St. Moses the Ethiopian or the Black. Cult and representation in the Middle Ages*

Tatjana Starodubcev** Academy of Arts, University of Novi Sad

UDC 271.723-36-5:929 Mojsije Etiopski, sveti 82-97:271-29 75.046.3.041.5 DOI https://doi.org/10.2298/ZOG1943001S Оригиналан научни рад

The paper presents extant texts narrating about St. Moses the the part about the Nitrian anchorites in Palladios’ Lausiac Ethiopian or the Black written in Greek, Coptic, Ge’ez, Syrian, History completed in 420. The author, who spent many Arabic and Old Church Slavonic and reviews the cult of the years in Egypt, first in the Nitrian Desert and then in Kel- saint connected to the Baramus Monastery in the Scetis Desert lia, recounts that Moses, a black-skinned Ethiopian, was or the Nitrian Desert. His preserved images in Egypt, Palestine, Byzantium, and in the countries whose churches used various a house-servant to a government official, but his master recensions of the Old Church Slavonic language are listed. The dismissed him because of his immorality and brigandage. final part of the study proposes some conclusions on his cult Moses became the leader of a band of robbers. He bore a and representation. grudge against a shepherd who one night had prevented Keywords: St. Moses, the Ethiopian, the Black, Egypt, him with his dogs from carrying out a plan. Moses set out Byzantium, Slavic countries, Wallachia to kill him and was informed that the shepherd was keep- ing his sheep across the Nile. The river was in flood, so St. Moses the Ethiopian or the Black was portrayed he put his sword between his teeth and his clothes on his amongst the holy monks and hermits in the churches of head and swam to the other side. The shepherd escaped the Eastern Christian realm. He is, at least in the repre- and hid. Moses took four of his best rams, killed and tied sentations created in Byzantium and in areas under its them together and swam back again. He came to a little direct cultural influence, generally easily recognizable be- homestead, skinned the rams and ate the best pieces of cause he is usually shown as dark-skinned and wearing meat, sold the skin in exchange for wine he then drunk, and went off fifty miles further to where his band was monastic robes.1 waiting for him. Later, he gave himself up to a monastery The commemoration of the holy father Moses the and embraced repentance. On one occasion, four robbers Ethiopian, as evidenced by the Synaxarion of the Church stormed into his cell and attacked him, and he tied them all of Constantinople compiled in the tenth century, is cel- th 2 together and brought them to the church of his brethren. ebrated on August 28 , as the first of the day. Numer- Realizing that Moses was the famous former brigand, the ous and diverse writings composed in the Greek language 3 robbers renounced the world. He was attacked and tempt- narrate about this saint. There is a story about Moses the ed by the demons of impurity in a bid to plunge him into Ethiopian, Περὶ Μωυσέως τοῦ Αἰθίοπος (BHG 1309) in his his old ways. So he went for advice to the great Isidore, the one who lived in Scete. Moses returned to his cell and * The paper is the result of research on the project no. 177036 from then on practiced ascetism more zealously, refraining supported by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological from food, accomplishing a great deal of work and com- Development of Serbia. pleting fifty prayers a day. As he continued to be consumed ** [email protected] by fire in his dreams, he asked an experienced monk for 1 S. Tomeković, Les saints ermites et moines dans la peinture advice. Then he returned to his cell and made an oath that murale byzantine, ed. L. Hadermann-Misguich, C. Jolivet-Lé vy, Paris he would not sleep all night nor bend his knees in order 2011, 35–36, 94, 99, 102, 241. 2 Delehaye, Synaxarium, 929.18–932.7, for all commemorations to avoid being tortured by dreams. He remained in his cell of that day cf. ibid., 929.18–932.15. For the time of composition of the for six years, standing in the middle of his cell every night Synaxarion of the Church of Constantinople v. Synaxarion, in: ODB III, praying, but he could not overcome the temptation. There- 1991 (R. F. Taft, N. Patterson Ševčenko). fore he decided to put himself to even greater undertaking. 3 For Greek texts narrating about the saint or dedicated to him Each night he went out to the cells of the old monks who cf. BHG II, 127–128, nos. 1307z–1310c; Novum auctarium Bibliothe- were no longer able to go far to fetch water and, secretly cae hagiographicae Graecae, ed F. Halkin, Bruxelles 1984, 153, nos. 1307z–1310h. On the life and sayings of the saint based on four Greek taking their water-pots, filled them with water. One night, writings v. K. O’Brien Wicker, Ethiopian Moses (collected sources), in: as he bent over the well, a demon struck him with a cudgel Ascetic behavior in Greco-Roman antiquity. A sourcebook, ed. V. L. across the loins and he lost consciousness. The next day a Wimbush, Minneapolis 1990, 329–347. 1 ЗОГРАФ 43 (2019) [1–22]

man found him lying there and told the great Isidore, the test and to humiliate him and they asked why an Ethio- priest of Scete. He picked Moses up and brought him to pian came amongst them. When he was ordained a priest, the church. For a year he was so ill that his body and soul the archbishop said to him that he had become entirely recovered strength with great difficulty. Isidore the priest white and then told the priests to call Moses names and told him that there were limits even in the ascetic prac- drive him out when he came into the sanctuary, and he ac- tice and in the struggle with demons and that from that cepted that, saying to himself that he was the ash-skinned very moment his impure dreams would cease and to come and black one. When it was ordered in Scete to fast for confidently to receive communion by the holy secrets. Mo- one week, brothers from Egypt came to visit him, and he ses again retired to his cell. He died at the age of seventy- cooked a meal for them. Seeing the smoke, his neighbors five in Scete, having become a priest, leaving behind sev- informed the priests that he had broken the command and enty disciples.4 Sozomenos, a renowned lawyer known for cooked in his cell, but the priests understood why he had his extensive Ecclesiastical History dedicated to Emperor done it. An official wanted to see him and went to Scete. Theodosius I, wrote about Moses shortly thereafter. The However, Abba Moses was informed about it and rose to work recounts the history of the church from 324 to 425. flee to the marsh, but the man and his retinue met him It was completed after 443, when the last event recorded along the way and asked him for Moses’s cell, and he re- in the preface took place. In Book VI Chapter 29, named plied that this Moses was a fool (σαλός). The official went ‘On the monks of Thebais’, Περὶ τῶν ἐν Θηβαΐδι μοναχῶν, to the church and told the priests what had happened. Sozomenos dedicates one subchapter to Moses. It is appar- They asked him what the old man he had met looked ently based on the narrative in the Lausiac History, which like. He replied that he was wearing old clothes and that is somewhat summarized there, and does not mention the he was tall and black, and they said to him that they had origin of the saint, but states that he was a slave first and seen Abba Moses himself. Later, Moses told the brethren was thrown out of his master’s house because of his per- that the barbarians were coming to Scete and to flee and versity.5 In the Alphabetical Collection of The Sayings of that he had been waiting for that day for many years so the Desert Fathers, Ἀποφθέγματα τῶν πατέρων, compiled the words of Christ the Lord might be fulfilled that say ‘all in the fifth or sixth century, there is a chapter on Abba they that take the sword shall perish with the sword’ (Mt Moses entitled Περὶ τοῦ ἀββᾶ Μωσῆ (BHG 1310c), which 26:52). There were seven brothers with him and the bar- does not include the events that took place before his re- barians slew them, but one hid behind a pile of rope and treat to the desert. It focuses on his struggle against the saw seven crowns descending and crowning them. Then, temptation of fornication and his conversations with Abba some events from his life are recounted in more detail. It is Isidore, describing the advice given to him by Abba Isi- told that Abba Moses, while walking to Petra, asked him- dore: to look to the west, where he saw an immense crowd self how he would get any water there, but a voice came to of demons, and to the east, where he saw a multitude of him saying not to be concerned. He was visited by some of holy angels in glory. This text also recounts that a brother the fathers and he had only a single flask of water which in Scete fell into sin, and that he did not condemn him, he used up to cook lentils for them. Entering and leaving but instead told a didactic story about sins seeping out like the cell, he prayed to God and immediately a rain cloud sand through a basket full of holes. Then, when a council appeared above Petra and filled all of his receptacles. In assembled in Scete, the fathers wanted to put him to the the end, many sayings of his are listed. They are dedicated to various issues, such as hesychia, sin, forbearance, for- 4 Depending on the version, this is recounted in the 22nd nication, fasting, hospitality, martyrdom, prayer, vigilance, 6 or 19th chapter of the Lausiac History. For the Greek text cf. PG 34, temptation, and misdemeanour. 1065–1068; The Lausiac history of Palladius II. The Greek text edited with introduction and notes, ed. C. Butler, Cambridge 1904, 58–62, for 6 PG 65, 281–289. For the English translation v. The sayings of an English translation cf. The Lausiac history of Palladius, ed. W. K. the desert fathers: the alphabetical collection, trans. B. Ward, London– Lowther Clarke, London – New York 1918, 86–90; Paladius: the Lau- Oxford 1984, 138–143; O’Brien Wicker, Ethiopian Moses, 339–343 (on siac history, trans. R. T. Meyer, London 1965, 67–70; O’Brien Wick- the words about St. Moses in the text cf. ibid., 330, 333, 334), for the er, Ethiopian Moses, 335–338 (about the chapter on St. Moses in the Serbian translation v. Izreke staraca, Manastir Hilandar 2008, 162–167. text ibid., 329–330, 333, 334), for a Serbian translation cf. Paladije, His sayings are also found in the Systematic Collection of the Sayings episkop Helenupolja, Lavsaik ili kazivanje o životima svetih i blaženih of the Desert Fathers (The book of the elders: sayings of the desert fa- ota ca, trans. S. Prodić, Šibenik 1992, 29–30. The death of St. Moses is thers. The systematic collection, trans. J. Wortley, Collegeville MN 2012, described in other texts, but it should be pointed out right away that 19, 30, 43–44, 60, 96–97, 126–127, 135, 164–165, 200–201, 217, 225, he died as a martyr in a barbarian attack, probably in 407 (O’Brien 235, 252–253, 259, 291–292, 319–320). About The Sayings of the Desert Wicker, Ethiopian Moses, 332). About Palladios in brief cf. Palladios, fathers in short cf. Apophthegmata patrum, in: ODB I, 139 (B. Baldwin, in: ODB III, 1565 (B. Baldwin), on the writer and his work, as well as A. Cutler). Petra, which is mentioned here, can mean ‘rock’ and even about his patron cf. C. Rapp, Palladius, Lausus and the Historia lausia- ‘cave’ cf. The book of the elders, 96, n. 4. There is extensive literature on ca, in: Novum Millenium. Studies on byzantine history and culture dedi- the relationship of ecclestiastic figures, monks particularly, to Ethiopia cated to Paul Speck, ed. C. Sode, S. Takács, Aldershot 2001, 279–289, and Ethiopians and their dark skin, including St. Moses. The following with sources and literature. Since all of these texts are rather extensive, studies are particularly noteworthy: O’Brien Wicker, Ethiopian Moses, their contents are presented here in a summarized form. 334–335; V. Wimbush, Ascetic behavior and color-ful language: stories 5 PG 67, 1377. For an English translation v. History of the about Ethiopian Moses, Semeia 58 (Atlanta 1992) 81–90 (starting from Church by Sozomen and Philostorgius, trans. E. Walford, London 1855, ancient Greek and Roman views on different categories of people, gives 291–292; O’Brien Wicker, Ethiopian Moses, 338–339 (on St. Moses in observations about ascetic piety and the Christian opinion on the ra- the text cf. ibid., 330, 333, 334). For basic data about Sozomenos v. So- cial differences in those times on the example of St. Moses); D. Brakke, zomenos, in: ODB III, 1932–1933 (B. Baldwin). The younger authors Ethiopian demons: male sexuality, the black-skinned other, and the mo- of histories who mentioned St. Moses – Cassiodorus (about 487–about nastic self, Journal of the history of sexuality 10/3–4 (Austin 2001) 580) and Nikephoros Kallistos Xanthopoulos (before 1256–c. 1335) 501–535 (it underlines that in ancient Rome it was believed that Ethio- – drew upon his work. For basic data about them v. Cassiodorus, in: pian men and women had an increased libido, that in many writings ODB I, 388 (B. Baldwin); Xanthopoulos, Nikephoros Kallistos, in: ODB on monks and hermits, especially in Egypt, the demon was mentioned 2 III, 2207 (A.-M. Talbot). as black and as the Ethiopian demon, particularly the demon of for- Starodubcev T.: St. Moses the Ethiopian or the Black. Cult and representation in the Middle Ages

