/Abstract / Reliquaries of the Byzantine periphery institutions, as well as accomplishing the pow- (Armenia, Bulgaria, Georgia, Rus, Serbia, Wallachia, er transfer of the imperium into these peripheral and Moldavia) have received insufficient study states through the institution and growing force but deserve consideration as an innovative group. of imperial cults, including those of the Reliquaries and from these states took and of the Virgin. two forms: first, whole bodies – often uncorrupt- ed—of foundational national figures, either ec- / Keywords / , Reliquary, Armenia, Georgia, Rus, clesiastical or political, usually placed in front of Serbia, Bulgaria, Wallachia, Moldavia, True Cross, templon beams in monastery or city churches; Inscriptions, , Cult of the Virgin second, circulating fragments displayed in com- plex arrays. The bodies were often safeguarded in Branislav Cvetković fixed institutional settings in the oldest of reliquary Regional Museum of Jagodina forms: the sarcophagus. The fragments, however, Department of Art History were contained in reliquaries of the newer forms [email protected] suggesting Western and Byzantine trends. allowed the creation of the notion of a sacred state Cynthia Hahn and divinely sanctioned sovereignty—both by es- Hunter College, cuny tablishing a geography of newly created power Department of Art & Art History founded on holy bodies put in “place ” in sacred [email protected]

182 Imperial Aspirations: Relics and Reliquaries of the Byzantine Periphery Branislav Cvetković & Cynthia Hahn

The study of the reliquaries in the principates and Study of the Northern Balkans, 900–1204, Cambridge 2000; Janet Martin, Medieval Russia, 980 –1584, Cambridge 2007; Nevra Necipoğlu, Byz- nations allied to and surrounding Byzantium (some- antium Between the Ottomans and the Latins: Politics and Society in times called the Byzantine commonwealth and large- the Late Empire, Cambridge 2009; Averil Cameron, The Byzantines, Oxford 2009; Ivan Biliarsky, Word and Power in Mediaeval Bulgaria, 1 ly Slavic) is bedeviled with a number of problems: Leiden 2011. For earlier major exhibitions on art of Byzantium and modifications of shrines and reliquaries in recent its neighbours, see Glory of Byzantium: Art and Culture of the Middle Byzantine Era, a.d. 843 –1261, Helen C. Evans, William D. Wixom centuries, poor survival and, as yet, inadequate doc- eds, New York 1997; Byzantium: Faith and Power (1261–1557), Helen umentation and consequently a woeful lack of recog- C. Evans ed., New York 2004; Byzantium and Islam: Age of Transi- tion, 7th–9th Century, Brandie Ratliff, Helen C. Evans eds, New York nition. Nevertheless, recent advances in scholarship 2012. For some reactions and reviews, see Slobodan Ćurčić, “‘Glory of Byzantium’: Infamy of Byzantine Studies or Something Else?”, allow clear insight into an artistic arena where it can Serbian Studies, xi/2 (1997); Zaga Gavrilović “Remarks on the Art be said that Byzantine forms and customs inspired Exhibition ‘The Glory of Byzantium’”; Dušan Korać, “Byzantium 2 on Fifth Avenue: Sailing to Byzantium Without the Serbs”, Serbian myriad creative variations . Byzantium’s client and Studies, xi/2 (1997 ), pp. 15 – 27 ; Ljubica D. Popovich, “Reflections on competitive neighbours sponsored the production the ‘Glory of Byzantium’”, Serbian Studies, xi/2 (1997), pp. 1– 51; See also Sharon E. J. Gerstel, “Byzantium: Faith and Power (1267–1557) of shrines and reliquaries for – both new and by Helen C. Evans”, The Art Bulletin, lxxxvii/2 (2005), pp. 331– 341. old – that reveals a striking picture of the fluid dis- 2 For typical Byzantine forms, see Rainer Rückert, “Zur Form der byz- antinischen Reliquiare”, Münchner Jahrbuch der bildenden Kunst, viii course of power. One detail is telling – in contrast to (1957), pp. 7– 36; Cynthia Hahn, Strange Beauty: Issues in the Making the more passive terms used in the Greek and Latin and Meaning of Reliquaries, University Park 2012, passim.; General studies of reliquaries include: Anatole Frolow, Les reliquaires de la centers of power, τα λείψανα and reliquiae, words Vraie Croix, Paris 1965; Patrick Geary, Furta Sacra: Thefts of Relics simply designating “remains”, the Slavic term for in the Central , Princeton 1978; Anton Legner, Reliquien in Kunst und Kult zwischen Antike und Aufklärung, Darmstadt 1995; relics, мощь (singular) or мощи (plural) itself de- Arnold Angenendt, Heilige und Reliquien: Die Geschichte ihres Kultes vom frühen Christentum bis zur Gegenwart, Munich 1997; Les Reliques. notes power, being derived from the verb to be able, Objets, cultes, symboles, Edina Bozóky, Anne-Marie Helvetius eds, to have power (dynamis)3. Turnhout 1999; Henk van Os, De Weg naar de Hemel: Reliekverering in de Middeleeuwen, Baarn 2000; Holger Klein, Byzanz, der Westen und das wahre Kreuz, Wiesbaden 2004; Relikvii v Vizantii i v drevney 1 For one outline, see Anthony Eastmond, “Beyond Byzantium”, in Rusi. Pis’menie istochniki, Alexei M. Lidov ed., Moscow 2006; Reli- Byzantium 330 –1453, Robin Cormack, Maria Vassilaki eds, London quiare im Mittelalter, Bruno Reudenbach, Gia Toussaint eds, Berlin 2008, pp. 307– 314. See also Perceptions of Byzantium and Its Neighbors 2011; and Treasures of Heaven: Saints, Relics, and Devotion in Medieval (843 –1261), Olenka Z. Pevny ed., New York 2000 and Byzantium, Europe, Martina Bagnoli, Holger A. Klein, C. Griffith Mann eds, Faith, and Power (1261–1557): Perspectives on Late Byzantine Art and Baltimore 2011. Culture, Sarah T. Brooks ed., New York 2006; Dimitri Obolensky, The 3 On this, see Elka Bakalova, “Relikvite kato faktor za strukturirane Byzantine Commonwealth: Eastern Europe, 500 –1453, London 1971; na kultovo prostranstvo”, Mif, vi (2000), pp. 19 – 45; Eadem, “Relikvii Donald M. Nicol, The Last Centuries of Byzantium, 1261–1453, Cam- u istokov kulta svyatikh”, in Eastern Christian Relics, Alexei Lidov bridge 1993; Paul Stephenson, Byzantium’s Balkan Frontier: A Political ed., Moscow 2003, pp. 19 – 44. 183 In modern art criticism, third world “provincial” fixed institutional settings / Figs 2, 6 /, however, the art has recently been recast and rethought as the fragments were contained in reliquaries of the new- powerfully creative and assertive post-colonial, and est forms, reminiscent of Western and Byzantine dissidents have been found (in works that were first trends / Figs 3 – 5, 7, 9 –11/. Although a similar con- thought to be derivative) to have used first world trast of burial shrines to portable reliquaries existed art movements to channel strategic performances of from the beginning of relic practice 8, these exam- protest. We can recognize this same sort of creative ples, as we shall see, can be seen to be aggressively reuse of form in the relic practices of the states that assertive of nationhood and even an aspiration to surround Byzantium beginning in the twelfth cen- translatio imperii via the transformative powers of tury and continuing through the early modern pe- relics and relic collections 9. riod – relics and reliquaries were used to assert both Indeed, relic in many of these regions alliance and independence, both legitimacy and was such a powerfully conceived tradition that its defiance. Just as Hans Belting’s seminal scholarship practice has survived the disruptive era of commu- describes the Fourth Crusade and the dissemination nist repression and resurfaced today, both in the of much of ’s relic treasure to the form of to and rehabilitation of older West as a clear turning point for the West’s approach shrines and the casting