
et croyances, 31.
25 According to historical sources, St Gregory’s relics were transferred to Constantinople during
the reign of the Byzantine emperor Constantine Porphyrogennetos (10th century): Flusin, Bernard.
Le Panégyrique de Constantin VII Porphyrogénète pour la translation des reliques de Grégoire
le Théologien (BHG 728). – Revue des études byzantines, 1999, No. 57/1, 5-97. According to
the local tradition, which is trying to demonstrate that the relics never left Karbala, the imperial
envoys visited the village in search of the saint’s relics, but the local people lied and gave them
some other human remains instead of the real relics. In addition, the alleged existence of three
sets of relics, of St. Gregory and his family respectively, is considered as the irrefutable proof that
the saint’s authentic relics are still kept in Nea Karvali, instead of some of the other places in the
Christian world that also claim to possess them.
26 Halbwachs, Les cadres sociaux de la mémoire, 92, 95, 112. Two chapters of this book are of
great interest for the present study: “La reconstruction du passé” (83-113) and “La mémoire
collective des groupes religieux” (146-177).
436
jor regional pilgrimage center. During the celebrations that last for
three days, a religious procession is followed by a huge crowd of the
faithful, with the participation of the representatives of the religious
and political authorities. The saint’s relics are exhibited for public
veneration, while ill people and paralytics sleep in the church for
three nights (incubation), in the hope of experiencing a miraculous
healing. This series of rites and religious practices contribute to con-
ceptualizing the myth and guaranteeing its transmission from one
generation to another. Given the lack of historical evidence, the reli-
gious myth has been necessarily supported with material evidence,
such as the saint’s relics27; that is why it is very important for the
community to prove that these are the authentic relics, in particular
because there are several other places in the Christian world that
also claim to possess the relics of the saint.
Ethnic mythmaking
The concept of ethnic or national identity is inescapably connected
with myths28. A national myth is a legend or ictionalized narrative
which might over-dramatize true incidents, omit important histori-
cal details, or add details for which there is no evidence; or it might
simply be a ictional story that no one considers as literally true, but
which contains a signiicant symbolic and credible meaning so as to
be true to an ethnic or national group29.
Language is considered to be one of the main vehicles of ethnic and
cultural identity. In the case of Nea Karvali, its members’ embar-
rassment of its Turcophone past has led this community to create
an ethnic myth in order to prove its Greek identity. So, the group
argues that its origins hark back to the time of Alexander the Great’s
expedition in Asia, and as a consequence, the ancient Greek hero
par excellence is considered to be the community’s blood ancestor,
27 On the importance of material evidence for conserving social memory: Halbwachs. La
mémoire collective, 53; Belmont. Paroles païennes, 81; Bahloul, Joëlle. La maison de la mémoire,
Paris, 1992, 217.
28 Cameron, Keith (ed.). National identity. Bristol, 1999, 4; Kaufman, Stuart J. Modern hatreds: the
symbolic politics of ethnic war. New York, 2001, 25.
29 Smith, Anthony D. Myths and Memories of the Nation. Oxford, 1999 (in particular 57-95:
“National Identity and Myths of Ethnic Descent”); Bhat, Chetan. Hindu Nationalism: Origins,
Ideologies and Modern Myths. London, 2001; Geary, Patrick J. The Myths of Nations. Princeton
2002; Abizadeh, Arash. Historical Truth, National Myths and Liberal Democracy. – Journal of
Political Philosophy, 2004, No. 12, 291-313.
437
regardless of the historical fact that Alexander bypassed Cappado-
cia entirely. A similar tendency of establishing a direct link with a
glorious antique past can be detected among several Greek/Cap-
padocian authors of the 19th century. According to them, despite
the fact that the Greek language was forcefully replaced by Turkish
in certain regions of Cappadocia, the local customs recalled those
of Antiquity. Moreover, the use of wooden spoons in traditional
Cappadocian dances seems to be reminiscent of the use of crotals
by Cappadocian virgins, as described by Pausanias. Both examples
are considered to guarantee the uninterrupted continuity between
classical Antiquity and the Middle Ages in the case of Cappadocian
communities30.
At the time of the Exchange of Populations (1923), the population
of Greece was estimated at around 5 million and the arrival of al-
most 1.5 million refugees must have seemed very threatening to
the native citizens of Greece, because the immigrants were main-
ly seen as potential claimants for scare lands and jobs. During the
irst decades of the immigrants’ setlement, the indigenous Greeks
treated them as foreigners and “Turkish spawns”, in a profound-
ly insulting and humiliating way. The refugees from Asia Minor,
Constantinople, Smyrna, Cappadocia and Pontus felt very proud
of having preserved their ethnicity and religion for many centu-
ries under Otoman and Muslim rule. In their own words, they felt
more Greek than the Greeks and more Christian than the Chris-
tians in Greece, because they considered themselves as direct de-
scendants of Alexander the Great and spiritual heirs of St. Gregory
the Theologian. The feeling of otherness provoked the community
of Nea Karvali into demonstrating a religious and ethnic “purity”,
through the transmission of religious and national myths that have
gradually been incorporated into the group’s collective memory.
In this regard, the local Cultural Association (Στέγη Πολιτισμού
Νέας Καρβάλης, founded in 1981) has played an important role in
“keeping the memory alive” through various activities, such as the
creation of the Historic and Ethnographic Museum of Greek-Cappado-
cian Culture in 199531 (Fig. 7); a series of publications; free courses of
30 On the similarity between the Cappadocian customs, songs and dances and those of Ancient
Greece: Rizos, Nikolaos. Καππαδοκικά, ήτοι δοκίμιον ιστορικής περιγραφής της Αρχαίας
Καππαδοκίας, και ιδίως των επαρχιών Καισαρείας και Ικονίου. Constantinople, 1856, 99-104;
Eleftheriadis, Rizos. Συνασός, ήτοι μελέτη επί των ηθών και εθίμων αυτής. Athens, 1879, 78.
31 The museum presents artifacts of Cappadocian origin, such as ancient statuetes, potery
438
Fig. 7. Part of the exhibition in the Historic and Ethnographic museum of Greek-Cappadocian Culture,
Nea Karvali
traditional dances; the organization of an annual folk-dance festival