The commemoration of the holy father Moses the Further, in the service dedicated to St. Moses there is a Ethiopian, Μνήμη τοῦ ὁσίου πατρὸς ἡμῶν Μωσέως τοῦ canon marked as the work of Theophanes which would Αἰθίοπος, in the Synaxarion of the Church of Constan- mean that it was composed in the ninth century.9 The tinople has already been mentioned. It summarizes the memory of the saint is also found in menologia in Greek contents of the narrative in the Lausiac History. Firstly, it manuscripts of the Gospels10 and of Stoudite and Sabaitic states that he was from Ethiopia and black, that he was a typika,11 as well as in liturgical menaia.12 In the metric slave thrown out by his master because of many acts of calendar compiled by Christopher of Mytilene around the misdemeanor and theft. Then the dramatic story about middle of the tenth century, the first iambic couplet for how Moses swam the Nile and took revenge on the shep- August 28th is the one commemorating Moses the Black. It herd and the narrative of the four robbers who attacked reads: ‘φήσεις τὸ ῥητὸν καὶ θανὼν Μωσῆ μέλα, Ἄνθρωπος him are reported. Finally, it repeats the data listed at the ὄψιν, καὶ Θεὸς τὴν καρδίαν’.13 Finally, several writings on end of Palladios’ text: that he died at the age of seventy- the saint, as far as it is known, still remain unpublished.14 five in Scete, that he was a priest, and that he left behind The life of the saint was connected to Egypt and he seventy disciples. Neither Moses’ battle against the de- is honored in the Coptic Church, where his commemora- mons that tortured him nor his help to the old monks is tion is celebrated on the 24th day of the month of Paoni, mentioned.7 There is a Vita of the saint, Βίος καὶ πολιτεία which corresponds to June 18th in the Byzantine calen- τοῦ ὁσίου πατρὸς ἡμῶν Μωσέως τοῦ Αἰθίοπος, in the so- dar.15 It is assumed that Palladios relied on written or oral called ‘imperial’ menologia compiled in the eleventh cen- testimonies on the saints when compiling the Lausiac His- tury. There are two versions of this text: the first (BHG tory, which was translated into the Coptic language. One 1307z) and the second (BHG 1308), which has an added should not exclude the possibility that this also applies to section in the 7th chapter and a rather short epilogue af- the story of Abba Moses.16 As stated above, the saint is ter the last, 8th chapter. They inform us that Moses was mentioned in The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, and they an Ethiopian and that he had previously been the slave were also translated into the Coptic language.17 In Difnar, of a government official who dismissed him because of many misdemeanours. Although his body was black, his soul shone out like the sun. The text also describes how Sepulcri 17, probably from the twelfth century, and the second based on Ambrosianus No 834 from 1240 (ibid., I, IV, V). The so-called ‘im- he swam across the Nile in order to take revenge on the perial’ menologia were probably compiled during the reign of Emperor shepherd. Later he repented and retreated to the desert Michael IV Paphlagon (1034–1041) cf. Menologion, in: ODB II, 1341 amongst the hermits and afterwards received the monas- (N. Patterson Ševčenko). On the second Vita (sporadically called pan- tic habit. He devoted his time to fasting and praying and egyric), on the Lausiac history and The sayings of the desert fathers as its primary sources of information, the claim that it was written in the partook of some bread and water only every three or four tenth century and upon publication attributed to Laurence, a monk in days; practiced the deepest humility, shedding unceasing Calabria (Acta Sanctorum Augusti Tomus Sextus, Paris 1868, 199–212), tears of repentance, indescribable sighs, nocturnal vigils. with an English translation, and with no reference to the edition of He drove out demons, healed the sick and did much more Latyšev, v. O’Brien Wicker, Ethiopian Moses, 330, 333, 335, 344–347. 9 thanks to the grace of God. The author offers a loose pres- Arkhiepiskop Sergiĭ Spaskiĭ, Polny mesiat͡ soslov͡ vostoka I. entation of the life of the saint, relying on Palladios’ narra- Vostochnaia͡ agiologiia͡ , Vladimir 1901, 422. 10 Ibid., 429, 433, where two manuscripts from the Synodal Li- tive more directly only in the episodes about the revenge brary were published – no. 44 from the tenth–eleventh century and no. against the shepherd and the attack of the robbers. In the 43 from 1055. section attached to the second version there is an echo of 11 Ibid., 456, listing the menologia of the Stoudite typikon ac- the words from the Lausiac History in the stories about cording to the examples from the twelfth to the fourteenth century and bringing water to the old monks and the hard hit by the of the Sabaitic typikon based on a manuscript from 1298. 12 Ibid., 493, presenting the liturgical menaia for August based demon; and from The Sayings of the Desert Fathers in the on two manuscripts – one from the eleventh century and the other narratives on the sins seeping out like sand through a bas- from the twelfth century. ket and about an official who went to Scete to meet him, 13 U. G. Siberus, Ecclesiae graecae martyrologium metricum ex but Moses replied by describing himself as a fool. Like meneis, Cod. Chiffletiano, Lipsiae 1727, 276. Cf. Arkhiepiskop Sergiĭ the note in the Synaxarion of the Church of Constantino- Spaskiĭ, Polny mesiat͡ soslov͡ vostoka I, 429. For basic data on Christopher ple, these Vitae do not mention the priest Abba Isidore.8 of Mytilene v. Christopher of Mytilene, in: ODB I, 442 (A. Kazhdan). 14 These are the texts listed as: Narratio BHG 1309b (Novum auctarium, 153), Laudatio BHG 1310 (BHG II, 127) and Prophetia de nication, and special attention is given to the ambivalent relationship ultima generatione BHG 1310h (Novum auctarium, 153). reflected in the case of St. Moses, as to his life and undertaking, as well 15 On the saint in the Coptic milieu, in brief, cf. De Lacy as the attitude of the ecclestiastical figures and of the brethren towards O’Leary, The saints of Egypt in the Coptic calendar, London – New York him and his humility cf. ibid., 502, 503, 507, 527, 529–532, 534); A. P. 1937, 55, 206–207. Johnson, The blackness of Ethiopians: classical ethnography and Euse- 16 About the translation into the Coptic language and the hy- bius’s commentary on the psalms, The Harvard theological review 99/2 pothesis that the Lausiac History in its present form was based on an (New York 2006) 165–186 (on the subject, from ancient Greek writers earlier text compiled by Palladios during his sojourn in Egypt between to Origen to and his disciple Eusebius of Caesarea, as well as on the 388 and 399 v. Rapp, Palladius, Lausus and the Historia lausiaca, 285, changes observed, with the example of St. Moses the Ethiopian men- with literature. About the Coptic translation, with a detailed analysis, v. tioned cf. ibid., 166–167). All four studies include listed sources and The Lausiac history of Palladius I. A critical discussion together with notes critically reviewed literature. on early Egyptian monachism, ed. C. Butler, Cambridge 1898, 107–155, 7 Delehaye, Synaxarium, 929.18–932.7. where Cuthbert Butler pointed out that the second version had been 8 Menologii anonymi Byzantini saeculi X quae supersunt II. Fas- supplemented (ibid., 123–154, esp. 143) and that the translation could ciculus alter: menses iunium, iulium, augustum continens. Sumptibus have been made before the Council of Ephesus of 450 (ibid., 154–155). Caesareae Academiae scientiarum e codice Hierosolymitano S. Sepulcri On Arabic translations made in Egypt cf. ibid., 159–170. 17, ed. B. Latyšev, Leipzig 1970, 330–334. The versions of Vitae were 17 J. Jarry, Un traduction en copte de certains das apophtegmes published on the basis of two manuscripts: the first according to S. des pères: les inscriptions du plafond de l’église de Deir Abu Hennes, Bul- 3 ЗОГРАФ 43 (2019) [1–22]

the Antiphonarium of the Coptic Church, there are Coptic Arabic synaxarium. It says that on Paoni 24th the hymns dedicated to St. Moses which mention Abba Isi- holy martyr Abba Moses the Black departed, describing dorus and Abba Makari (Makarios) as his spiritual fa- him as physically strong and cruel in his intentions. He thers.18 Liturgical hymns preserved in the Coptic and Ar- ate and drank excessively, killed, robbed, engaged in vice. abic language testify to the ardent veneration of the saint. No one could stand up to him. He was a slave of the peo- Of great importance are three doxologies in Coptic, espe- ple who worshiped the Sun. In his heart Moses called cially because the second mentions the body of Abba Mo- upon God, whom he did not know, to let him know him. ses in his holy cave, and the third one says that the relics He heard someone saying that the monks of Wadi Habib would be removed from the cave. It is assumed that they (the Scetis or the Nitrian Desert) knew the true God. He were compiled before the eleventh century, since the relics rose up, girded his sword, and went into the desert. There of the saints had already been translated to the monaster- he met Isidore the priest, who was frightened when he ies in the Nitrian Desert by that time.19 No Vita of the saw him. Abba Moses told him that he had come to the saint in the Coptic language has been found.20 However, monks bacause they could let him know the true God. Isi- it can be assumed that such writings existed. Several ver- dore the priest took Moses to St. Makarios, who encour- sions of his Vitae in Arabic have been noticed in Egyptian aged him, taught him the faith and baptized him. Abba manuscripts, and three of them which have been pub- Moses received the monastic habit and settled in the de- lished will be discussed below.21 The first is the text in the sert. Then he put himself to numerous devotions. Satan fought him with all means – food, drink, fornication. Mo- letin de la Société d’archéologie copte (BSAC) 29 (Le Caire 1990) 63– ses informed the holy father Isidore about everything, and 74. About the translation into the Sahidic Coptic language cf. O’Leary, The saints of Egypt, 31; G. Gabra, Bemerkungen zu Moses dem Schwart- he consoled him and instructed him what to do. Other zen, in: ΘΕΜΕΛΙΑ. Spätantike und koptologische Studien Peter Gross- examples of his zeal are also mentioned. The first one, mann zum 65. Geburstag, ed. M. Krause, S. Schaten, Wiesbaden 1998, known from the Lausiac History, is described somewhat 118, both with sources and literature. differently. It narrates that he filled the pitchers of the el- 18 Gabra, Bemerkungen zu Moses dem Schwartzen, 117, 118 ders while they were asleep, and Satan hit him on his foot, and n. 9, where the unavailable book is quoted, [De Lacy O’Leary, The Difnar (Antiphonarium) of the Coptic church III, London 1930]. inflicting a painful sore which tormented him. When he These verses, based on the aforementioned edition, as well as on a learned that this had been an attack by Satan, he doubled manuscript from 1740 which is a transcript of a manuscript writ- his austerity and devotion. The Lord appreciated his thor- ten before 1387, and on other manuscripts in Coptic or Arabic, can oughness and cured him of the disease. His pains and be found on the website https://stmarkla.org/download/Difnar%20 struggles were alleviated. The grace of the Holy Spirit de- |%20Antiphonarium/10-Paoni/Paoni%2024.pdf. For the edition of the hymns in Coptic and Arabic followed by a German translation, with scended upon him. He became the spiritual father of five observations about the relationship of the compositions on St. Moses hundred brethren who gathered around him. The follow- in Difnars in Coptic and Arabic and the claim that the latter relies on ing two events are, in a somewhat different way, described an older Coptic text v. Gabra, Bemerkungen zu Moses dem Schwartz- in The Sayings of the Desert Fathers. He was elected to be en, 120–124. For the plea of Abba Moses addressed to Abba Makarios and Abba Isidore (in the hymn in the Adam tune) and for the words ordained a priest. When he came before the patriarch, he of Abba Makarios professing that one of the monks would become a first tested Moses by telling the others to take away the martyr (in the hymn in the Batos tune) cf. ibid., 121, 122, 123, 124. black man, and only then he laid his hands on Moses and Difnar is a liturgical book and seems to have been composed before the told him that he had now become entirely white. When Synaxarion. It contains a collection of hymns for the whole year which the elders came to visit him, he did not have any water are sung in the service of the Psalmodia. There are two hymns for each day, one in the Batos tune and another one in the Adam tune. For the with him, and he went in and out praying to the Lord and basic data on Difnar cf. The A to Z of the Coptic church, ed. G. Gabra, then it rained and the water tank was filled. The following Lanham–Toronto–Plymouth 2009, 93. narrative is not described in any other extant texts, but it 19 Y. Nessim Youssef, Coptic and Arabic liturgical texts relating announces the next one, which is related in a different to Moses the Black, in: ΣΥΝΑΞΙΣ ΚΑΘΟΛΙΚΗ: Beiträge zu Gottesdienst way in The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, and very simi- und Geschichte der fünf altkirchlichen Patriarchate für Heinzgerd Brak- mann zum 70. Geburtstag, ed. D. Atanassova, T. Chronz, Wien–Berlin larly in Difnar. One day he went with some elders to St. 2014, 751–762, where these hymns were published for the first time, Makarios who told them that he saw amongst them one with an extensive literature on the research of the worship of the saint who would receive the crown of martyrdom. Moses re- in the Coptic milieu. The impetus for that investigation was the study plied that it might be him, because it had been said that Y. ’Abd al-Masih, Doxologies in the Coptic church. Unedited Bohairic doxologies. II (Tūbah – An-Nāsī), BSAC 11 (1945) 129, 130, where the all they take the sword shall perish with the sword. When doxology of the saint was mentioned. In the first hymn it is stated that the Berbers came to the desert, he told the brethren that Abba Makarios and Abba Isidore baptized the Ethiopian cf. Nessim whoever wanted to escape should run away. The Berbers Youss ef, op. cit., 752. A Doxology is a hymn used to commemorate an entered and killed him and seven brothers who had re- event or a saint. It is usually a short hymn of 5–10 stanzas. Like the fused to flee, and one of the brethren hid behind a bundle hymns in Difnar, there are two types of doxologies. The one in the Ba- tos tune is sung during Vespers, Matins and Psalmodia, and the second and saw an angel of the Lord with a crown in his hand. In one in the Adam tune is sung during the Rite of Glorification. For the the end, the writer addresses the brethren, advising them basic information on doxology cf. The A to Z of the Coptic church, 95. to reflect on the power of repentance. It transformed an 20 Gabra, Bemerkungen zu Moses dem Schwartzen, 117. infidel slave, a murderer, an adulterer, a robber: it made 21 It has been noted that there are more than four different ver- him a father who taught and consoled others, a priest who sions of his hagiography in Arabic (Nessim Youssef, Coptic and Arabic liturgical texts, 751, with literature). For three versions of his Vitae and proscribed rules for monks, whose name is mentioned in their edition cf. Vita di Mosè l’Etiope, ed. and trans. B. Pirone, Studia churches. Finally, the author says that his body rests in the Orientalia Christiana Collectanea 24 (Cairo–Jerusalem 1991) 7–115. It has been noticed that the saint was mentioned as the Ethiopian by Palladios, as the Black in the Coptic texts and as the Black, Ethiopian merkungen zu Moses dem Schwartzen, 125). This topic will be dis- 4 or Nubian in the writings in Arabic composed in Egypt (Gabra, Be- cussed later in this paper. Starodubcev T.: St. Moses the Ethiopian or the Black. Cult and representation in the Middle Ages