of heroic modern figures to relics and reliquaries 4, so this moment was also in the guise of saintly figures10. Modern Serbian critical in the Balkans and Caucasus. A series of politicians dutifully visit the monastery of Dečani political calamities in the Orthodox commonwealth and the communist strongman and president of in the thirteenth century called upon rulers of the Yugoslavia, Josip Broz Tito, is celebrated at two peripheral states to assert their place as effective different shrines – the place of his burial in Belgrade political entities. They often did so through making and that of his birth in Croatia. It can be argued that sacred claims precisely by means of the use of relics relic practice was and is central to the formation and reliquaries. As Antony Eastmond argues in re- and rulership of these states11. Relics allowed the gard to one type of : “new saints and their cults creation of the notion of a sacred state and a divinely specifically legitimated local power and localized sanctioned rulership – both through establishing a forms of , and they could be controlled geography of newly created power founded upon in the regions, without threat of interference or ab- holy bodies put in “place” in sacred institutions, as sorption by the center ”5. Thus, although such artistic well as accomplishing the transfer of the power of production does not originate in the Empire itself, it the imperium into these peripheral states through would not exist without the provocation that “the the institution and growing force of the imperi- Empire” provided. al cults of the True Cross (and associated­ Passion This short essay seeks not only to characterize relics) and the Virgin. In an ironic development, something of the relic practices of the Byzantine many of these relics of translatio imperii have in later periphery, but also to indicate the wealth of recent historical developments once more been moved to scholarship concerning it. Even if it is abundantly new centers of power ( / Fig. 8/ now in Moscow, and evident that much remains to be done, this may / Fig. 11/ now in Istanbul). prove a start. We might begin with the general- Examples from each of the countries noted above, ization that relics in reliquaries from these states made for aristocratic courts, churches and monas- (Armenia, Bulgaria, Georgia, Rus, Serbia, Walla- teries in the principalities bordering Byzantium, chia and Moldavia), presented in two forms – first display both appropriation of and opposition to whole bodies, often incorrupt, of foundational the Byzantine traditions in the form and usage of national figures, either ecclesiastical or political, reliquaries and relic veneration. At the same time, usually placed in front of templon beams in mon- artistic elements introduced by Western artists, astery or city churches 6, and second, circulating transplanted Western patrons, Franciscan mission- fragments displayed in complex arrays7. The bod- aries, and, in the case of Serbia, resident Roman ies seem most often to have been deposited in the Catholics allowed, as we will see, another source 184 oldest of “reliquary ” forms, the sarcophagus in of inspiration12. As is entirely evident, reliquary production is better supported by textual evidence 4 Hans Belting, “Appendix c: Western Art after 1204: The Importation of in charters, letters, lives of saints, or accounts of Relics and ”, in The Image and Its Public in the Middle Ages, New Rochelle 1990, pp. 203 – 222, 264 – 269. relic translations than by extant examples, but the 5 Antony Eastmond, “‘Local’ Saints, Art and Regional Identity in the surviving objects, made with such care, faith, and Orthodox World after the Fourth Crusade”, Speculum, lxxviii (2003), pp. 707– 749, sp. pp. 746. expense, deserve a closer look. 6 Christopher Walter, Art and Ritual of the Byzantine Church, Farnham/Lon- don 1982, pp. 144 –158; Eastmond, “‘Local’ Saints” (n. 5); Alice-Mary In Armenia, with its variant Monophysite form Talbot, “The Relics of the New Saints: Deposition, Translation, and of Christianity and status as an Islamic client state, Veneration in Middle and Late Byzantium”, in Saints and Sacred Mat- ter: The Cult of Relics in Byzantium and Beyond, Cynthia Hahn, Holger True Cross relics took a central place in both relic A. Klein eds, Washington d.c. 2015, pp. 215 – 230. traditions and state formation13. One twelfth-cen- 7 On the circulation of saints and relic fragments see Otto Meinardus, “A Study of the Relics of Saints of the Greek Orthodox Church”, Oriens tury legend recounts important Armenian contri- Christianus, liv (1970), pp. 130 – 278; Leontije Pavlović, “Pregled svetih butions to the campaign for the recovery of the moštiju kroz istoriju u srpskoj pravoslavnoj crkvi”, Zbornik Pravo- slavnog bogoslovskog fakulteta, iii (1954), pp. 231– 256; Idem, Kultovi lica True Cross from the Persians by Emperor Heraclius. kod Srba i Makedonaca. Istorijsko-etnografska rasprava, Smederevo 1965. When the Armenian princess Beryl in turn request- Also on icons and relics see Belting, The Image and its Public (n. 4), pp. 233 – 252; Idem, Likeness and Presence: A History of the Image Before ed a fragment, Heraclius at first denied her, but then the Era of Art, Chicago 1994, pp. 208 – 225; Chudotvornaya ikona v Vizantii i drevnei Rusi, Alexei M. Lidov ed., Moscow 1996; Alexei M. Lidov, begrudgingly facilitated the request by enclosing a “Svyatoi Mandilion. Istoriya relikvii”, in Spas Nerukotvorn’i v russkoi sword into the reliquary. The cross itself “used the ikone, Liliana M. Evseeva [et al.], Moscow 2005, pp. 12 – 39. 8 Hahn, Strange Beauty (n. 2), passim. sword” and chose to supply two fragments for the 9 Leaders of the newly formed or restored states of the Byzantine Com- princess. Moreover, the legend goes on to specify monwealth (Serbia, Bulgaria, Russia), endowed royal foundations with Passion relics and relics of the most important Christian saints. that the relic then chose its place of enshrinement Such relics provided symbolic support to new dynasties, enabling by first allowing its translation to Armenia but then newly formed state organisms to become nations, see Danica Popović, “Relics and Politics in the Middle Ages”, in Eastern Christian Relics (n. 3), becoming miraculously immobile at Hats’iun. This pp. 161–180; Ivan Bilirski, “Ot mifa k istorii ili ot stepi k Izrailu”, Zbornik and other stories of visions and exchange justify the radova Vizantoloskog institute, xlii (2005), pp. 7–22; Jelena Erdeljan, “New Jerusalems as New Constantinoples? Reflections on the reasons and central place that True cross relics take in Armenian principles of Translatio Constantinopoleos in Slavia Orthodoxa”, Del- tion tes Christianikes Archaiologikes Etaireias, xxxii (2011), pp. 11–18. art and architecture, implicitly acknowledging the 10 Elka Bakalova, “La vénération des reliques dans le Sud-Est européen”, imperial power of the True Cross cult, but also clear- Ethnologie française. Hommage à Jean Cuisenier, h. s. (2007), pp. 73 – 82. 