and of an international conference32; the oicial participation in reli-
gious rituals (especially those concerning St. Gregory the Theologi-
an and its relics), as well as the organization of trips to Cappadocia
as a kind of modern pilgrimage to the native land. The above-men-
tioned activities in Nea Karvali are perfectly in line with the notion
that the collective memory is conserved and transmited through
myths and rituals that remind the group of its identity, and that the
social memory of a community consists of reconstructions (and not
faithful reproductions) of the past under the society’s control.
and coins, icons and liturgical utensils, books in Karamanlidika, as well as carpets and kilims,
traditional costumes and music instruments of the 19th–20th century.
32 “Η Καππαδοκία των ζώντων μνημείων”, International congress, Nea Karvali, 26 – 31
August 2000.
439
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Религиозно и национално митотворчество:
съхранение и реконструкция
на социалната памет
Андониос Цакалос
Преносът на религиозни и национални митове допринася за

съхранението и реконструкцията на социалната и културна па-
мет на общността, която се състои от реконструкции (не от ве-
рни репродукции) на миналото под контрола на социума. Този
етюд се фокусира върху понятията за другост, върху правенето
на миналото и върху формирането на национална/религиозна/
културна идентичност, както те се появяват в село Неа Карвали,
Гърция. Селището е основано в средата на 20-те години на ХХ
в. в Северна Гърция от турскоговорещи православни христия-
ни, бежанци от с. Гелвери в Кападокия, Турция. През първите
десетилетия на тяхното заселване местните гърци ги третират
като чужденци и като „турски изчадия“ заради това, че говорят
турски език. По тяхно мнение обаче, изселниците от Гелвери
се приемат за повече гърци от самите гърци, както за по-хрис-
тияни от християните в Гърция, защото се смятат за директни
потомци на Александър Велики и духовни следовници на св.
Григорий Назиански Богослов. Усещането за „другост“ кара
общността в Неа Карвали да демонстрира религиозна и етни-
ческа „чистота“ чрез преноса на религиозни и национални ми-
тове, които постепенно се инкорпорират в колективната памет
на групата. В това отношение местното културно дружество иг-
раело важна роля за „за съхранение на живата памет“ посред-
ством различни дейности (изложби, публикации, фестивали,
конференции и екскурзии).
443
List of Contributors
Andreas Rhoby, Ph.D, Associate Professor,