Baramus Monastery.22 As already mentioned, three ver- cles after he died a martyr.24 The First version of the Vita sions of his hagiography in the Arabic language compiled relates the story of the holy Abba Moses the Black by giv- in the Coptic milieu have been published. In the first and ing the usual data – that he was the slave of an official third Vita it is noted that he is commemorated on Paoni who worshiped fire and the Sun and who threw him out 24th and that he is named as the Black, while the second because of wickedness and many misdeeds, that he be- Vita records that the commemoration of the saint is held came the leader of a gang of robbers, the episode of the on August 28th referring to him as the Ethiopian.23 The revenge on the shepherd is described and it is noted that time of creation of any of them has not been determined. his wrongdoings continued for a long time. Then his eyes The second one will be presented first, followed by the were opened and he rushed to the Scetis Desert, to the first and the third which reveal a more direct interrela- priest Isidore. Abba Isidore was on his way from his cell to tionship. The Second version of the Vita first recounts that the church when he saw Moses the Black and was fright- Moses the Ethiopian was a black Ethiopian on the outside, ened because his appearance was very strange and fear- but ultimately his soul became bright and illuminated. He some, and then they had a long conversation. Moses be- was Ethiopian by origin and both his face and his body seeched the priest to ordain him as a monk. Abba Isidore were completely black. The same can be said for his soul. took him, brought him to the church, baptized him, and Next, the usual data that appear in the Lausiac History are dressed him in the schema. The demon attacked Abba listed – that he was a pagan, the slave of a rich man who Moses and he fervently fought against his craving for for- had driven him away on account of robbery and the story nication. Therefore, Moses promptly retreated to the in- about the revenge on the shepherd is repeated. Then he ner desert and settled in a cave where he dug up a water repented, was baptized and became a monk. He fought cistern. At night he went to the cells of the elders and took against demons. He went to live in a monastery of her- their pitchers and filled them with water and for four mits, and then he found a quiet place where nobody knew years he did not sleep or sit down and held his hands him to live in reclusion and mourn his sins. In a remote raised in prayer to God to take away his craving for forni- place, he found a cell above a rock in a mountain cave. cation. This is followed, in a somewhat altered form, by There he led an ascetic life, struggling zealously against the stories that had appeared in the Lausiac History – the demon. Then the stories known from The Sayings of about four robbers who entered his cell when he came out the Desert Fathers are narrated – about the hermits who to go to church and he surprised them during the night visited him in the cell and his prayer for water and about and that, after he had spent six years in devotional prac- the official who wanted to see him and receive his bless- tice, the demon hit him so hard and broke his hip and ing, but he did not recognize him. There is also the narra- bones and that the brethren found him lying like a corpse tive about the four robbers who stormed into his cell and by the cistern and took him to the priest Isidore. Then he tied them and took them to the monastery, which al- Abba Isidore advised him to take up the middle path. ready appeared in the Lausiac History. There are also sto- Abba Moses withdrew to his cave and took to weaving ries encountered in The Sayings of the Desert Fathers – palm-fiber baskets and eating more bread, but the thought about a brother who fell into sin and Moses did not of fornication became even more obsessive and evil spirits condemn him, but instead told him a didactic story about challenged him with many temptations. He went to the sins seeping out like sand through a perforated basket, priest Isidore and told him about these thoughts, and he and about a bishop who ordained him a priest and then gave him some advice. Moses returned to his cave. He ate tested his devotion, followed by instructive words ad- very little, prayed fifty times during the day and night and dressed to the reader. The data known from the Lausiac made three hundred prostrations. Then he went to Isidore History that he died at the age of seventy-five in Scete and the priest, and he blessed him, consoled him, encouraged had seventy disciples follow. Тhen, as in The Sayings of the him, and sent him off to his cell. Moses spent six years Desert Fathers, his death and the testimony of a monk without sleep, standing on his feet all night in vigilance who hid himself and saw seven crowns descending from and prayer, and if sleep overwhelmed him, he would walk the heavens are described. In the end, it is added that the from one place to another. The priest Isidore advised him monks returned to the monastery after the barbarians had not to fight so hard against the demon and told him to left, and that the righteous Moses performed many mira- enter the holy church with him and to approach the sacra- ments, and the demons would run away from him. The saint did as Isidore had told him and then retired to his cave. Two months later, Abba Isidore went to see him. 22 Le synaxaire arabe jacobite (rédaction copte) V. Les mois de Moses told him that he no longer feared demons and they Baounah, Abib, Mesoré et jours complémentaires, ed. R. Basset, PO 17 had become like fluttering flies for him. Abba Isidore (Paris 1923) 591–594, edition in Arabic with a French translation, based on two manuscripts from the collection Paris, Bibliothèque Na- blessed him and returned to his cell. Then the miracles of tionale, Fond arabe – no. 256 from the sixteenth century and no. 4780 Moses follow. Groups of people together with the exhaust- from the end of the fourteenth century. The announcement of Abba ed, possessed by diabolic spirits and affected by numerous Makarios on the martyrdom and the Berbers as the attackers men- diseases of all sorts came to him in the desert from Cairo tioned in Difnar is found in the text in the Coptic Arabic manuscript and begged him to help them. A few days later Abba Mo- available at the already mentioned website https://stmarkla.org/down- load/Difnar%20|%20Antiphonarium/10-Paoni/Paoni%2024.pdf. There are major differences between some parts of the two examples. Here 24 It is found in two manuscripts – B (Oriental Library of the the published version is followed mostly, though it has received criti- University of Saint Joseph in Beirut, no. 620) from the eighteenth cen- cism. tury and M (Library of the Franciscan Centre for Oriental Christian 23 For dates listed cf. Vita di Mosè, 41, 77, 115. On the epithets Studies Muski in Cairo, no. 28) from 1746 (ibid., 8, 10–11). For the edi- the Black or the Ethiopian v. ibid., 12–14, 41, 71, 103 et passim. tion of the text v. ibid., 55–70 (in Arabic), 71–77 (Italian translation). 5 ЗОГРАФ 43 (2019) [1–22]