11 See Smilja Marjanović-Dušanić, Sveti kralj. Kult Stefana Dečanskog, Bel- ly arguing for Armenia’s non-client status in the grade 2007, p. 549. For the Belgrade mausoleum of Tito as an ideologi- rightful possession of such relics14. As Lynn Jones cal complex, see Janko Maglovski, “Grob – locus religious – ideologija”, Sveske Društva istoričara umetnosti Srbijе, xxii (1991), pp. 3 –10. See also argues, the cross reliquaries and their many inscrip- Retracing Images: Visual Culture After Yugoslavia, Daniel Šuber, Slobodan tions emphasize the Armenian aristocrats who were Karamanić eds, Leiden 2012. For Tito’s birthplace as the pilgrimage site, see Marijana Belaj, “‘I’m not religious, but Tito is a God’: Tito, donors, “further distancing” the True Cross relics Kumrovec, and the New Pilgrims”, in Shrines and Pilgrimage in the Modern World: New Itineraries Into the Sacred, Peter Jan Margry ed., from their origin in Byzantium. The silver reliquary Amsterdam 2008, pp. 71– 93. triptych of the Holy Cross of Khotakerats commis- 12 See below notes 33 – 34; Also, Helen (d’Anjou) wife of Serbian king Urosh i, related to both the Hungarian royal court and the Anjou kings sioned by Prince Eatchi of the Preshian dynasty of Sicily and Naples, was very close to the Franciscans. She exchanged under the Mongols (pictured center bottom / Fig. 1/ ), letters with them, had them at her court, and founded or restored a number of Franciscan and Benedictine monasteries. She was referred for the monastery church of T’anahat of which he to as “dear daughter of our Roman ” by both Charles i was the patron, carries the inscription “Holy Cross and Charles ii of Naples and was especially close to the first Franciscan pope Nicholas iv. See Gordon McDaniel, “On Hungarian-Serbian of the Lord [you] be a helper to Eatchi [in Armenian] Relations in the Thirteenth Century: John Angelos and Queen Jelena”, era 749 [1300]”15. The reliquary is best characterized Ungarn Jahrbuch, xii (1982), pp. 43 – 50. 13 For issues of religion, see Vrej Nersessian, Treasures from the Ark: 1700 in style and iconography as “Greco -Armenian”, Years of Armenian Christian Art, Los Angeles 2001. Also, see Joan M. Hussey, The Orthodox Church in the Byzantine Empire, Oxford 2010. that is, representing a thoroughgoing mixture of the For the True Cross see Sirarpie Der Nersessian, Aght’amar: Church of two cultures, drawing power from both traditions. the Holy Cross, Cambridge ma 1965; Catherine Jolivet, “L’idéologie princière dans les sculptures d’Aghthamar”, in The Second International True Cross relics as symbols of victory over ene- Symposium on Armenian Art. Collection of reports, vol. iii (September mies and of general protection were also revered in 12 –18, 1978), Yerevan 1978, pp. 86 – 94, 403; Lynn Jones, “The Church of the Holy Cross and the Iconogaphy of Kingship”, Gesta, xxxiii (1994), monumental form in Armenia in royal foundations pp. 104 –117 and Idem, Between Islam and Byzantium: Aght’amar and dedicated to the Holy Cross. The relics and ornamen- Visual Construction of Medieval Armenian Rulership, Farnham/London 2007, pp. 111–119. tation of the Holy of Holies in the palatine Church of 14 Holger Klein, “Eastern Objects and Western Desires: Relics and Rel- the Holy Cross at Aght’amar built by Gagik Artsruni, iquaries between Byzantium and the West”, Dumbarton Oaks Papers, lviii (2004), pp. 283 – 314. according to contemporary documents allowed it 15 Nerssesian, Treasures from the Ark (n. 13), pp. 116 –117. 185 to be “a second Jerusalem, a gate to the celestial 1 / Reliquary of the Holy Cross of Khotakerats, Sion”16. Surely in this sense it functioned to secure Museum of the Catholicate, Etchmiadzin, 1300 royal/imperial power just as did the palace chapel, 2 / of the Christ’s Tunic, Svet’itskhoveli, the Pharos in Constantinople, although it makes no Mtskheta, (renovated in 1688) explicit acknowledgment of its debt 17. Another primary reliquary type in Armenia was the reliquary arm. The numerous (at least five) in the form of blessing hands containing relics of the fourth-century St Gregory the Illuminator were potent tokens of Armenian church authority, used extensively in liturgical ritual. A tradition arose that “whoever possessed the holy arm relic, he is the catholicos, and thus as a result of unfounded understanding, the dexter disappeared, reappeared, or others were created”18. Certain of these arm reli- quaries of Gregory today are never lent for exhibi- tion, considered too important for the functioning and rites of the Armenian Church to leave their trea- suries. It should be noted that rather than following Byzantine models, the arms probably represent Armenia’s turn toward Western forms in terms of their shape and manufacture19. As was the case in Armenia, and again reflecting the power of the cult in Byzantium, True Cross reliquaries were also prominent among the Georgians but the practice of constructing mon- umental crosses in central parts of many church- es is unique 20. The tradition is tied to the wooden crosses that St Nino the apostle of Georgia built, and the most important early example is the Jvari (cross) church, erected on top of a hill overseeing the medieval capital Mtskheta at the confluence of two rivers, Mtkvari and Aragvi, which represents

16 Jones, “Church of the Holy Cross” (n. 13), p. 108. 17 Alexei Lidov, “A Byzantine Jerusalem. The Imperial Pharos Chapel as the Holy Sepulchre”, in Jerusalem as Narrative Space: Erzählraum Jeru- salem, Anette Hoffmann, Gerhard Wolf eds, Leiden 2012, pp. 63 –103. 18 Babgen Gulessarian, History of the Catholicosate of Cilicia (1441 to the Present), Antelias 1939, col. 1275. 19 Dickran Kouymjian, “Reliques et reliquaires. Comment les Arméniens honorent leurs saints”, in Armeniaca 2. La culture arménienne hier et aujourd’hui, Actes du colloque, (Université de Provence, Aix- en-Provence, 16 –17 Mars 2007), Robert Dermerguerian, Patrick Donabedian eds, Aix-en-Provence 2008, pp. 171–182; Idem, “The Right Hand of St. Gregory and Other Armenian Arm Relics,” in Les objets de la mémoire. Pour une approche comparatiste des reliques et de leur culte, Philippe Borgeaud, Youri Volokhine eds, Geneva 2005, pp. 215 – 240. 20 Nina Chichinadze, “The True Cross Reliquaries of Medieval Geor- gia”, Studies in Iconography, xx (1999), pp. 27– 49; Eadem, “Pochitanie relikvii Svyatogo Kresta v Srednevekovoi Gruzii”, in Relics in the Art and Culture of the Eastern Christian World. Abstracts of papers and mate- rial from the International symposium, Alexei Lidov ed., Moscow 2000, pp. 47– 48. For Georgia see also Antony Eastmond, Royal Imagery in Medieval Georgia, University Park 1998, pp. 60, 96 and passim. 187 the juncture of two important Georgian provinces, Kartli and Kakheti21. St Nino, “equivalent to the Apostles”, is also celebrated in Bodbe, where the diakonikon has been transformed into her buri- al chamber and the main cult chapel22. Georgian architecture was deeply influenced by Byzantine models and ceremonies that celebrated icons 23. However, the most prominent holy site in Georgia proper, is in the patriarchal church Sve’titskhoveli in Mtskheta, itself named after the burial spot of the seamless robe of Christ; said to have been brought to Georgia by a Jewish witness of the crucifixion, and marked with the life-giving wooden pillar that miraculously erected itself above the spot. The site is now commemorated by the -like struc- ture, in effect, a reliquary constructed on a monu- mental scale / Fig. 2 / 24. This complex of relic, miracle, and monument establishes Georgia as sacred land and allows veneration of Christ’s tunic 25. Thirteenth-century frescoes of Nino, in the rock cut monastery of Udabno depict the evangelist as an ideal of female power, and their production coincides with and supports the contested rule of Queen Tamar who came to the throne in 1184. Portraits of the two women are often paired since St Nino took a role in Georgia almost identical to that of St Constantine the Great in Byzantium 26. Nino is also represented on the shrine in Mtskheta in later frescoes that may reflect original ones. Thus, the