University of Vienna (Austria)
andreas.rhoby@oeaw.ac.at
Andromachi Katselaki, Ph.D,

Ministry of Culture and Sports (Greece)
archanes1315@yahoo.gr
Angeliki Katsioti, Ph.D,

Ephorate of Antiquities of the Dodecanese,
Head of the Department of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Sites,
Monuments, Research and Museums (Greece)
gelikatsioti@gmail.com
Antonio Enrico Felle, Ph.D, Professor,

University “Aldo Moro”, Bari (Italy)
ae.felle@gmail.com
Aleksandra Kučeković, Ph.D, Associate Professor,

University of Arts, Belgrade (Serbia)
akucekovic@gmail.com
Anna Adashinskaya, Ph.D Student,

Department of Medieval Studies of Central European
University in Budapest (Hungary)
adashik@gmail.com
Antonis Tsakalos, Ph.D, Curator,

Byzantine and Christian Museum, Athens (Greece)
antonistsakalos@gmail.com
Constantin I. Ciobanu, Dsc.,

Institute of Art History “G. Oprescu”, Bucharest (Romania)
constantini_ciobanu@yahoo.com
Dimitrios Liakos, Ph.D,

Ephorate of Antiquities of Chalkidiki and Mt. Athos,
Ministry of Culture and Sports (Greece)
liakos712003@yahoo.gr
Dragoş Gh. Năstăsoiu, Ph.D Student,

Medieval Studies at the Central European University
in Budapest (Hungary)
dragos_nastasoiu@yahoo.com
446
Elka Bakalova, Corresponding Member of the BAS,
Institute of Art Studies, Soia (Bulgaria)
elkabakalova@gmail.com
Elissaveta Moussakova, Ph.D, Professor,

elkabakalova@gmail.com
Emmanuel Moutafov, Ph.D, Associate Professor,

moutafov1@gmail.com
Ida Toth, Ph.D, Senior Lecturer,

Oxford University (United Kingdom)
ida.toth@history.ox.ac.uk
Jelena Erdeljan, Ph.D, Associate Professor,

University of Belgrade (Serbia)
jerdelja@f.bg.ac.rs
Maria Kolousheva, Ph.D, Assistant Professor,

m.kolusheva@gmail.com
Melina Paissidou, Ph.D, Associate Professor,

Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece),
mpaisidou@hist.auth.gr
Tsvetan Vasilev, Ph.D, Assistant Professor,

Soia University (Bulgaria)
cvetanv@gmail.com
Valentina Cantone, Ph.D, Adjunct Professor,

University of Padua, Department of Cultural Heritage (Italy)
valentina.cantone@unipd.it
Vladimir Dimitrov, Ph.D, Assistant Professor,

New Bulgarian University, Soia (Bulgaria)
vladimirdim@gmail.com
Vincent Debiais, Ph.D, full researcher,

Centre national de la recherche scientiique (France),
Centre d’études supérieures de civilisation médiévale,
University of Poitiers (France)
vincent.debiais@univ-poitiers.fr
447
Герои. Култове. Светци
Изкуствоведски четения 2017 Art Readings 2017
ВИЗАНТИЙСКО И BYZANTINE AND

ПОСТВИЗАНТИЙСКО ИЗКУСТВО: POST-BYZANTINE ART:
ПРЕСИЧАНЕ НА ГРАНИЦИ CROSSING BORDERS
Институт за изследване на изкуствата, БАН Institute of Art Studies, BAS
съставители Edited by
Емануел Мутафов Emmanuel Moutafov
Ида Тот (Великобритания) Ida Toth (United Kingdom)
отговорен редактор Copy-editor