ses went to the desert and saw a cow that had just calved, major difference appears after the account of the five hun- but would not allow the calf to suck even a drop of her dred brethren who had in time gathered around Moses: an milk. Abba Moses took some water, poured it on the cow added section about four monasteries in the Scetis Mount. and her little one, who at that very moment went to its It says that the monastery of Abba Moses is called Baramus, mother and took to drinking her milk. Abba Moses ap- the one of Abba Isidore the priest who raised the first proached people obsessed with demons, prayed for them, church and another one nearby is called the church of Abba and they went back in perfect health. This is followed by a Bishoy (St. Paisios the Great); another one (the third) is be- description of his ordination as a priest. This account also low it and bears the name of St. John (the Little); and an- appears in The Sayings of the Desert Fathers and is attrib- other one (the fourth) is called the church of Abba Makari- uted to a patriarch in the Coptic Arabic synaxarium, but os the Great. Having become a priest, Abba Moses erected here the event is moved to Alexandria. Namely, one day a new church on the site which is still known as the church Abba Isidore took Abba Moses with him to Alexandria, of Abba Moses. The episodes from his life listed in a differ- and, after the already known test, the patriarch asked to ent order in the First version of the Vita follow, and here the have Moses brought before him, laid his hand on him and event with the guests and the snake has a direct eye-witness ordained him a priest. Moses returned to the desert and because it is said to have been related by a Greek priest who his name became known in all parts of the earth. He had had settled there forty years earlier and was one of the five hundred brothers, all of them his disciples and all of brothers who had visited Moses. Then Abba Moses broke them obedient to him. The monastery is now called Bara- away from the group to go further into the inner part of the mus. This is followed by a freely conveyed episode, known mount and, exhausted from so much walking, he wondered from The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, about some monks where he would find water, but a voice came to him and who visited him, but he did not have any water, and so he told him to keep going and not to worry. Only after this it is prayed to God and water fell from the sky and filled the described how he was visited by the elders, and he did not cistern. Several added narratives follow. Soon after, some have drinking water, so he prayed and rain fell. The follow- brethren came to him and he set up a table for them and ing accounts are presented in the same order. At the end put a piece of baked snake on it. The brethren wanted to there is the story of how Abba Moses suffered a martyr’s eat it, but he told them not to touch it because it was an death at the hands of barbarians, mentioning that there evil animal. Later on, he wanted to retire to the inner de- were seven brethren with him and that one of them man- sert to dedicate himself to God’s service in seclusion, and aged to escape and hide and that he saw crowns from heav- then the demon told him that there was no water there, en coming down on them.26 but a voice from heaven reminded him of eternal life. St. Moses was also venerated in Ethiopia, his own Having fallen ill, a brother decided to set off and descend country of origin according to the sources.27 The oldest into the delta. Moses came to him and talked to him about known writings about this saint were translated into Ge’ez the sin of fornication and left. The monk then went down – the Lausiac History28 and The Sayings of the Desert to the delta, and people went to see him and to serve him. Fathers.29 His commemoration in the Ethiopian Church is A young virgin came to receive his blessing, but he fell into sin with her by taking her virginity, and spent with 26 It was noticed in only one manuscript – G (University Li- her not only one but more and more days. The girl be- brary in Göttingen, collection of Arabic manuscripts, no. 114), which came pregnant and gave birth to a beautiful baby. The has not been dated (ibid., 8, 12). For the edition of the text v. ibid., 81–102 (in Arabic), 103–115 (Italian translation). Later, Gawdat Gabra child was brought to the brother, and he took it in his pointed out that the same version, with the aforementioned section on arms, went to the desert, and took it to the church and four monasteries in the Scetis Mount, was also found in a manuscript laid it down before the elders and told them to judge him kept at the Monastery of the Syrians in the Scetis Desert under no. according to merit. They applied the prescribed sanctions 308, which dates from 1314. Cf. idem, Dair Anba Musa al-Aswad: das originale Baramus-Kloster in Wadi al-Natrun, BSAC 36 (1997) 72–73. and he withdrew to the desert to mourn his sin. The nar- Shortly after this, he showed that certain lines at the end of the Vita ratives known from The Sayings of the Desert Fathers fol- were the same as those in The Sayings of the Desert Fathers in Coptic low. Abba Moses spoke to Abba Isidore about the impure (idem, Bemerkungen zu Moses dem Schwartzen, 118–120). thoughts bothering him, and Isidore answered him to 27 It is assumed that he is mentioned as the Ethiopian because look to the west and to the east, suggesting a moral lesson of his dark skin, and that he did not actually come from the area of today’s Ethiopia, but that he originally belonged to one of the tribes in this advice. An archon of Egypt wished to talk with Mo- along the Nile who pursued livestock husbandry and robbery and ses and to receive his blessing, but did not recognize him whose members were usually tall and dark-skinned (O’Brien Wick- when they met. It is described that Abba Moses and the er, Ethiopian Moses, 331, 335, n. 44). Regardless of his real origin, he brethren who remained with him, seven of them in total, was an Ethiopian by birth according to the texts and was venerated as were killed by barbarians, without the episode about the such in all churches, so this issue, which has no crucial bearing on this study, will be left aside. brother who had hidden himself. In the end, celebratory 28 For the opinion that some chapters of the text were trans- 25 verses and instructive words on repentance follow. The lated rather early, at the time of the Aksumite Kingdom (which will be story of the holy Abba Moses the Black related in the The discussed later) v. G. Lusini, Le monachisme en Éthiopie. Esquisse d’une Third version of the Vita is similar to that in the First ver- histoire, in: Monachismes d’Orient. Images, échanges, influences, ed. F. sion of the Vita and includes the same episodes. The only Jullien, M.-J. Pierre, Turnhout 2011, 139. Some important preliminary observations concerning the translation into the Ge’ez language were presented by Butler, The Lausiac history, 155–158. 25 It was also found in two manuscripts – C (The Coptic Mu- 29 For the publication of the text according to two manuscripts seum in Cairo, no. 469) from 1360 or 1363, and P (National Library – one from 1586/87 and the second from the eighteenth century – with in Paris, collection of Arabic manuscripts, no. 154) from 1604 (ibid., the additions from the third one v. Geronticon, ed. V. Arras, Louvain 7, 8–10). For the edition of the text v. ibid., 17–40 (in Arabic), 41–51 1986 (in the Ge’ez language); Geronticon, ed. V. Arras, Louvain 1986 6 (Italian translation). (translation into Latin). Starodubcev T.: St. Moses the Ethiopian or the Black. Cult and representation in the Middle Ages held on the 24th day of the month of Sanê, which, like the the basis of the briefly presented story, it is evident that Coptic Paoni 24th, corresponds to June 18th in the Byzantine this is not the same saint. A common feature of theirs is calendar. The note for that day in the synaxarium of the that they were both monks and hermits and came to Egypt Ethiopian Church on Abba Moses the Black who became a from Ethiopia. This one, however, was tempted by Satan in martyr is identical in content to the commemoration in the different forms. He was not a priest and he was buried in Coptic Arabic synaxarium, so there is no need to present an Ethiopian monastery. Finally, although the title of the it here.30 In addition, in the synaxarium of the Ethiopian note in the synaxarium states that he came from the Scetis Church there is a commemoration of the death of Abba Desert, there is no reference to this in the text. Moses (Mûsê) of the Scetis Desert for the 3rd day of the St. Moses is also known in nearby Syria. Both the Lau- month of Maskaram, which corresponds to September siac History and The Sayings of the Desert Fathers were trans- 10th in the Byzantine calendar. It is very different from lated into the Syriac language.32 Late Jakobite menologia tes- the narratives on St. Moses the Ethiopian or the Black in tify that the memory of the saint, recorded as Father Moses Greek and Coptic churches. Its content will be presented the Black, was usually held on June 18th, like in the Coptic in brief here. Abba Moses lived in the desert in fasting and Church, and less often on August 28th, like in Byzantium.33 prayer and made friends with wild animals. He lived in this manner for thirty five years. Satan took the form of Moses is not the only one for that day, but the fifth and the last. According an old monk and appeared in front of the cave of Moses, to tradition, King Άgâbôs was the father of Makeda or Azeb, the Queen who took him to his cave and continued his prayer for of Sheba. Cf. I. Boavida, M. J. Ramos, Ambiguous legitimacy: the legend of three days. When the wild animals saw this old man, they the Queen of Sheba in popular Ethiopian painting, Annales d’Éthiopie 21 (Addis-Abeba 2005) 85–86, 88, 90, 91. withdrew from him. The old man and Abba Moses had a 32 long conversation. The elder said that he had committed The translation of those texts into English, based on a manuscript from the thirteenth or fourteenth century which was in the a sin and that he had a daughter. He could find no one possesion of the Vicar of the Chaldean Patriarch at Mosul in 1888, was whom she could marry except for Moses, and therefore published by Ernest A. Wallis-Budge The paradise or garden of the holy came to him. The old man made the heart of Abba Moses fathers I, trans. E. A. Wallis Budge, London 1907, 77–281 (The Lausiac yield. Abba Moses had a vision that the old man was dead, History, in which Moses is listed as an Indian cf. ibid., 215–218); The and he mourned over him and buried him. When he went paradise or garden of the holy fathers II, trans. E. A. Wallis Budge, London 1907, 3–283 (Systematic Collection of The Sayings of the to comfort the maiden, a mighty wind began to blow and Desert Fathers, with Appendix cf. ibid., 283–336, for St. Moses v. ibid., he was driven backwards. When his senses returned, the 7–9, 12–13, 16, 50, 83, 102–103, 112, 122–123, 143, 144, 165–166, 180, vision disappeared and he was forced to go back to his 204, 284–285, 289–290, 317, 325). About translations and versions of dwelling. Later he went out into the desert and met Satan these two texts in the Syrian language v. The Lausiac history I, 77–96; again, this time in the form of an elderly pilgrim who was C. Tavolieri, Historiography and hagiographic texts: the Syriac versions of Palladius’ historia Lausiaca, Annali di Ca’ Foscari. Serie orientale going to Alexandria, and he took Abba Moses with him 52 (Venetia 2016) 45–55. Palladios’ work was translated and edited by and brought him to the city and left him there. Then Satan the monk Ânân Îshô in the beginning or in the middle of the seventh appeared to Abba Moses in the form of a woman who was century (The Lausiac history I, 77; The paradise or garden of the holy carrying water. She took him to her house and told him fathers I, V; Tavolieri, Historiography and hagiographic texts, 46), and that she was the daughter of a king who was dead. When the narrative on Moses is found in the second version, completely independent of and no younger than the first (The Lausiac history I, she saw that his heart was growing fond of her, she told 87). Later, a Syriac translation into Arabic was made (ibid., 159). On him that she was a Jewess and then seduced him with numerous unresolved issues and on the current knowledge about many cunning skills until he renounced his faith. She the Syrian versions of the translation of the Lausiac History, with an took him into an empty and arid desert, to the top of a analysis and important observations v. Tavolieri, Historiography and mountain, and transformed herself before him and said hagiographic texts, 45–57, with sources and literature. 33 to him that she was Satan who had taken him away from Un martyrologe et douze ménologes Syriaques, ed. and trans. F. Nau, PO 10, Paris 1915, 80, 96, 100, 111 (edition in Arabic his faith, that he would die in that desert and that his soul and French). These are late Jakobite manuscripts dating from the would go to Gehenna. Having said those things, Satan sixteenth century on. In them, the memory of the saint is usually disappeared before him. The holy man fell down to the recorded on June 18th, but in two copies the commemoration of Mar ground and wept until his soul wished to be set free from Moses is marked on August 28th (ibid., 85). In earlier manuscripts him. God heard his cry. He sent an angel to console him, published on that occasion, dating from the end of the seventh to the and he told Abba Moses that his sin was absolved, that he twelfth century, there is no memory of St. Moses (cf. ibid., 31–56). The contents of a Syrian Martyrologion (British Museum Orient. 1017) would die in three days, and that he would be buried by a in which the commemoration of Moses the Ethiopian is recorded dweller of the desert, God’s servant Samuel. Straightaway on August 28th, suggest that some caution is needed when discussing Abba Samuel came to Abba Moses, gave him peace and the issue of the date of this saint’s commemoration. Cf. P. Peeters, Le comforted him, and took him to the church in the desert martyrologe de Rabban Sliba, AB 27 (1908) 192–193. Rather unusually, th built by King Άgâbôs, which served as a cemetery for a a certain St. Moses, a recluse in Scete, is mentioned on May 5 as the seventh of a total of eight saints in one manuscript (cf. ibid., 183). The company of monks. When Abba Moses arrived there, manuscript was copied by Rabban Sliba at the end of the thirteenth he knelt down on his knees and died straightaway. Abba century at the latest, and as the name of the famous Syrian writer Jacob Samuel buried him and wrote down his story.31 Even on of Sarug (+521) appears in the title, it is presumed to be a transcript of his work (ibid., 129–130). About Jacob v. Jacob of Sarug, in: ODB 30 II, 1029–1030 (T. E. Gregory). The story, in which he is named as St. Le Synaxaire éthiopien. Mois de Sanê, Hamlê et Nanasê, ed. Moses the Robber (Historia S. Moisis Latronis), was published in the and trans. I. Guidi, PO 1, Paris 1907, 665–670 (comparative edition in Syrian language based on the manuscript Musei Borgiani Cod. Syr. H. the Ge’ez language and in a French translation); The book of the saints V. 5 (without a dating). Cf. H. Gismondi, Linguae syriacae grammatica of the Ethiopian church IV, trans. E. A. Wallis Budge, Cambridge 1928, et chrestomathia: cum glossario scholis accommodata, Beirut 1900, 123– 1030–1032. Only the commemoration of this saint is held on that day. 127. Only this text dedicated to Moses the Ethiopian has been recorded 31 The book of the saints of the Ethiopian church I, trans. E. A. Wal- amongst Syriac writings cf. Bibliotheca hagiographica Orientalis, ed. lis Budge, Cambridge 1928, 12–14. The more recent edition (Le Synaxaire Socii Bollandiani, Bruxellis 1910, 170–171 (BHO 778). This is also éthiopien. Mois de Maskaram, ed. and trans. G. Colin, PO 43, Turnhout the case with the website providing a bibliography of Syriac resources: 1986) has not been available to us. In this case, the commemoration of St. http://syri.ac/bho and http://syri.ac/hagiography. 7 ЗОГРАФ 43 (2019) [1–22]