shrine of the life-giving pillar asserts the pre-Byzantine source of a Passion relic, links it to a powerful national saint (niece of the Patriarch of Jerusalem, friend of Constantine, and relative of St George), and asserts its miraculous and rightful place in Georgia, circumventing Byzantine power while using its forms. The Russian principalities as well as the First Bulgarian Tsardom drew more directly on Byzantine ideological models. The Bulgars, both took up venerable Byzantine hagiographic cults (St Demetrius), and established new ones – pri- marily the cults of early Slavonic hermits, such as St John of Rila 27, but also that of St Peter, the first Tsar of Bulgaria, a rare but significant exam- ple of royal canonization. Peter was later often paired with St Paraskeve as primary patrons of 3 / Reliquary Cross of Euphrosyne of Polotsk, obverse and reverse, formerly the State – the two again taking up the role of the in the Polotsk convent, 1161 (copy) Byzantine imperial cults of St Constantine the Great and the Virgin 28. Unfortunately, no medieval reli- quaries of Paraskeve survive, as her relics were later translated several times, first to Serbia by the end of fourteenth century, and later to the Romanian town of Jassi 29. We will return to Bulgaria to discuss the later medieval manifestation of relic cults below. Medieval Rus was rich in reliquaries, many of which displayed direct connections with the im- perial court in Constantinople. One of the most prominent examples, unfortunately known today only through textual and pictorial documentation and a modern copy / Fig. 3 /, is the lavish reliquary cross made in 1161 for the abbess of the Polotsk convent, the nun Euphrosyne, daughter of Prince Vseslav, ruler of the Polotsk principality. This large double-armed golden and silver cross, decorated

21 For basic information, see Marina Bulia, Mzia Janjalia, Mtskheta, Tbilisi 2000, pp. 35 – 42, 85 – 86. 22 While the silver revetment with columns of green marble of the tomb construction and the frescoes with the life of St Nino are nineteenth century refurbishments, her portrait on the grave slab is thought to have been repainted in the post-Byzantine period, see Zaza Skhirtladze, “Mar- tyrs and Martyria in the Gareja Desert”, in Monastères, images, pouvoirs et société à Byzance, Michel Kaplan ed., Paris 2006, pp. 61– 88, sp. p. 88. 23 See Vasiliy Putsko, “Les imagines clipeatae chrétiennes primitives et l’icône du Sauveur d’Anči”, Revue des études géorgiennes et caucasi- ennes, ii (1986), pp. 197– 209. See Titos Papamastorakis, “Re-decon- structing the Khakhuli Triptych”, Deltion tes Christianikes Archaiologikes Etaireias, xxiii (2002), pp. 225 – 254. 24 Revaz Siradze, “Svet’icxoveli, Santa Sofia e Sion”, Studi sull’ Oriente Cristiano. Miscellanea Metreveli, iv/2 (2000), pp. 19 – 27. For excellent photographs of the “pillar” and the seventeenth century frescoes on its sides, see Bulia/Janjalia, Mtskheta (n. 21), pp. 27– 29, 64 –73, 89 – 91. 25 Margery Wardrop, “Life of Saint Nino”, Studia Biblica et Ecclesiastica, v (1903), pp. 48, 54. For this belief and the compendium on the national saints and provenance of the Georgian church there is a booklet widely disseminated among the modern Georgians, see Arhimandrit Rafail, Ikona “Slava gruzinskoi pravoslavnoi tserkvi”, Thessaloniki 1994. 26 Eastmond, “Local Saints” (n. 5), pp. 721– 724; Idem, “Royal renewal in Georgia: the case of Queen Tamar”, in New Constantines. The Rhythm of Imperial Renewal in Byzantium, 4th – 13th Centuries, Paul Magdalino ed., Ashgate 1994, pp. 283 – 293. For Udabno, see Antony Eastmond, Zaza Skhirtladze, “Udabno Monastery in Georgia: Innovation, Conservation and the Reinterpretation of ”, Iconographica. Rivista di iconographia medievale e moderna, vii (2008), pp. 23 – 43. 27 On this, see Elka Bakalova and Anna Lazarova, “A locus sanctus in Bulgaria: The Monastery of St John of Rila and its Sacred Topography ”, in Routes of Faith in the Mediterranean. History, Monuments, People, Pil- grimage Perspectives, Evangelia Hadjitryphonos ed., Thessaloniki 2008, pp. 309 – 327. On saintly cults in the capital Trnovo, see Jelena Erdeljan, “New Jerusalems in the Balkans. Translation of Sacred Space in the Local Context”, in New Jerusalems. Hierotopy and Iconography of Sacred Spaces, Alexei Lidov ed., Moscow 2009, pp. 458 – 471. 28 Ivan Biliarski, Pokroviteli na Tsarstvoto. Sv. tsar Petar i sv. Paraskeva-Petka, Sofia 2004; See alsoIdem , The Tale of the Prophet Isaiah: The Destiny and Meanings of an Apocryphal Text, Leiden 2013. 29 On this cult, see Danica Popović, “Relikvije svete Petke: gloria Bulgariae – gloria Serviae”, in Pod okriljem svetosti. Kult svetih vladara i relikvija u srednjovekovnoj Srbiji, Eadem, ed., Belgrade 2006, pp. 271–293.

189 4 / Reliquary of Dionysius of Suzdal, Kremlin Museum, Moscow, 1383

with pearls and jewels, incorporated, along with the canonization of members of royalty. The corpus the True Cross particle, a number of relics of saints of hagiographies of new Serbian saints included and their images in enamel and is even now consid- lives of kings, queens, archbishops and patriarchs, ered the palladium of Belarus. Similar to Byzantine along with distinguished hermits and monks 35. imperial crosses, it has long dedicatory inscriptions These saints were celebrated in burial shrines pre- on its side faces, naming not only its donor, but also serving bodies in sarcophagi, (only rarely allowing the artist, master Lazar Bogsha30. dismemberment and dissemination)36. The long line The best known and largest of all reliquaries of sacred lineage began with the founder of the from the Russian principates is that of Archbishop Nemanid dynasty, Stefan Nemanja, who died as the Dionysius of Suzdal, dated to 1383 / Fig. 4 /. The monk Simeon after retiring to the Athonite monas- long inscription consolidates bonds between the tery of Chilandar. Simeon’s relics were translated to local political and ecclesiastical elites and Byzan- the church he founded in Studenica in the aftermath tium by asserting that the precious Passion relics of the Sack of Constantinople and during internal the reliquary contains (along with relics of other strife among his immediate successors37, and re- saints) have been brought from Constantinople mains there in a never-reopened marble sarcoph- by the archbishop Dionysius to the newly formed agus 38. Instead only of Simeon’s body, however, archbishopric of Suzdal, Novgorod and Gorodets. relic veneration at Studenica is also focused on a As Alexei Lidov argues, these are specifically relics much-renovated reliquary triptych centered on the from the most sacred collection of imperial relics, of the Virgin’s Dormition39. the Pharos31. Furthermore, the inscription names The incorrupt bodies of its national saints had a the patron as Prince Dimitri Konstantinovich, the central role in Serbian history, although we no lon- close relative of the renowned Dimitri Donskiy 32. ger have that of St Sabas, the founder of the Serbian Surprisingly, the form of the reliquary is not church, as it was destroyed by the Ottomans in 159440. Byzantine but takes a more typically Western form 30 Vladimir D. Sarab’yanov, Spaso-preobrazhenskaya tserkov’ Evfrosin’eva of a (very large) quadrilobe phylactery inset with monast’rya i ee freski, Moscow 2007, pp. 5 –16. relic windows, however its fascinating iconography, 31 Aleksei Lidov, “Tserkov’ Bogomateri Farosskoy. Imperatorskiy khram-relikvariy kak konstantinopol’skiy Grob Gospoden’”, in Yero- prominently features the Byzantine formulation of topia: prostranstvenii’ie ikon’i i obraz’i-paradigm’i v vizantiyskoy kul’ture, the Anastasis 33. Aleksei Lidov ed., Moscow 2009, pp. 71–109; Idem, “A Byzantine Jerusalem” (n. 17), pp. 66 – 69. Though linked to Byzantium through religion, 32 Irina A. Sterligova, “Reliquary of Dionysus of Suzdal”, in Christian medieval Serbia drew closer to the Central and West Relics in the Moscow Kremlin, Alexei M. Lidov ed., Moscow 2000, pp. 45 –52, 88 – 89, no. 5. For the wider political context, see John 34 European models in art and architecture , and in Meyendorff, Byzantium and the Rise of Russia: A Study of Byzanti- relic practice, especially in the case of the latter, in no-Russian Relations in the Fourteenth Century, Cambridge 2010. 