Тереза Бачева Tereza Bacheva
превод Translation
Милена Лилова Milena Lilova
Светлана Лазарова Svetlana Lazarova
коректори Proofreaders
Андрю Смол (Оксфордски университет) Andrew Small (University of Oxford)
Хю Джефри (Оксфордски университет) Hugh Jefrey (University of Oxford)
предпечат Content Management

Любомир Маринчевски Lyubomir Marinchevski
Майа Лачева Maya Lacheva
печат Press
Дайрект сървисиз Direct Services
ISBN 978-954-8594-70-7 ISBN 978-954-8594-70-7

ISSN 1313-2342 ISSN 1313-2342

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ВИЗАНТИЙСКО

Изкуствоведски четения 2017

Martyrdom of Sts Kyrikos and Julita, 17th century Cretan icon,

Мъченичеството на св. св. Кирик и Юлита,

Международна редакционна колегия

© Институт за изследване на изкуствата, БАН, 2018

Сборникът се издава със съдействието

Words and Images in Early Christian Inscriptions

“Das Licht Christi leuchtet allen“ – Form und Funktion

Between Princes and Labourers: The Legacy of Hosios Christodoulos

Essay on a Visual Perspective of Medieval Writing .................................................129

The Inner Portal of St Mark’s Basilica in Venice

Images and Texts across Time:

The Balkans and the Renaissance World ....................................................................193

Panagia Eleousa in Great Prespa Lake:

Un cycle hagiographique peu étudié

A Unique 15th Century Donation to Vatopedi:

Between Loyalty, Memory and

The Illustrated Slavonic Miscellanies

Jovan Četirević Grabovan – an 18th Century Itinerant Orthodox Painter.

Painters of Western Training Working

The Scene of the Road to Calvary

Костадин Геров-Антикаров – даскал и зограф ..................................................411

Religious and National Mythmaking:

List of Contributors .........................................................................................................446

Византийско и поствизантийско изкуство:

Слова и образи в раннохристиянските надписи (III–VII век)......................39

„Христовата светлина озарява всичко“ –

Между статута на господари и слуги: влиянието

Опит върху визуалната перспектива на средновековното писане ............129

Вътрешната порта на „Сан Марко“

Изображения и текстове във времето:

Балканите и ренесансовият свят .............................................................................193

Богородица Елеуса на Голямото Преспанско езеро:

Житието на св. Пахомий Велики –

Едно уникално дарение

Между лоялността, паметта и закона:

Илюстрираните славянски сборници,

Йован Четиревич Грабован – един пътуващ зограф от ХVIII век.

Художници със западна школовка, работещи

Сцената Пътят към Голгота от църквата „Св. Георги“

Религиозно и национално митотворчество –

Списък на авторите ......................................................................................................446

This volume celebrates the 70th Anniversary

A note from the editors:

Abstract: The authors relect on methodological and terminological problems

18 Schreiner, Peter, Holger Klein and Valeria Polet-

the political, judicial and cultural life of the Christian population.

30 Rakova, Snezhana. България, Сърбия, Византия – исторически записи за XV в. на

34 Stojanović. Stari srpski, No 858.

40 Sprat. Toward a Deinition, 14.

tory of art have been most comprehensively discussed by Olga

approach has proved challenging and stimulating in equal measure: it

Angelov, Dimiter. Byzantinism: The Real and the Imaginary

В това уводно есе авторите разсъждават над терминологични и методологич-

Key words: Late Antiquity, Epigraphy, Early Christianity, Rome.

In Greek and Roman Antiquity, both words and images appeared

represented on them. In public buildings and monuments, as well

3 Cfr. Petrucci, Armando. Le scriture ultime. Torino, 1995, 18.

modern scholars8. Another meaningful case in point is the single

8 Respectively see EDB 41832 and EDB 9815.

The shared language of words and images is noted as a typical fea-

14 Min. Fel. Octavius 9, 2 (cfr. CSEL 2, 13).