The saint is known in Slavic countries as well. It * is not known exactly when the Lausiac History and The Sayings of the Desert Fathers were translated into Old The texts written in Egypt mention the relics of the Church Slavonic. The first translations of some Pateriki saint. The second of three doxologies in Coptic records are assumed to have been made at the time of the mis- that the body of Abba Moses rests in his holy cave,37 and sionary activity of Methodios of Thessalonike († 885). the third one says that the relics would be removed from Quotations from The Sayings of the Desert Fathers ap- the cave.38 The note in the Coptic Arabic synaxarium and pear already in the writings of Kosmas the Priest in the its translation into Ge’ez state that the body of the saint second half of the tenth century, and the oldest evi- rests in the Baramus Monastery,39 while the first and the denced story from the Lausiac History is preserved in third version of the Vita compiled in Egypt mention that the Codex Suprasliensis from the eleventh century, one the monastery of St. Moses is called Baramus.40 It is the of the earliest extant Cyrillic manuscripts.34 Apparently, monastery known as Baramus, Paromeos or Baramos the texts on St. Moses in the Slavic literary heritage have (Deir el-Baramus) in the Nitrian Desert or the Scetis De- never been published and researched. Therefore, the sert. Its name is based on the Arabic pronunciation of the content of the notes on the saint in the available Serbian Coptic πα Ρωμεος, meaning ‘of the Romans’ or ‘of the Ro- manuscripts of synaxaria is summarized here. The first man’, since, according to the tradition that existed as early th text for August 28 in the older version of the synaxar- as the seventh century, it was founded in the memory ium concisely presents the life of the holy father Moses of Maximus and Dometius, sons of the Roman emperor the Ethiopian, п(реп)од(о)бн(а)го ѡтца н(а)ш(е)го моисеꙗ Valentian I (364–375), who came to Egypt to join Abba м(о)урина. The saint was Ethiopian and black, the slave of Makarios the Great and live as recluses in the desert.41 a master who threw him out because of his evil tempera- However, archaeological findings at the monastery now ment. He was strong and led a band of robbers and mur- called Deir al-Baramus are not older than the sixth cen- derers, but he fell into temptation and after that retreat- tury, and hence it is usually assumed to have been found- ed to a monastery to repent. He put himself to a great ed between 535 and 580.42 In fact, this monastery, with undertaking, and he even performed miracles. While he its katholikon dedicated to the Holy Virgin, was erected was in his cell, he was attacked by robbers, who did not about 50 meters northeast of the original lavra, which was know that it was the Moses. He tied them all together, located at the site named ‘Monastery of Abba Moses the put them over his shoulder and took them to the church. 43 He asked the brethren what they thought about them, Black’ (Deir Anba Mussa-al Aswad). The two monaster- since he was not worthy to judge others. The robbers did not know that this was the notorious Moses, the lead- 37 Nessim Youssef, Coptic and Arabic liturgical texts, 753. er of brigands. Realizing that, they became monks and 38 Ibid., 754. were rescued. He was a priest and he pleased God with 39 Le Synaxaire arabe jacobite (rédaction copte), 594; Guidi, Le his virtue. He died in Scete at the age of seventy-five.35 Synaxaire éthiopien, 669; The book of the saints of the Ethiopian church Then in the verse synaxarium appears a note which, like IV, 1032. The relics are not mentioned in the texts in Greek language. the one in the Synaxarion of the Church of Constantino- 40 Pirone, Vita di Mosè, 47, 111. ple, also includes a minutely recounted story about the 41 The seminal study of the monastery’s early history and the revenge on the shepherd, and mentions that, having subsequent chapters in its existence and appearance still remains H. G. brought the robbers to the monastery, Moses asked a Evelyn White, The monasteries of the Wâdi ’n Natrûn II. The history of 36 the monasteries of Nitria and of Scetis, New York 1932, 98–104. On the certain Kyriakos to pass the righteous verdict. history of the establishment of the monastery in brief, with new obser- vations, v. K. C. Innemée, Deir al-Baramus, excavations at the so-called 34 O. Nedeljković, Problem tipologije slavenskoga paterika, Slo- site of Moses the Black 1994–1999, BSAC 39 (2000) 123–124; G. Gabra, vo 24 (Zagreb 1974) 7–8, 10–11, 14–15; Đ. Trifunović, Azbučnik srp- Coptic monasteries: Egypt’s monastic art and architecture, Cairo – New skih srednjovekovnih književnih pojmova, Beograd 1990, 224–229, with York 2002, 38; S. Pasi, I dipinti della chiesa di Al-Adra nel monastero di sources and literature. For basic information on Methodios v. Metho- Deir-el-Baramus (Wadi-el-Natrun), Zograf 34 (2010) 37–38. dios, in: ODB II, 1354–1355 (P. A. Hollingworth), on Kosmas v. Kos- 42 Pasi, I dipinti, 38, with previous literature. The view that it mas the Priest, in: ODB II, 1153 (R. Browning), about Slavic Pateriki v. was erected during the time of the Alexandrian Patriarch Benjamin be- Paterik, in: ODB III, 1595 (S. C. Franklin). tween 577/8 and 606/7, that is, in the beginning of the seventh century 35 A Synaxarium of the whole year, known as the Lesnovo has been proposed by P. Grossmann, On the architecture at Wādī al- synaxarium (Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, SASA 53), 1330, fol. Națrūn, in: Christianity and monasticism in Wadi al-Natrun, ed. M. S. 318r–318v. For basic information on the manuscript cf. D. Bogdanović, A. Mikhail, M. Moussa, Cairo – New York 2009, 160, 170. Inventar ćirilskih rukopisa u Jugoslaviji (XI–XVII veka), Beograd 1982, 43 Gabra, Coptic monasteries, 38–39; K. C. Innemée, Excava- 84, no. 1147. For the meaning of the words моуриꙗ, моуринъ v. Đ. Daničić, tions at the site of Deir al-Baramus 2002–2005, BSAC 44 (2005) 55; Rječnik iz književnih starina srpskih II, Beograd 1975, 97; I. I. Sreznevskiĭ, Grossmann, On the architecture at Wādī al-Națrūn, 162, 164, 167. Materialy dlia͡ slovaria͡ drevne-russkogo iazyka͡ po pis’mennym About the two monasteries and the question of which was the origi- pamiatnikam͡ II, Moskva 1958, 195; Slovník jazyka staroslovĕnského: lexi- nal one v. Gabra, Dair Anba Musa al-Aswad, 71–74; Innemée, Deir al- con linguae palaeoslovenicae II, ed. J. Kurz, Praha 1973, 236. Baramus, excavations at the so-called site of Moses the Black, 124–125, 36 The verse synaxarium March–August Dečani 56, 1370/90, both with earlier literature. Research works were carried out in 1986 fol. 287v–288r (cf. Bogdanović, Inventar, 87, no. 1192) and the verse and from 1988 to 1990 (Gabra, Coptic monasteries, 41; Pasi, I dipinti, synaxarium June–August Dečani 53, 1394, fol. 154r–155r (cf. ibid., 87, 40; Inemmée, Excavations at the site of Deir al-Baramus, 55). Then the no. 1195) with the couplet of Christopher of Mytilene before the nar- excavations at the site of the original monastery took place from 1994 rative in both manuscripts. The same is the case with the Vita recorded to 1999, and were continued in 2002 and 2005. Cf. idem, Deir al-Bara- after the sixth troparion of the canon in menaia, for example, in the mus, excavations at the so-called site of Moses the Black, 123–135; idem, menaion for August Dečani 43, from the second quarter of the fif- Excavations at the site of Deir al-Baramus, 55–68; A. Konstantinidou, teenth century, fol. 228v–229v (cf. ibid., 58, no. 686). The name Kyria- Potsherds narrate history: the old monastery of Baramūs in Wādī al- kos does not appear in the texts in other languages. It probably oc- Naţrūn from its foundation until the early Arab period (4th–9th c.), Jour- curred here due to a translation error while translating the Greek word nal of Coptic studies 15 (Louvain 2013) 55–67. Already Hugh G. Eve- κυριακῷ present in the Synaxarion of the Church of Constantinople (cf. lyn White pointed out the remains of a building called Dêr Anba Mûsa 8 Delehaye, Synaxarium, 931.10). to the north of the northeast corner of the monastery, at a distance of Starodubcev T.: St. Moses the Ethiopian or the Black. Cult and representation in the Middle Ages ies, both dedicated to the Mother of God, seem to have already existed at the end of the sixth century.44 During the recent excavations at the site of Deir Anba Mussa-al Aswad, remains of the original church were found.45 It is not possible to reliably determine the cause of its destruc- tion. The possibility that it was damaged or destroyed in the second raid of the Scetis Desert in 435 cannot be ruled out. Above it a new church was built, which later underwent architectural changes.46 Anyway, the findings originating from the fifth and even from the late fourth century confirm that the original monastery was located there.47 In the katholikon of the younger monastery, by the northern wall of the choir in a form characteristic of Coptic churches called khurus, a wooden kibotion with the relics of Sts. Maximus and Dometius and Moses the Black is placed.48 It is assumed that the leipsana of Mo- ses were laid there before the eleventh century.49 On the other hand, eleventh-century writers noted that there was a cave of Abba Moses near the monastery, but its site has not been established.50

* St. Moses has been portrayed in the region in which he spent his eremitic life and in other areas of the Eastern Christian world. The earliest known extant representations Fig. 1. St. Moses, Bawit, Chapel XVI (drawing after photo: of him in monumental painting probably originate from Clédat, Le monastère et la nécropole) the seventh century. These are two rather recently pub- lished images and both come from Egypt. One, from Ba- wit, can be seen on old photos taken by Jean Clédat only white and short. Like other holy monks represented in the (fig. 1). It was painted on the western wall of Chapel XVI, chapel, he is clad in a dress and a mantle. In his left hand, which was rectangular in shape and had an entrance in the covered with the cloak, he holds a book, while supporting southern wall. Both the hair and the beard of the saint are it with his right hand. He is labeled as ΑΠΑ| ΜΟΥ|ΗΣΗ|Σ Μ|Π͞ Ρ͞ Μ|͞ ϨΕ, Abba Moses ‘the liberated’, or ‘the liberated 51 about 150 meters (idem, The monasteries of the Wâdi ’n Natrûn III. The man’. The other image is located in the monastery com- architecture and archaeology, New York 1933, 230). plex of al-Mansuriya about 25 km northwest of the Pyra- 44 Evelyn White, op. cit., 228; Inemmée, Deir al-Baramus, exca- mids in Giza. In a hermitage named Oratory E during the vations at the so-called site of Moses the Black, 124. excavations, a series of busts of saints with Coptic inscrip- 45 Idem, Excavations at the site of Deir al-Baramus, 56–58. 46 tions were discovered on the west wall. St. Moses is white- Ibid., 58–65. haired, with short hair and a thick rounded beard (fig. 2). 47 Idem, Deir al-Baramus, excavations at the so-called site of Moses the Black, 134; Konstantinidou, Potsherds narrate history, 55–61, Just like the other saints represented there, he is dressed 63. Findings from the last, third stage, date from the ninth century and in a tunic and a mantle, blessing with his right hand and to about 905 (ibid., 63). holding a book in his left hand covered by the cloak. Next 48 Evelyn White, The monasteries of the Wâdi ’n Natrûn III, to him is the inscription Ο ΑΓΙΟΣ ΑΠΑ| ΜΩΫΣΗΣ Μ|- 238; Gabra, Coptic monasteries, 39. For the appearance of the katho- ΠΡΜ͞ ϨΕ, marking him as Saint Abba Moses ‘the liberated likon of the new monastery and of the adjoining buildings v. Evelyn man’.52 In these two examples he is clad in a dress and a White, op. cit., 234–242. 49 Nessim Youssef, Coptic and Arabic liturgical texts, 754–755. In the second part of the History of the Churches and Monasteries of 51 Gabra, Bemerkungen zu Moses dem Schwartzen, 126 and n. Egypt, composed around 1190, it is noted that the pure body of the 35 (which provides information on the existence of the photo of the saint is buried in the monastery (The churches and monasteries of Egypt portrayal and the content of its inscription); J. Clédat, Le monastère and some neighbouring countries: attributed to Abû Sậ lih,̣ the Arme- et la nécropole de Baouît, ed. D. Bénazeth, M.-H. Rutschowscaya, Le nian, trans. B. T. A. Evetts, Oxford 1895, 232, fol. 81a). For the his- Caire 1999, 156, 161, n. 81, pl. 135. For Coptic words for freedom and tory of the text and the chronology of its different parts v. J. den Heijer, liberation (liber, liberare, libertes and etc.) cf. Vocabularium coptico- The composition of the history of the churches and monasteries of Egypt. latinum et latino-copticum e peyroni et tattami lexicis, ed. G. Parthey, Some preliminary remarks, in: Acts of the Fifth international congress of Berlin 1844, 381. Abba Moses and his brethren are mentioned among Coptic studies II/1, ed. D. W. Johnson, T. Orlandi, Roma 1993, 209–219. the holy monks in two extensive fresco inscriptions in Bawit – one on 50 Evelyn White, The monasteries of the Wâdi ’n Natrûn II, 360; the eastern wall of the room 21 (J. Maspero, Fouilles exécutées à Baouît, idem, The monasteries of the Wâdi ’n Natrûn III, 228–229, with sources Le Caire 1931, 33, 132, no. 452, Pl. XXXV) and another one on the and a discussion on where the cave could be located, as well as the in- northern wall of the room 28 (ibid., 138, no. 477). formation that there were twenty monks in the monastery and two in 52 Z. Hawass, G. Gabra, Die Eremitage von Al-Mansuriya, Jahr- the cave in 1088. On the attitude of the holy men towards the caves cf. buch für Antike und Christentum 46 (Münster 2003) 114, 116, 117, A.-M. Talbot, Caves, demons and holy men, in: Le saint, le moine et le where his white clothes are interpreted as a possible echo of the words paysan, ed. Delouis, S. Métivier, P. Pagès, Paris 2016, 707–718. About of the patriarch that Moses became white, recorded in the note in the early Egyptian monastic cells on the basis of written sources v. D. L. Coptic synaxarium. A record about the existence of this fresco, on the Brooks Hedstrom, The geography of the monastic cell in early Egyptian basis of the information of Dr Zahi Hawass, was provided somewhat monastic literature, Church history 78/4 (New York 2009) 756–791. earlier by Gabra, Bemerkungen zu Moses dem Schwartzen, 126 and n. 9 ЗОГРАФ 43 (2019) [1–22]