33 For the type, see Cynthia Hahn, “Portable Altars (and the Ratio- 190 the prominence of the dynasty founder’s cult and nale): Liturgical Objects and Personal Devotion”, in Image and Altar, Poul Grinder-Hansen ed., Copenhagen 2015, pp. 45 – 64. For another interesting relic issue associated with modern Suzdal, see Anya Bernstein, “The Impossible Object: Relics, Property, and the Secular in Post-Soviet Russia”, Anthropology Today, xxx (2014), pp. 7–11. Per- haps the Western form of the reliquary is not surprising as by 1383, westerners had produced artefacts for Byzantine and Russian use, as e.g. the Topkapi Baptist reliquary, see Ioli Kalavrezou, “Helping Hands for the Empire: Imperial Ceremonies and the Cult of Relics at the Byzantine Court”, in Byzantine Court Culture from 829 to 1204, Henry Maguire ed., Washington d.c. 1997, pp. 67– 70, or the famous panagiarion made in 1435 by master Ivan Arip in Russian Novgorod, see Sainte Russie: L’art russe des origines à Pierre le Grand, Jannic Durand ed., Paris 2010, pp. 290 – 291, no. 122. 34 In the 1350s, the protomaistor or chief architect of the great royal church of Dečani in Serbia (now Kosovo region) came from Catharo and was Franciscan, signing himself as “Friar Vitus, from Catharo the king’s city”. For the Gothic and Romanesque features of por- tals, windows and stonework, see Milka Čanak-Medić, “Gotika u srpskoj crkvenoj arhitekturi u razdoblju od Žiče do Resave”, in Resava Monastery, its History and Art, Miroslav Pantić ed., Despotovac 1995, pp. 111–134. Further, in archives original contracts it is clear that master masons from Dubrovnik (residents of which were Roman Catholics) were regularly employed by Serbian (Orthodox) aris- tocrats to build their churches and make furnishings (sculpture etc.), see Vojislav J. Djurić, “Dubrovački graditelji u Srbiji srednjega veka”, Zbornik za likovne umetnosti Matice srpske, iii (1967), pp. 87–103. Note that Helen (d’Anjou) married the Serbian king Urosh i and introduced Western artists: Branislav Cvetković, “Franciscans and Medieval Serbia: the Evidence of Art”, ikon. Journal of Iconographic Studies, iii (2010), pp. 247– 259 (with bibliography). 35 Danilo Drugi, Životi kraljeva i arhiepiskopa srpskih; Službe, Gordon Mak Danijel, Damnjan Petrović eds, Belgrade 1988; Danilovi nastavljači, Gordon Mak Danijel ed., Belgrade 1989; Gerhard Podskalski, The- ologische Literatur des Mittelalters in Bulgarien und Serbien 865–1459, Munich 2000. 36 Danica Popović, Srpski vladarski grob u srednjem veku, Belgrade 1992; Eadem, “Relics“ (n. 9); Eadem, Pod okriljem svetosti. Kult svetih vladara i relikvija u srednjovekovnoj Srbiji, Belgrade 2006; Eadem, “Cvetna sim- bolika i kult relikvija u srednjovekovnoj Srbiji”, Zograf, xxxii (2008), pp. 69 – 81. 37 On the special role monastery Studenica had played, see Vojislav J. Djurić, “Tabernacle du peuple serbe”, in Blago manastira Studenice, Vojislav J. Djurić ed., Belgrade 1988, pp. 20 –25. 38 Danica Popović, “Svetiteljsko proslavljanje Simeona Nemanje: prilog proučavanju kulta moštiju kod Srba”, Zbornik radova Vizantološkog instituta, xxxvii (1998), pp. 43 – 53. 39 Miroslav Timotijević, “Predanje o studeničkoj ktitorskoj ikoni Uspenja Bogorodice”, Saopštenja, xxx–xxxi (1998–1999), pp. 139 –159. 40 On all phases of this cult, see Danica Popović, “Mošti Svetog Save”, in Sveti Sava u srpskoj istoriji i tradiciji, Sima Ćiković ed., Belgrade 1998, pp. 251– 266. 191 Sabas however, was himself the patron of a number Serbian church dignitaries, it may reveal a possible of reliquaries. He organized the acquisition of relics donor, not Sabas himself but his namesake, the for the newly established archbishopric of Žiča, in- patriarch Sabas iv 44. cluding a particle of the True Cross, the Virgin’s Lengthy inscriptions are characteristic of both girdle, and right arm of St John the Baptist 41. The Byzantine reliquaries and of those from the Byzan- reliquary of the right arm of St John the Baptist, kept tine commonwealth. The unique Serbian example today in the cathedral of Siena, has long attracted embroidered on a pall for the embalmed head of the attention of scholars, because the case features the sainted Prince Lazar, killed in the famous battle a medieval Cyrillic inscription mentioning Sabas as of Kosovo, both emulates the Byzantine tradition its donor / Fig. 5 /. It is likely that this reliquary is of epigrams on peploi and departs from it in that the original from the Žiča archbishopric as it was the text in gold wire features an original poetic once part of the collection owned by Pope Pius ii prayer composed by the nun Jefimija, the former who in turn had received it from despot Thomas basilissa Jelena, who is known to have donated Palaiologos, father of the last Serbian despotissa. similar objects to monasteries. Discovered in the Further research on this reliquary is anticipated. coffin reliquary of the saint, the pall renders strong A damaged staurothek in the treasury of the mon- evidence for the Prince’s cult at the court, while astery Chilandar has long been believed to have the prayer reveals medieval devotional practice been donated to the monastery by the Serbian roy- and expectations of celestial help in the time of war al house and recent research has confirmed this with the Ottomans 45. Although the original casket likelihood. Although the compartments for the True for Lazar’s relics has not been preserved, it may Cross relic are now empty, they once contained have resembled that of St Stefan’s relics, third Ser- relics donated by the Nicaean Emperor John iii bian king of that name, whose cult is longstanding Vatatzes to Sabas, who later bestowed it upon the and widespread in the Balkans. This rare example Chilandari brethren42. Finally, a staurothek with me- of an excellently preserved medieval coffin shrine, dieval Serbian inscriptions in Pienza has recently of painted wood, richly decorated with interlace, been published43. The large cross reliquary deco- originally was located in his mausoleum monastery rated in filigree also includes an inscription naming church of Dečani / Fig. 6 / 46. St Sabas as both archbishop and the first Serbian Unlike Serbia, late medieval Bulgaria did not patriarch, in a fashion identical to captions on paint- develop a cult of royal saints but instead, focused ed portraits in Serbia where he is shown holding on imported saints and the continuing cult of the a large, jeweled cruciform scepter. Not only does early Slavonic hermits. A clear Byzantine import this reliquary expose a pattern of the popularity of was the developing cult of the Virgin, expressed 192 cross-shaped reliquaries of Byzantine type among however in unique local cults and miraculous icons. 5 / Arm Reliquary of St John the Baptist, Cathedral of Siena, 13th century

6 / Shrine of Holy King Stefan iii Dečanski, Dečani monastery, ca. 1343