Fig. 2. St. Moses, al-Mansuriya near Giza, Oratory E (drawing after photos: Hawass, Gabra, Die Eremitage von Al-Mansuriya)

cloak and does not have a koukoulion, just like the other strip of fabric over his left forearm. He blesses with his depicted holy monks and hermits, and his complexion is right hand, holding a cross-topped stick in his left hand. not darker than the skin of the others. This saint does not have a dark complexion, just like in Attention should be paid to a parchment at the the already mentioned early representations of St. Moses. beginning of a seventh–eighth or eighth–ninth century His hair is straight and short, his beard rounded. How- Coptic manuscript brought from the White Monastery ever, he is not white-haired, so it can be assumed that this and kept in Leiden (Museum van Oudheden, Insinger is probably not St. Moses the Black.55 Finally, this is con- 71), of which only two leaves are extant. The figure of a firmed by the fact that the second extant leaf contains a saint labeled as Abba Moses the archimandrite, ΑΒΒΑ| fragment from the writings of the archimandrite Moses, ΜΩ|ΥΣ|ΗΣ|| ΑΡΧΗ|ΜΑΝΔΡΙΣ, is painted on it. Some which means that the miniature is an author’s portrait of scholars have argued that the title in the inscription al- the abbot and writer.56 lows us to identify him either as Moses the Black or Mo- On the remains of an ancient fortress on the top of ses of Tunah who was martyred in Alexandria.53 The title a hill called Kirbet al-Mird northeast of the Great Lavra of archimandrite has been used since the fourth century of St. Sabbas the Sanctified in Palestine, the koinobion for the hegoumenos and from the sixth century for the Kastellion was built owing to the efforts of this saint and protos of a holy mountain or a group of monasteries.54 consecrated on November 23rd, 492. In the northwest part The saint is clad in monastic robes, a tunic or lebiton with of the complex, at a level lower than that of other build- a girdle around the waist and a cloak, and has a narrow ings, there is an oval burial cave. Its walls were decorated with frescoes in the seventh or the eighth century. At one point in time the figures of holy monks could be dis- 36. White monastic habits were mentioned in certain writings about cerned on them. However, their images were scratched by Egyptian monks (cf. Tomeković, Les saints ermites et moines, 117 and n. 524). Therefore, they could be understood in that context. The her- mitage is oriented so that the wall which is called the west is in fact on 55 The remains of eight figures were noticed on the west wall the northwest. of Cell A (often called Cell 39 later on) during the excavations carried 53 O. Kurz, A Coptic miniature at Leiden, Netherlands Year- out in 1906–1907. Amongst them, in the central part, a saint with the book for History of Art 5 (Leiden 1954) 265–269, where the first inscription read as ΠΝΑΠΑΜΟΥΣΗΣ! ▒ΠΡ▒ was seen. However, the mentioned date was proposed and Moses was identified as an Egyp- descriptions of the saints shown were not provided, and it is also un- tian hegoumenos and writer. J. Leroy, Les manuscrits coptes et coptes- known whether they were photographed. Therefore, whether St. Moses arabes illustrés, Paris 1974, 91–92, 214, pl. 27, 2, raises the question of the Black was shown there remains an open question. About the saints which St. Moses was represented. K. C. Innemée, Ecclesiastical dress in on the west wall v. J. E. Quibell, Excavations at Saqqara (1906–1907), the Medieval Near East, Leiden – New York – Köln 1992, 96, Pl. 48. 2, Le Caire 1908, 64; M. Rassart-Debergh, La décoration picturale du proposes a slightly later time of creation, placing the portrayal amongst monastère de Saqqara. Essai de reconstruction, in: Acta ad archaeolo- the examples of the robes of monks who obeyed St. Pachomios’ rule, giam et artium historiam pertinentia IX. Miscellanea Coptica, ed. H. which are meticulously studied on the basis of written and artistic Torp, J. Rasmus Brandt, L. Holm Monssen, Roma 1981, 42. There is sources (cf. ibid., 95–107), and notes that a hood or a koukoulion is another holy monk of the same name in the Coptic Church, St. Moses not seen in them (ibid., 99, 106). Gawdat Gabra suggests that Moses of Abydos, who was active during the first half of the sixth century the Black is one of the saints who were portrayed in the manuscripts. and whose memory is celebrated on the 25th day of the month of Epip, Cf. idem, Bemerkungen zu Moses dem Schwartzen, 126 and n. 38, based which corresponds to August 1st. Cf. M. Moussa, The Coptic literary on Coptic illumination, in: Coptic encyclopedia IV, ed. A. S. Atiya, New dossier of Abba Moses of Abydos, Coptic Church Review 24/3 (East York 1991, 1283 (P. du Bourguet, M. Rosen-Ayalon). Brunswick 2003) 67–90. 10 54 Archimandrite, in: ODB I, 156 (A.-M. Talbot). 56 Kurz, A Coptic miniature at Leiden, 265, 266–268. Starodubcev T.: St. Moses the Ethiopian or the Black. Cult and representation in the Middle Ages

Fig. 3. St. Paul of Thebes and St. Moses (?), the katholikon of the Monastery of St. Makarios the Great (photo after: Zibawi, Koptische Kunst) the Bedouins long ago, but thanks to the vertically writ- In all likelihood he was represented in the katho- ten inscriptions in Greek by the heads of the saints, many likon of the new Baramus Monastery. Of course, it is of them were identified. The representations of the saints likely that his painted image had existed in the old mon- were repainted later by the monks who had re-settled in astery’s church, which was restored several times. In the the koinobion in 1926. On the basis of the inscription katholikon of the new monastery later paintings have which was read as Ο ΑΓΙΟΣ ΜΩΙΣΗΣ, St. Moses was been preserved, which date from the period after 1200, recognized amongst the figures on the eastern wall of the sometime during the thirteenth century, and certainly cave, in its northern part. It was noted only that the upper from the time when the relics of the saint were already part of his figure down to the chest was preserved and that resting in the edifice. A rather damaged figure of a holy he had a violet-gray cloak and a cross in his right hand.57 monk with a destroyed face and dark skin can be seen at the east end of the southern wall of the southern part of 57 A. E. Mader, Ein Bilderzyklus in der Gräberhöhle der St. Eu- the haikal. It is assumed that he should be identified as St. thymios-Laura auf Mardes (Chirbet el-Mard) in der Wüste Judä, OC 34 Moses. He seems to be making a prayer gesture with his (1937) 51, Abb. 2, no. 23 (he visited the koinobion before the repaint- ing, read the inscription by the image of the saint, and, thanks to the inscriptions, identified twenty-five out of the thirty-six represented Washington D.C. 1995, 137–145, esp. 143; M. Marković, Prvo puto- holy monks); J. Patrich, Sabas, leader of Palestinian monasticism: a vanje svetog Save u Palestinu i njegov značaj za srpsku srednjovekovnu comparative study in Eastern monasticism, fourth to seventh centuries, umetnost, Beograd 2009, 245–247, esp. 247. 11 ЗОГРАФ 43 (2019) [1–22]

full–figure image of a saint next to a multi-winged crea- ture identified as a seraph is visible in the second zone in the northern part of the eastern wall of the northern hai- kal dedicated to St. Mark. It is assumed that he is Maka- rios or rather, because of the darker color of his skin, Mo- ses. The saint has a koukoulion and a beard with straight white hairs, medium-length and almond-shaped. He di- rects his right hand towards the asomatos, while placing his left hand in front of his chest in a gesture of prayer. However, the portrayed saint’s skin is not darker than that of other shown saints and it was St. Makarios who was represented with a cherub because, as his Vita says, this asomatos took him to the place where he was meant to raise his monastery.59 In fact, the darker color of the skin can be observed on a monk painted in the eastern part of the northern wall in the same register (fig. 3). There are no traces of his accompanying inscription. Since he was represented next to Paul of Thebes, he has been identi- fied as Antony the Great.60 The lower half of his figure is heavily damaged. He has a koukoulion on his head, and a thick, straight, white beard. His hands are almost com- pletely faded, and it cannot be discerned if he is making a prayer gesture or holding an object. The possibility that he is St. Moses should not be ruled out. In the church of the Monastery St. Antony near the coast of the Red Sea, on the frescoes made perhaps in 1232/33, he is portrayed as a full-length figure at the western end of the northern wall of the middle bay of the naos. The inscription Α|Β|- ΒΑ|| ΜΟΥ|Σ|Η|[Σ] is written by his image. He has dark skin, a koukoulion under which his white hair emerges, a rounded beard of straight and white hairs. His elbows are bent so that his hands are in front of his chest. His right hand makes a gesture of a prayer, while he holds a stick with his left hand.61 The edifices of the nearby an- cient Monastery of St. Paul received new frescoes in the

59 J. Leroy, Les peintures des couvents du Ouadi Natroun, Le Caire 1982, 42, 111, Diagram D, pl. 77, 78; Tomeković, Les saints er- mites et moines, 304 (in both studies he was recorded as St. Makarios or Moses the Ethiopian). For a color photo of good quality cf. M. Zi- bawi, Koptische Kunst: das christilische Ägypten von der Spätantike bis zur Gegenwart, Regensburg 2004, Abb. 203 (marked as St. Makarios). St. Makarios and a cherub holding his hand are shown on the east- ern wall of the southern haikal in the church of the Baramus Monas- Fig. 4. St. Moses, the church of St. Nicholas in Manastir tery (Moorsel, Treasures from Baramous, 173; Pasi, I dipinti, 44). For (photo: T. Starodubcev) the earlier representation of St. Makarios and a cherub in the Virgin Church of the Monastery of the Syrians, in the layer of frescoes dated to the year 889 or very shortly afterwards cf. K. C. Innemée, Dayr 58 hands set in front of his chest. In the Scetis Desert there al-Suryan: new discoveries, in: Claremont Coptic Encyclopedia, 20–21, is the Monastery of St. Makarios the Great, the famous Fig. 18 – http://ccdl.libraries.claremont.edu/cdm/ref/collection/cce/ monk who played an important role in Moses’ endeav- id/2137. For the thirteenth century icon of St. Makarios with a cher- our judging by the note in the Coptic Arabic synaxarium ub kept in the monastery of St. Catherine in Sinai and the reasons for the saint’s portrayal with this asomatos v. G. Peers, Saint Macarius and the verses in Difnar and doxologies, and was the key and a cherub, in: Holy image, hallowed ground. Icons from Sinai, ed. figure in the founding of the Baramus Monastery accord- R. S. Nelson, K. M. Collins, Los Angeles 2006, 236–237, with sources ing to tradition. The time of creation of the paintings in and literature. the katholikon of the monastery is widely given, between 60 For the representation and the identification of the saint as the eleventh and the thirteenth century. Numerous holy Antony the Great v. Leroy, Les peintures des couvents, 41, 108, Diagram C, pl. 75, 76; Tomeković, Les saints ermites et moines, 305. For a color monks and hermits are shown there, but many of their photo cf. Zibawi, Koptische Kunst, Abb. 205. representations are damaged or destroyed. A quite faded 61 J. Leroy, Le programme décoratif de l’église de Saint-Antoine du désert de la Mer Rouge, Bulletin de l’Institut français d’archéologie 58 P. van Moorsel, Treasures from Baramous with some remarks orientale 76 (Le Caire 1976) 361; P. van Moorsel, Les peintures du mo- on a Milchizedek scene, in: Actes du IVe congrès copte I. Art et archéol- nastère de Saint-Antoine près de la Mer Rouge I, Le Caire 1995, 118, ogie, ed. M. Rassart-Debergh, J. Ries, Louvain-la-Neuve 1992, 173; 149–150, 187, Plan 1, 3, no. 22; idem, Les peintures du monastère de Gabra, Coptic monasteries, 42; Pasi, I dipinti, 37–38, 44, Fig. 9, where Saint-Antoine près de la Mer Rouge II, Le Caire 1997, Pl. 87, 88; Gabra, the only available photo of the fresco has been published, which is of Coptic monasteries, 80; E. S. Bolman, Scetis at the Red Sea: depictions 12 rather poor quality. of monastic genealogy in the monastery of St. Antony, in: Christianity Starodubcev T.: St. Moses the Ethiopian or the Black. Cult and representation in the Middle Ages thirteenth century. However, the younger paintings of a rather simplified appearance were painted over them in the early eighteenth century, around 1713/1714. At the eastern end of the northern wall of the passage located to the southeast of the central chamber, St. Moses is shown together with the holy monks. They were presented in the older frescoes, as evidenced by the preserved inscriptions in Coptic. The one above St. Moses reads ΠΕΝΙΩΤ ΕΘ ΜΟΥΣΗ[Σ], our father St. Moses.62 On the other hand, there is no indication that his image accompanied by the inscription in Arabic, preserved on the eastern side of the central chamber, on the surface between the entrances to the already mentioned passage in the south and the burial chapel of St. Paul in the north, was painted in the earlier fresco layer.63 In these Coptic representations, despite the fact that many of them have been severely damaged or have lost their inscriptions, some changes can be noticed. He always has dark skin, a rounded and thick beard with straight and white hairs, and a koukoulion on his head.64 Representations of the saint also appear in the fres- coes of churches built in the territory of Byzantium. It is possible to recognize him even if the inscription of his name has not been preserved because he is almost regu- larly portrayed as an old man of black skin dressed in mo- nastic robes. Therefore, in listing the images of the saint, his facial appearance, which includes short thick curly hair and a rounded wavy beard, and that of his clothing, consisting of a tunic (habit), a cloak (mandyas) and an analabos, except for heavily damaged or exceptional cases, will not be described here. In the basilica of St. Nicholas in Manastir, frescoed in 1271, he is located on the west side of the first western column of the northern colon- nade (fig. 4). Represented in full figure, he is marked with the inscription Ο ΑΓΙΟΣ| ΜΩΥΣΗΣ|| Ο ΑΙΘΙΟΨ. He holds an open scroll with both hands.65 The words on measure and moderation are written on it: † Ὃ ΜΕΤΡΩ ΜΕ|ΤΡΕΙΣ ΤΩ ΣΩΜΑΤΙ| ΣΟΥ ΕΠΙΣΤΡΟΦΩΣ ΠΑΡΑ| ΘΥ+ ΑΝΩ ΜΕΤΡΙΘΗ|ΣΕΤΑΙ ΣΟΙ| ҉ .66 He was also por- trayed in the crypt of the church of St. Nicholas in the fields (Ἅγιος Νικόλαος στὰ κάμπια) by Skripou in Boeo- and monasticism in Wadi al-Natrun, ed. M. S. A. Mikhail, M. Moussa, Cairo – New York 2009, 146, 148. 62 P. van Moorsel, Les peintures du monastère de Saint-Paul près de la Mer Rouge, Le Caire 2002, 36, 43, 127, no. 14, ph. 26, figs. 15–16; The cave church of Paul the Hermit at the Monastery of St. Paul, Egypt, ed. W. Lyster, New Haven – London 2008, 5 (W. Lyster), 202 (E. S. Bol- man), 223, 224, 225 (W. Lyster), 238–239 (W. Lyster), 284 (G. Gabra), Fig. 5. St. Moses, the crypt of the church of St. Nicholas in the fields 311 (N. Warner), figs. 10.28, 12.7, no. F 14. by Skripou, Boeotia (photo: G. Phousterēs) 63 Moorsel, Les peintures du monastère de Saint-Paul, 15, 49, 51, 127, no. 16, ph. 28, 29, Fig. 14; The cave church of Paul the Her- mit, 5 (W. Lyster), 198 (E. S. Bolman), 224 (W. Lyster), 283 (G. Gabra), tia, which was a metochion of the Hosios Loukas Mon- 318 (N. Warner), figs. 11.4, 11.19, no. D 18. The saint has a straight, astery in Phokis. The crypt was decorated with frescoes medium-length beard with a spiky tip, and a koukoulion on his head sometime in the last two decades of the thirteenth cen- in both examples. tury. The saint is located in the first register, on the east- 64 Innemée, Ecclesiastical dress, 107, connects the koukoulion with the group which is loosely called The Antonian costume, noting ern wall of the southern arm of the cross (fig. 5). He is that St. Antony did not set any strict rules about the monastic gar- represented in full figure, which is heavily damaged, es- ments. This costume would consist of: a tunic, a koukoulion or a scarf pecially in the upper part. He is shown in the prayer posi- and a hood, an analabos, a girdle, and sometimes a melote and an up- tion with both hands placed before his chest. The inscrip- per-mantle and a stick (ibid., 107–128). tion on his right reads Ο ΑΓ(ΙΟΣ)| ΜΩΥ|ΣΙΣ. There are 65 D. Koco, P. Miljkoviќ-Pepek, Manastir, Skopje 1958, 67, ill. 74, sch. I, no. 78; S. Gabelić, Manastir Lesnovo: istorija i slikarstvo, Beo- no traces of fresco plaster on his left, but it should not be grad 1998, 204. ruled out that the epithet of his origin was once written 66 These words do not seem to appear in the published Greek texts which speak of the saint. 13 ЗОГРАФ 43 (2019) [1–22]