The Mother of God Osenovitsa in the monastery of in a pattern similar to that of Byzantium after 1204, Rila was in some sense the offspring of the cult of in ultimately futile bids for legitimacy, each of these hermit St John of Rila47. At Rila, on the holy moun- regions developed its own unique political and tain, in addition to the relics of the hermit venerated ideological platform. Insofar as these ideological in his coffin in front of the iconostasis, reverence constructs depended on relics, many were contin- was offered to a portable icon incorporated into a gent on translations of prestigious remains, some of complex reliquary triptych with thirty-two com- Constantinopolitan origin. Written sources attest to partments densely packed with the relics of various saints, exposed without any means of covering and 41 Danica Popović, “Sacrae reliquiae Spasove crkve u Žiči”, in Manastir Žiča. Zbornik radova, Gojko Subotić ed., Kraljevo 2000, pp. 17– 33. For with captions on frames identifying relics of saints earlier scholarship on the Serbian dexter reliquary in Siena, see Pavle Popović, “O srpskom natpisu u Sijeni”, Prilozi za književnost, jezik, / Fig. 7/. The icon is the focus of an elaborate rite istoriju i folklor, xvi (1936), pp. 157–170; Mirjana Ćorović-Ljubinković, which has a distinctive topography – encompassing “Pretečina desnica i drugo krunisanje Prvovenčanog”, Starinar, v–vi (1956), pp. 105 –114. Admittedly, this is one of a number of “arms” of rituals in the nave and the portico, extending to John the Baptist, see Ida Sinkević, “Afterlife of the Rhodes Hand of a ritual addressing a fresco copy of the icon, and St. John the Baptist”, in Byzantine Images and their Afterlives: Essays in Honor of Annemarie Weyl Carr, Lynn Jones ed., Farnham / London 2014, including a series of devotional practices involving pp. 125 –141. the community where the icon was processed and 42 Bojan Miljković, “Hilandarski časni krst i stara manastirska stav- roteka”, Zbornik radova Vizantološkog instituta, xxxviii (1999/2000), also kissed. The reliquary has parallels in both Byz- pp. 287– 297. 43 Danica Popović, “A staurotheke of Serbian provenance in Pienza”, antine and Western reliquary icons, for example, as Zograf, xxxvi (2012), pp. 157–170. For the heavily restored reliquary Bakalova argues, to the famous reliquary diptychs cross donated to Ras bishopric by king Milutin and bishop Grigor- ios ii, now in Dominican monastery in Dubrovnik, see Karmen Gagro, in Meteora and Quenca, made for the regional rul- “Predmeti zlatarstva u Dominikanskom samostanu u Dubrovniku”, in ers of Epirus, despot Thomas Preljubović and his Dominikanci u Hrvatskoj, Igor Fisković ed., Zagreb 2011, pp. 211, 426, no. z / 24. wife Maria Angelina. Since the Rila icon reliquary 44 See Milan Radujko, “Presto svetog Simeona”, Zograf, xxviii (2000 –2001), belongs to the late medieval period, it has been sug- pp. 75 – 80. 45 Popović, “Relics” (n. 9), pp. 173, 180, fig. 5. gested the patron may have been Mara Branković, 46 Danica Popović, “Sveti kralj Stefan Dečanski”, in Pod okriljem svetosti. daughter of the Serbian despot Djuradj Branković, Kult svetih vladara i relikvija u srednjovekovnoj Srbiji, Eadem, ed., Belgrade 2006, pp. 143 –183, 344 – 346; Marjanović-Dušanić, Sveti (n. 11). It is influential wife of the Ottoman sultan Murad ii and now in the Museum of Serbian Orthodox Church in Belgrade, while 48 the king’s relics in the monastery church are kept in the more recent stepmother of Mehmed the Conqueror . sarcophagus constructed of stone slabs. Discussion of this icon takes us to the end of four- 47 Asen Kirin, “The Cult of the Mother of God Osenovitsa (She Who Over- shadows)”, Problemi na izkustvoto. Izv’nreden broi, (1998), pp. 25 – 28. teenth century in the Balkans, a period that saw the 48 Elka Bakalova, “Rilskata chudotvorna ikona-relikvariy, Konstantinopol demise of the Serbian Empire and its break up into i Mara Brankovich”, in B’lgariya i S’rbiya v konteksta na vizantiyskata tsivilizatsiya, Vasil Gyuzelev [et al.] eds, Sofia 2005, pp. 193 – 228. For smaller independent regions that one by one suc- Mara Branković, see Mihailo St. Popović, Mara Branković. Eine Frau cumbed to Ottoman conquest or sovereignty, com- zwischen dem christlichen und dem islamischen Kulturkreis im 15. Jahrhun- dert, Wiesbaden 2010. plete in 1459 49. Before the final conquest however, 49 For this period, see Sima M. Ćirković, The Serbs, Hoboken 2008, pp. 63 –110. 193 a translation of the relics of the Byzantine Empress first Christian emperor had never been referred to in Theophano from Bulgaria to Serbia along with the any domestic or foreign account 53. Fifteenth-century relics of St Paraskeve, but unfortunately we know sources do indicate that the genealogical lineage of nothing of the reliquaries or the present where- the Serbian royal house came to include Licinius, abouts of Theophano’s relics 50. A lavish reliquary and even Constantine and Augustus 54. Furthermore, containing the arm of St Constantine the Great with the despot Stefan Lazarević acted in what one might Cyrillic inscriptions recently and unexpectedly reap- call Constantinian fashion in constructing his capi- peared in the Kremlin collection and may have been tal Belgrade as a New Jerusalem, as attested by his produced in this historical context. It has attracted biographer Konstantin from Kostenets, a project unparalleled attention in scholarship due to its form, deeply rooted in well-established models of the ideal dimensions and apparently medieval Serbian origin and holy city 55. The holy nature of the city and the / Fig. 8 / 51. The use of the reliquary is not in doubt Serbian state was supplemented by the presence of as it is covered with inscriptions from the liturgy of the miraculous icon of the Belgrade Virgin. Unfor- the Feast of St Constantine and Helena (and its long tunately, such holy power did not prevail; the icon narrow form, lack of a base, and the orientation of was looted by the Ottomans and taken to Istanbul; the inscriptions may indicate that it was held aloft Belgrade fell in 152156. in some fashion during ceremonial appearances), Translation of saintly bodies and relics was con- however it lacks any indication of a donor. Never- sistently used as a political tool in the Orthodox theless, Anatoliy Turilov has recently argued that it world from the time of Constantine, perhaps it was made for despot Stefan Lazarević 52. should even be seen as a specifically Byzantine strat- Although the notion of the ruler as a “New Con- egy – after all Constantinople’s wealth of relics was stantine” is a motif common in royal ideology from ultimately the product of a series of translations to 194 the beginning of the Serbian state, the relics of the the capital57. Following the Constantinopolitan lead, 7 / Virgin’s Icon with Relics, Rila monastery, end of 15th century

8 / Arm Reliquary of St Constantine the Great, Kremlin Museum, Moscow, 14th – 15th century

Stefan Lazarević (as above) as well as Bulgarian the 50 On this, see Smilja Marjanović-Dušanić, “Dinastija i svetost u doba Tsars (in the thirteenth century) translated saints porodice Lazarević: stari uzori i novi modeli”, Zbornik radova Vizan- tološkog instituta, xliii (2006), pp. 90 – 92. to their capitals. As a result the Bulgarian city of 51 Elena A. Morshakova, “Kovcheg dlya desnitsi svyatogo tsarya Tarnovgrad, was transformed to what Bakalova calls Konstantina”, in Christian Relics in the Moscow Kremlin, Alexei M. Lidov ed., Moscow 2000, pp. 126 –128; Eadem, “Reliquaire du bras de Con- 58 a “center of sanctity ” . stantin”, in Sainte Russie: L’Art russe des origines à Pierre le Grand, Jannic Such translations were thought to make a Durand ed., Paris 2010, p. 455, no. 201. 52 Anatoliy A. Turilov, “Serbskiy kovcheg-relikvariy sv. tsarya Konstan- city stronger in terms of its defense, again in the tina iz Blagoveshchenskogo sobora moskovskogo Kremlya: datirovka i gipotez’i o proiskhozhdenii”, Crkvene studije, x (2013), pp. 125 –133. Constantinopolitan mode. Several accounts testify 53 Vojislav. J. Djurić, “Le nouveau Constantin dans l’art serbe médiéval”, to the many translation of the relics of the Apostle in ΛΙΘΟΣΤΡΩΤΟΝ. Studien zur byzantinischen Kunst und Geschichte. Festschrift für Marcell Restle, Birgitt Borkopp, Thomas Stepan eds, Luke, initially from Rogos to Smederevo, the last Stuttgart 2000, pp. 55 – 64; Branislav Cvetković, “St Constantine the capital of the Serbian Despotate, (a remarkably ex- Great in Mileševa Revisited”, Niš & Byzantium, xii (2014), pp. 271– 284 (with bibliography). pensive project costing thirty-thousand ducats!), 54 Stari srpski rodoslovi i letopisi, Ljubomir Stojanović ed., Sremski undertaken in order to strengthen the defense of the Karlovci 1927, p. 419, no. 3. 55 Ninoslava Radošević, “Laudes Serbiae. The Life of Despot Stephan capital against advancing Ottoman troops. Although Lazarević by Constantine the Philosopher”, Zbornik radova Vizantološkog instituta, xxiv–xxv (1986), pp. 445 – 451; Jelena Erdeljan, belief in their protective powers was genuine, the “Beograd kao Novi Jerusalim. Razmišljanja o recepciji jednog toposa relics could not prevent the capture of the city. Be- u doba despota Stefana Lazarevića”, Zbornik radova Vizantološkog instituta, xliii (2006), pp. 97–110. fore the capital fell, however, the relics were rescued, 56 M. Tatić-Djurić, “Ikona Bogorodice beogradske”, Godišnjak grada taken to Bosnia and later to the West 59. Other relics Beograda, xxv (1978), pp. 147–161. 57 John Wortley, “The Earliest Relic-Importations to Constantinople”, in and reliquaries similarly moved from home to home Studies in the Cult of Byzantium up to 1204, Burlington 2009, pp. 207– 225. because of political disruptions in the Balkans of the 58 Bakalova, “La vénération des reliques” (n. 10), p. 73. 59 For cult of St Luke in Serbia and his relics, see Danica Popović, later Middle Ages. We have already mentioned the “Mošti svetog Luke – srpska epizoda”, in Eadem, Pod okriljem svetosti: peregrinations of St Paraskeve, who was transported kult svetih vladara i relikvija u srednjovekovnoj Srbiji, Belgrade 2006, pp. 295 – 317. to Belgrade as a protector 60. 60 Bakalova, “La vénération des reliques” (n. 10), p. 75. 195 9 / Reliquary of brothers Musić, Vatopaidi monastery, ca. 1390 A reliquary example, the luxurious Serbian adorned with jewels, pearls, and captions in Serbian staurothek in the Athonite monastery of Vatopedi and Greek. The arrangement allows the exposed / Fig. 9 / remains in good condition despite its trav- relics a strangely organic quality, transforming them els. The cross, embellished with gems, survives from static bone fragments to growing dynamic along with the outer frame made in the manner of elements. They are however also characterized as the Rila icon-reliquary with compartments for the “gems ” by their elaborate settings. This masterpiece relics of several Christian saints, although these is the work of five different craftsmen who worked are enclosed with tiny doors supplied with icons for the Branković house during the mid-fifteenth of the relevant saints 61. It is not known how and century; while the late Gothic stand with its angels when the staurothek came to Athos, but a number of presentation was added in 1576, obviously as a of manuscripts, icons and other reliquaries simi- substitute for a damaged original handle or support. larly arrived in the monastery after the Ottomans Along with a number of smaller and larger relics of occupied the Balkans. The extant inscriptions on predominantly Orthodox saints, the ensemble in- both sides of the stem of the cross testify that the cludes relics of Roman Catholic saints Ursula, Clara, reliquary was made to the order of the brothers and Apollonia, a nod to Barbara’s western origin and Stefan and Lazar of the Musić clan, and that they interests. Among three enkolpia, at the reliquary’s originally donated it after their mother’s death ca. lower center there is the embellished panagiarion 1390 to the family endowment, the monastery of on the obverse of which is a miniature capsule with Nova Pavlica. Although without doubt a signifier of the Virgin and Child in relief on its lid. The reverse devout belief, the reliquary with its many inscrip- side features long dedicatory inscription naming tions was also clearly intended as an instrument of the donor and, on the rim, a prayer to the Holy aristocratic representation and expression of the Trinity, named in Eastern Orthodox hymnography regional lordship of the clan; the inscriptions also as the Prayer of St Ioannikios the Great. Due to its mention the regional Metropolitan John as the rel- rich adornment and complex form, the pangiarion/ iquary’s co-donor 62. Its meaning in its new home at enkolpia is perhaps the most unusual specimen of the Athos has, of course, necessarily changed. kind, probably once worn by the despotissa Barbara With the collapse of the majority of the Eastern before it became part of the reliquary 63. Orthodox states during late fourteenth and fifteenth Surviving as vassal states under the Ottomans, centuries, members of the ruling elite either perished Wallachia and Moldavia (later joined to form mod- in battle or became refugees, but nevertheless relics ern Romania)64, maintained the Christian faith in were perceived as still precious, and both protec- the form of a number of shrines, especially those tive and worthy of protection. One rare surviving dedicated to the bodies of local saints65. In pursuit example of a collection of relics produced in these of political legitimacy and in following the tradition circumstances was subsequently incorporated into 61 Branislav Todić, “Τρείς σερβικές λειψανοθήκες στη Μονή του the lavish reliquary of Barbara Frankopan Branković, Βατοπεδίου”, in Ιερά Μονή Βατοπεδίου. Ιστορία και τέχνη, Paris now in the Franciscan monastery at Tersatto above Gounaridis ed., Athens 1999, pp. 243 – 252. 62 Branislav Cvetković, “Portreti u naosu Nove Pavlice: istorizam ili Fiume in northern coast of Croatia / Fig. 10 /. Accord- politička aktuelnost?”, Saopštenja xxxv/xxxvi (2006), pp. 79 – 97. For ing to extensive inscriptions on the two largest relic the monastery Nova Pavlica and the period, see Idem, Manastir Nova Pavlica. Istorija, arhitektura i živopis, Ph.D. Thesis, Belgrade 2009. units and on a panagiarion (e. g. a small liturgical 63 For analysis of all the frames, see Branislav Cvetković, “Relikvijar paten customarily ornamented with the image of despotice Barbare Frankopan Branković: Prilog proučavanju”, Zbornik Muzeja primenjene umetnosti, viii (2012), pp. 23 – 36. the Virgin) embedded in the lower part of the con- 64 For the royal iconography of both Rumanian realms, see Laura-Cristina Ştefănescu, Gift-Giving, Memoria and Art Patronage in the Principalities of struction, the reliquary once belonged to despotissa Walachia and Moldavia. The Function and Meaning of Princely Votive Por- Barbara, princess from the Frankopan aristocratic traits (14th – 17th Centuries), ma thesis, Utrecht 2010; Elisabeta Negrău, Cultul suveranului sud-est european şi cazul Ţării Româneşti: o perspectivă lineage and wife of Vuk Branković, one of the last artistică, Iaşi 2011. titular Serbian despots. The present reliquary has 65 Matei Cazacu, “Saint Jean le Nouveau, son martyre, ses reliques et leur translation à Suceava (1415)”, in L’Empereur hagiographe. Culte des forty framed relic units arranged within the growth saints et monarchie byzantine et post-byzantine, Petre Guran, Bernard of a “ heavenly ” vine, constructed of tubular stems, Flusin eds, Bucharest 2000, pp. 137–158; Paul Cernovodeanu, “La double histoire de Sainte Philothée d’Argeş et ses miracles”, in Ibidem, floriated ornaments and revetments in filigree, and pp. 159 –176. 197 10 / Reliquary of Barbara Frankopan Branković, obverse and reverse, Franciscan monastery, Tersatto, end of 15th century