likon of the Serbian Athonite Monastery of Hilandar as well. The work on the frescoing of the church could have begun in 1320 and was completed before October 28th, 1321, when its endower, King Milutin, passed away. The church was refrescoed in 1803/4, with the new paintings replicating the original fresco program. St. Moses is lo- cated on the northern wall, on the west side of a large bipartite opening in the western bay. He is shown as a full-length figure. Again he blesses with his right hand while holding a closed scroll in his left. Next to him the inscription reads: с҇|| мѡусеи| (моу)ринь.70 The saint is portrayed in the manuscript of the menologion for the whole year Oxford, Bodleian Library Gr. th. f. 1, made in Thessaloniki between 1322 and 1340. The scenes for the days from August 26th to 29th are painted in the minia- ture on fol. 53r. In the section for August 28th there are numerous martyrs in the foreground, and above them is a hill with four half-length images of saints behind it. The first of them seems to represent St. Moses since by the miniature and beside him it is inscribed ὁ ἅ(γιο)ς| Μώ|ση|ς| ὁ| Αἰ|θί|ο|ψ. However, he does not have dark skin, nor is he white-haired and white-bearded.71 The exonarthex of the Church of the Dormition of the Virgin in the Treskavac Monastery was decorated with frescoes around 1337/1338. A calendar accompanied by the vers- es of Christopher of Mytilene written in Greek is painted on its walls. Saints for the days from August 23rd to, ap- parently, the 28th day of the same month, represented from the waist up and arranged from right to left, can be Fig. 6. St. Moses, the Annunciation church in the Gračanica discerned under the arch in the upper zone of the west Monastery (photo: Blago Fund) wall of the northern chamber. The last one of these, at the southern end, is a saint whose inscription has been there.67 Later, in the second narthex of the katholikon of destroyed, and the image itself is quite damaged. This the Vatopedi Monastery on Mount Athos, decorated with image is assumed to represent St. Moses the Ethiopian. It frescoes in 1311/12, he was placed on the north end of the can be perceived that he has light skin, short curly hair, western wall, above a tall niche, in the upper zone. He is either straight in the upper part or tonsured, a rounded represented as a full-length figure and marked with an in- wavy beard and a brown robe, and that he is making a scription which, apparently, should be read as Ο ΑΓΙΟΣ|| gesture of prayer with his right hand while holding a closed scroll in his left.72 St. Moses is also featured in the Μ(ΩΥΣΗ)Σ| Ο ΕΘΙΟΨ. He blesses with his right hand calendar in the narthex of the Ascension Church of the and in his left holds an open scroll with letters which are 68 Dečani Monastery painted around 1343. He is again rep- no longer visible. resented from the waist up, as a man of white skin. His He was also portrayed in various areas of the East- hair is thick and wavy, his beard rounded, and both are ern Christian realm. In the Annunciation Church of short and brown with some gray hairs. A few very faded the Gračanica Monastery, frescoed in 1320–1321, he traces of pigment have remained of the lower part of his was represented from the waist up in the second reg- portrayal, so only a violet cloak remains discernible. His ister on the southern end of the western wall of the right hand could be making a blessing gesture, while his prothesis (fig. 6). He blesses with his right hand while left hand is destroyed. Next to him is an inscription that holding a closed scroll with his left hand. The letters reads вь· к+и· ст+ы моиси| моури||нь.73 In the upper sto- preserved mostly as dark traces under the effaced pig- ments can be discerned alongside his image, and thanks 70 Todić, Srpsko slikarstvo, 355; M. Marković, Prvobitni živopis to them the inscription сти|| мо(и)си| моури|нь has been glavne manastirske crkve, in: Manastir Hilandar, ed. G. Subotić, Beograd read.69 He was represented in the narthex of the katho- 1998, 232; Τούτος, Φουστέρης, Ευρετήριον, 186, 189, Σχ. 5.1.5, αρ. 202; Tomeković, Les saints ermites et moines, 274. For the time of creation of the original frescoes v. M. Marković, W. T. Hostetter, Prilog hronologiji gradnje 67 Μ. Παναγιωτίδη, Οι τοιχογραφίες της κρύπτης του Αγίου i oslikavanja hilandarskog katolikona, HZ 10 (1998) 201–217. Νικολάου στα Καμπιά της Βοιωτίας, in: Actes du XVe Congrès Internation- 71 I. Hutter, Corpus der byzantinischen Miniaturenhandschrif- al d’études Byzantines II. Art et archéologie. Communications B, Athènes ten II. Oxford Bodleian Library II, Stuttgart 1978, 32, Abb. 100. 1981, 598, 608; Tomeković, Les saints ermites et moines, 277. The saint is 72 M. Gligorijević-Maksimović, Slikani kalendar u Treskavcu only mentioned in the literature. His description and the reading of the i stihovi Hristofora Mitilenskog, Zograf 8 (1977) 49; eadem, Slikarstvo inscription are provided on the basis of the available photos. XIV veka u manastiru Treskavcu, ZRVI 42 (2005) 104; S. Smolčić- 68 Ν. Τούτος, Γ. Φουστέρης, Ευρετήριον της μνημειακής ζω- -Makuljević, Manastir Treskavac, Beograd 2013, 121, and based on γραφικής του Αγίου Όρους 10ος–17ος αιώνας, Αθήνα 2010, 129, 130, Σχ. personal photo-documentation. For the time of creation of the frescoes 3.3.1, αρ. 31. v. S. Cvetkovski, Portreti vizantijskih i srpskih vladara u manastiru Tre- 69 B. Todić, Gračanica: slikarstvo, Beograd–Priština 1988, 110; skavcu, Zograf 31 (2006–2007) 158–166. idem, Srpsko slikarstvo u doba kralja Milutina, Beograd 1998, 335; 73 P. Mij ov i ć , Menolog: istorijsko-umetnička istraživanja, Beo- 14 Tomeković, Les saints ermites et moines, 36, 256. grad 1973, 341; S. Kesić-Ristić, D. Vojvodić, Menolog, in: Zidno slikar- Starodubcev T.: St. Moses the Ethiopian or the Black. Cult and representation in the Middle Ages

Fig. 7. St. Moses, the upper storey of the narthex of the St. Sophia cathedral in Ohrid (photo: G. Phousterēs) rey of the narthex of the St. Sophia Cathedral in Ohrid, Moses was depicted in the first zone in the northern side frescoed around 1345, numerous holy monks and her- of the southern pilaster leaning against the western wall mits were shown in the first register. Among them, as (fig. 8). He blesses with his right hand and holds a rolled- the second from the north on the eastern wall, above the up scroll in his left hand. By his image is the inscription opening toward the naos, is St. Moses, represented from Ο ΑΓ(ΙΟΣ)|| ΜΩ|ΗΣΥΣ|| Ο ΑΙΘΗ||ΩΨ.76 The portrayal the waist up (fig. 7). He blesses with his right hand while of the saint was also found in the Transfiguration Church holding an open scroll with the left one. Judging by the in Kovalevo Field near Novgorod, frescoed in the 1380s available photos, there are no surviving traces of letters and destroyed during the Second World War. Represent- beside his image.74 His scroll reads: ΑΝ+ΟΣ ΟΨΙΝ| ΚΑΗ ed from the waist up, he was painted on the east side Θ+Σ ΤΗΝ| ΚΑΡΔΙΑΝ| 7. These are the words of the sec- of the transversal barrel vault over the northwest cor- ond verse written by Christopher of Mytilene in honor ner of the church. Only fragments of his head have sur- of the saint, Ἄνθρωπος ὄψιν, καὶ Θεὸς τὴν καρδίαν.75 In vived. They testify that he was shown as white-haired, the narthex of the Church of Archangel Michael in the with dark skin, short and curly hair and a rounded wavy Lesnovo Monastery, decorated with frescoes in 1349, St. beard, and that, apparently, he was dressed in monastic robes.77 In the Virgin Church of the Cozia Monastery in stvo manastira Dečana. Građa i studije, ed. V. J. Đurić, Beograd 1995, Wallachia, painted around 1390, numerous holy monks 420; Tomeković, Les saints ermites et moines, 259. For the dating of the frescoes in that part of the narthex v. G. Subotić, Prilog hronologiji dečanskog zidnog slikarstva, ZRVI 20 (1981) 125–127. 76 Gabelić, Manastir Lesnovo, 203–204, 216, 220; Tomeković, 74 C. Grozdanov, Ohridsko zidno slikarstvo XIV veka, Beo- Les saints ermites et moines, 36, 260. grad 1980, 76, drawing 18; Gabelić, Manastir Lesnovo, 204, сл. 110; 77 Ibid., 301; S. O. Dmitrieva, Freski khrama Spasa Preobrazhe- Tomeković, Les saints ermites et moines, 36, 264. niia͡ na Kovalёve v Novgorode, 1380 goda, Moskva 2011, 149–150, 151, 75 Cf. Siberus, Ecclesiae graecae martyrologium metricum, 276. ill. on p. 140, 150. 15 ЗОГРАФ 43 (2019) [1–22]