198 199 of the appropriation of imperial models mapped sixteenth centuries cannot fully represent the history out above, Romanian rulers continued to donate of relics and reliquaries in those various states, it is reliquaries even into the late middle ages. The to be hoped that it will serve as an introduction to finest example is a lavishly decorated skull reli- the riches that once served as an ornament as well quary of St John the Baptist, long misinterpreted as a foundation for those states. We have seen the by scholars / Fig. 11/. The metal enshrinement for resourceful use of translations, of inscriptions, of the skull is heavily adorned with interpenetrating shrines, and of reliquaries. The imperial cults of vine and floral settings for pearls and gemstones (in- the True Cross, the Virgin, and of Constantine and cluding some large fine rubies) arranged in a cross Helena have seen reemployment in many different shape with prominent Cyrillic inscriptions in the forms, in many different places – from the derivative interstices. Bakalova has deciphered the perplexing to the creatively reimagined. Through all these many Old Slavonic text, concluding that the reliquary was examples, however, above all we are insistently re- made by the Wallachian ruler duke Ioan Neagoe minded that relics and reliquaries were among the Bassaraba around 1515 66. The captions confirm that most valuable material goods in these societies, and the reliquary contains not only part of St John’s that the manufacture of such containers and shrines head, but also relics of two other saints, St John were the work of countless talented artists and ar- Chrysostom and St Peter. Both in its elaborate vine- tisans satisfying the desires of myriad princes and like decoration, and in its collection of the relics of many ecclesiastics. Ultimately, we cannot overstate a variety of saints, it is similar to the Tersatto reli- the value to the nations or to the souls of faithful of quary. As the primary center for devotion on Mount these holy bodies, of these pieces of the true cross, of Athos for the Wallachian court, the monastery of these testimonies to the divine. Their study deserves Dionysiou was the intended recipient for the gift, our continuing attention. but similar to the fate of so many of the other lavish 66 Elka Bakalova, “Kovcheg dlya glav’i Predtechi kak knyazheskoe dare- reliquaries we have discussed, it was looted, and nie: relikvariy Nyagoe Basaraba iz Muzeya Topkap’i v Stambule”, in today is kept in the Topkapi Museum. Idea and Image: Studies in Byzantine and Russian Medieval Art, Andrey Batalov, Engelina Smirnova eds, Moscow 2009, pp. 437– 441; Eadem, Although this discussion of a small selection of “Relikvariyat s cherepa na Sv. Ioan Predtecha ot Topk’p’saray: b’lgarski, reliquaries and attendant relic practices from the sr’bski ili rum’nski?”, in Terra antiqua Balcanica et mediterranea. Miscella- nea in honour of Alexander Minchev, Acta Musei Varnaensis, viii/ 2 (2011), Byzantine Commonwealth from the twelfth through pp. 375 – 388.

11 / Reliquary of Neagoe Bassaraba, obverse and 200 reverse, ca. 1515, Topkapi Museum, Istanbul Summary/ Imperiální ambice: relikvie a relikviáře z byzantské periferie

Studium relikviářů v okrajových územích Iluminátora, světce, který obrátil na křesťanskou Byzantské říše je komplikováno jejich stavem víru první arménské panovníky. Gruzínské uctívání dochování. Nejnovější vědecké studie nám však relikvií se rovněž soustředilo na Pravý kříž, ale umožňují nový pohled na tuto uměleckou oblast. zahrnovalo také nový typ monumentálních křížů Je zřejmé, že byzantští objednavatelé a jejich am- v kostelích a zázračný dřevěný pilíř na místě ulo- biciózní sousedé sponzorovali produkci svatyní žení Kristova bezešvého roucha v Sve’titskhoveli a relikviářů pro staré i nové světce, které odha- v Mschetě. Významný byl také kult ženské „apo- lují pozoruhodný obraz proměnlivého diskurzu štolky“ Nino. Bulhaři uctívali oblíbeného byzant- moci. Praktiky spojené s relikviemi se začaly ob- ského světce Demetria i nové lokální světce, jako jevovat ve 12. století a pokračovaly skrze raný např. poustevníka Jana z Rily nebo Petra, prvního novověk, zahrnovaly relikvie a relikviáře, které bulharského cara. Svatá Petka společně s Petrem sloužily k ostentativnímu prohlašování spojenectví, tvořila uctívanou dvojici připomínající Konstantina ale také nezávislosti, legitimity a zároveň vzdoru a Helenu. V pozdním středověku v Rile nabývá na vůči císařství. důležitosti také kult Matky Boží. Relikvie a svatyně z těchto států (Arménie, Bul- Středověká Rus, podobně jako Arménie a Gruzie, harska, Gruzie, Rusi, Srbska, rumunského Valašska vyznávala kult Pravého kříže. Vznikl zde slavný a Moldávie) se vyskytovaly ve dvou formách. Za suzdalský relikviář, který má sice západní podobu, prvé jako celá, často neporušená těla významných ale jeho četné inskripce jej pojí k Byzanci. Naproti národních postav (buď církevních, nebo politic- tomu Srbsko následovalo mnoho západních podob kých), která byla obvykle umístěna před přepáž- uctívání relikvií, přičemž přední pozici zaujímal ky v klášterech nebo v městských kostelích, a za kult zakládajících královských osobností Stefana druhé jako cirkulující fragmenty vystavované Nemanja a Sabase, a vznikaly zde relikviáře ve v komplexních souborech. Těla byla často uložena tvaru paží nebo stauroték. Na konci 14. století došlo do nejstarších relikviářových forem, tj. sarkofágů, k zániku srbského císařství, ale důležité relikviáře v institucionálním prostředí, zatímco fragmenty pozdního období byly nalezeny v Kremlu, na hoře byly uchovávány v relikviářích nového typu, při- Athos a v Tersattu. Valašsko a Moldávie, přežívající pomínajících západní i byzantské tendence. jako vazalské státy pod Osmanskou říší, uctívaly Relikvie umožňovaly vytvoření představ o sva- zejména těla lokálních světců. Mezi jejich relik­ tém státu a vládě potvrzené Bohem. To se dělo jak viáři je i ten, který obsahuje ostatky lebky sv. Jana skrze ustavení geografie moci vybudované na tělech Křtitele, dnes uložený na hoře Athos. světců in situ v posvátných institucích, a následným Přenášení relikvií, tvorba drahocenných relikvi- přenesením moci císařství do okrajových států jejich ářů s dlouhými zbožnými inskripcemi jmenujícími prostřednictvím, tak také skrze variace císařských donátory a tvůrčí využívání relikvií a svatyní – to kultů Pravého kříže (a relikvií Umučení), Panny vše byly prostředky, kterými národy byzantského Marie a Konstantina a Heleny. společenství koncentrovaly moc do svých koste- Arménské relikvie a relikviáře zahrnovaly Pravý lů, měst a paláců, čímž posilovaly svou nadvládu kříž a relikviář ve tvaru paže s ostatky sv. Řehoře a přijímaly posvátné.

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