Fig. 8. St. Moses, the narthex of the Church of Archangel Michael in the Lesnovo Monastery (photo: G. Phousterēs)

and hermits were represented as full-length figures in served alongside his image, but the available photos do the first register of the narthex. Among them, St. Moses not allow its reliable reading.78 has been identified at the west end of the north wall. He is making a prayer gesture with both hands. An inscrip- tion in the Old Church Slavonic language has been pre- 78 TS.͡ Vʺleva, Obrazʺt na sv. Varvar Pelagoniĭski v pritvora na ts͡ ʺrkvata v Kremikovskiia͡ manastir, Starobʺlgaristika 29/2 (Sofiia͡ 2005) 16 53–54; Tomeković, Les saints ermites et moines, 254. The photos obtained Starodubcev T.: St. Moses the Ethiopian or the Black. Cult and representation in the Middle Ages

* lasted until 1268.82 However, no representation of St. Mo- ses the Ethiopian has been preserved in medieval fresco It should be noted that there is a monastery dedi- painting in the territory of Lebanon, which was inhabited cated to St. Moses in Syria, near the town of Nabek (An- by Maronites, Nestorians (East Syrians), Jakobites (Ortho- Nabek, Al-Nabek), ancient Nebek, about 80 km north of dox Syrians, i.e. West Syrians), Melchites, Abysinians and Damascus. The Monastery of Mar Musa al-Habashi, of Orthodox Greeks.83 This also seems to be the case with St. Moses the Ethiopian, whose commemoration is held the frescoes of the medieval churches in Cyprus, which on August 28th, is located on a high cliff. According to the had strong relations with these regions.84 Of course, this local church tradition, it was erected in the sixth centu- does not necessarily mean that he was never portrayed in ry on the site of the tomb of the holy hermit Moses the these territories, but it does suggest that he was not repre- Ethiopian. Other sources corroborate the dating of the sented often. monastery, which had an important scriptorium, but not A special overview of Ethiopia should be made. Its the original dedication set forth in the oral tradition. The Christian written heritage, sources, as well as collections present-day chapel, a small three-aisled basilica, erected, of monastic libraries have not been critically published according to the inscription, in honor of the Prophet Mo- extensively enough to allow more in-depth research. An ses in 1058, has two layers of frescoes, made in the elev- additional problem is that the time of construction of var- enth century and in 1192 respectively. It contains the only ious monasteries and even the locations where many of completely preserved program of medieval fresco painting them once stood are still little known. In the first place it in Syria. However, the name of St. Moses the Ethiopian would be necessary to distinguish which monasteries were does not appear in the inscriptions by the depicted saints. founded during the Aksumite Kingdom which existed be- Therefore, it should be noted that the monastery was tween the fourth and the seventh century, that is, from mentioned as Musa or Mar Musa in the sources, so it is about 350 AD to the Islamization of the Eritrean coast in assumed to have been originally dedicated to the Prophet the second half of the seventh century. In the search for Moses and renamed Mar Musa al-Habashi later on, at the an answer to the question as to whence Christianity and time when the architectural changes were made after the monasticism came to Ethiopia various directions have arrival of the Abyssinian monks who had previously tak- been proposed, which range from Byzantium to Syria and 79 en temporary refuge in Lebanon. Representations of St. Palestine, with the influence of Egypt inevitably implied. Moses the Ethiopian are not found in the frescoes of other Be that as it may, certain texts related to monastic life are 80 reasonably well-preserved medieval churches Syria. known to have been translated into the Ge’ez language During the Middle Ages there were direct contacts probably already in the period of the Kingdom of Ak- between the churches in the territories of Lebanon, Syr- sum.85 The ancient Aksumite dynasty accepted Christian- ia, Palestine and Cyprus,81 where many Abyssinians, i.e. ity very early, in the middle of the fourth century. How- Ethiopians, arrived, especially at the time of the Jewish ever, monasticism was introduced by the so-called Syrian rule in their homeland, which began around 1000 and ‘Nine Saints’ in the sixth century. The ‘dark age’ in the history of Ethiopia began from the seventh century. Pre- owing to the courtesy of my colleague Alice Isabella Sullivan are rather served sources about this period are very scarce and it is blurry, so it was not possible to read the accompanying inscription. even unknown whether there was a centralized kingdom 79 On the history of this monastery, inscriptions, monastery complex and the painting of the church v. E. Cruikshank Dodd, The or a series of local short-term successors of power. The Monastery of Mar Musa al-Habashi, near Nebek, Syria, Arte medievale tradition says that in the twelfth century the Zagwe kings 6/1 (Roma 1992) 61–134. For the observation that there is no repre- sentation of the saint with the inscription of his name in the frescoes of the church cf. ibid., 62, with the note that no portrayals made before 82 For basic data on the issue cf. eadem, The Monastery of Mar the fourteenth century have been noticed (ibid., 62, 65, 124, n. 3). On Musa, 63–64, with sources and literature. the question of the original dedication of the monastery cf. ibid., 65, 83 Cf. eadem, Medieval painting in the Lebanon, passim, esp. 66. She believes that the Abbysian monks brought with them a relic 53–55, 70–84, where the saints represented in the altar and on the of the saint, which was reported to be still in place in the nineteenth walls of the naos are investigated, and special attention is paid to un- century (ibid., 65). For a reading and analysis of the inscriptions – of identified ones at the end of the study. the saints’ names and of the scenes in the frescoes first and then of 84 Cf. A. Stylianou, J. A. Stylianou, The painted churches of Cy- the dedicative and commemorative ones – in Syrian, Greek and Arabic prus. Treasures of Byzantine art, Nicosia 1997, passim; Tomeković, Les languages v. J. den Heijer et al., Deir Mar Musa: the inscriptions, ECA 4 saints ermites et moines, 289–293. On the artistic connections of Cy- (2007) 133–185. Special attention is paid to the question of the correct prus under the Lusignan dynasty (1192–1474) with Syria and Egypt, reading of the damaged epithet by the name of St. Mar Musa in the on the basis of examples in painting, especially those from the thir- inscription 34 from 1058–1059 – the readings ‘the Ethiopian’ and, pri- teenth century v. A. Weyl Carr, Iconography and identity: Syrian ele- marily, ‘the hermit’ have been proposed (ibid., 135, 179–180). It should ments in the art of crusader Cyprus, Church history and religious cul- be noted that the inscriptions usually mention the Mother of Light or ture 89/1 (Leiden 2009) 127–151. On the two-way artistic influences the Lady, either alone or before St. Moses, and it could be assumed that between the island of Cyprus and the mainland, i.e. Syria and Lebanon, the monastery was dedicated to the Mother of God as well. For these with numerous valuable observations on the historical circumstances, inscriptions cf. ibid., 135, 154, 158, 167, 171, 173, 175, 178, 179. It has painters, donors who were members of various Christian churches, been reported in the literature that Mat Immerzeel has challenged this followed by critical and well-argumented reviews of different views opinion in the study idem, Some remarks about the name of the Mon- and relevant literature v. B. Snelders, M. Immerzeel, From Cyprus to astery and an enigmatic scene, ECA 4 (2007) 127–131. However, the Syria and back again: artistic interaction in the Medieval Levant, ECA 9 study has not been available to us. (2012–2013) 79–103. 80 Cf. Christliche Wandmalereien in Syrien: Qara und das Kloster 85 Lusini, Le monachisme en Éthiopie, 133–144, esp. 135, 138– Mar Yakub, ed. A. Schmidt, St. Westphalen, Wiesbaden 2005, passim. 140, 143 (research on the monk as a holy man during the reign of the 81 On this issue, in brief, v. Cruikshank Dodd, The Monastery kings of the Solomonic Dynasty, from 1270 to 1527, with a detailed of Mar Musa, 63–64; eadem, Medieval painting in the Lebanon, Wies- critical assesment of sources and literature and a very useful review of baden 2004, 11–13, with sources and literature. earlier epochs). 17 ЗОГРАФ 43 (2019) [1–22]

of the ‘usurper’ dynasty founded the capital further to the lated into the languages used by believers in the eastern south, on the site of Rocha which was soon renamed La- part of the Christian realm, note that they narrate of Moses libela after the eponymous king. Ethiopian monks played the Ethiopian (Lausiac History) or just Abba Moses (The an important social and economic role in the shaping of Sayings of the Desert Fathers). In the Egyptian writings in the post-Zagwe periods, i.e. during the Solomonic resto- Coptic and Arabic he is referred to as the Black, and only ration from 1270 on. However, ancient Ethiopian mon- in the Second version of the Vita, in which the date of his asteries have not been sufficiently studied yet.86 It seems commemoration is noted according to the Byzantine cal- that among those known from written sources or tradi- endar, he is recorded as the Ethiopian.89 The later Greek tions there are none dedicated to St. Moses the Black who, texts usually state that their subject is Moses the Ethiopian according to the texts, was Ethiopian by origin. There is (the Synaxarion of the Church of Constantinople, the ‘impe- no indication that he was particularly venerated in Ethio- rial’ menologia) and he is mentioned as Moses the Black pia.87 After all, it was recorded as the country of his ori- only exceptionally (the metric calendar of Christopher of gin, while his life and undertaking were tied to Egypt and Mytilene). Finally, in the Slavic realm he is known as the to the times when monasticism had not yet arrived in holy father Moses моуринь, i.e. the Ethiopian. Ethiopia. Nevertheless, given the strong Coptic cultural In the earliest known representations, created in the influences in the area, we should not rule out the possibil- Coptic region, he is designated as Abba Moses ‘the lib- ity that he was portrayed in Ethiopian art, which has suf- erated man’. Therefore, the question arises as to whether fered heavy damage over the centuries.88 he might have had such an epithet in the early writings in Egypt. It should be noted that, as far as is known, no * hagiography of the saint in the Coptic language has been found. Such an entry disappears afterwards. In subse- The cult of St. Moses originated in the Scetis Desert, quent Egyptian examples inscriptions accompanying his became well-known in Byzantium and the surrounding images refer to him only as Abba or the holy father. In the regions very early, and spread to the entire East Chris- Coptic milieu he regularly has a round beard, straight– tian realm later on. In the koinobion of Baramus the saint and white-haired. Firstly he was painted with white skin, gathered his disciples who were so numerous that, as the usually with a book in his hand, and later on he was por- Third version of the Vita in Arabic written in the Coptic trayed with dark skin and a koukoulion on his head, most milieu says, it also became known as the monastery of often with both hands placed in a gesture of prayer. The Abba Moses. His relics were first laid to rest in his cave change in representing the color of his skin took place in and subsequently translated to the katholikon of the mon- the period between the seventh and twelfth century. How- astery. The Second version of the Vita mentions that they ever, the question as to when it occurred cannot be accu- were miraculous. rately answered. In the portrayals accompanied by Greek 90 Various epithets are listed by his name in the writ- inscriptions he is generally marked as the Ethiopian, ings. The oldest known texts, written in Greek and trans- and in those followed by Slavic inscriptions he is regularly labelled as моуринь, the Ethiopian.91 In the Byzantine Em- pire and in the countries whose churches held the divine 86 Cf. N. Finneran, Hermits, saints, and snakes: the archaeology of service in the Old Church Slavonic language, he is usu- the early Ethiopian monastery in wider context, The international journal of African historical studies 45/2 (Boston 2012) 247–271 (about the co- ally portrayed as a black man with short curly hair and called Syrian ‘Nine Saints’, the emergence and development of monasti- a wavy beard. He is dressed in monastic robes. Although cism in Ethiopia on the basis of sources and literature, with an emphasis the writings almost regularly mention that he was or- on the underexplored state of the sites and numerous observations on dained a priest, he is not represented with the marks of the archaeological remains of the monasteries, the sacral topography of the hieromonk’s rank. Most often he blesses with his right Ethiopia and the attitude of the secular authorities towards monks and hermits). V. also A. Bausi, Kings and saints: founders of dynasties, mon- hand while carrying a closed or an open scroll in his left, asteries and churches in Christian Ethiopia, in: Stifter und Mäzene und and very rarely he is making a prayer gesture or holding ihre Rolle in der Religion. Von Königen, Mönchen, Vordenkern und Laien an unrolled scroll in both hands. Finally, exceptions are in Indien, China und anderen Kulturen, ed. B. Schuler, Wiesbaden 2013, noted in three painted calendars: those in the menolo- 161–185 (a study in which significant observations are presented, based largely on diverse written sources, about the founding activity of Ethio- gion Oxford, Bodleian Library Gr. th. f. 1, in Treskavac and pian kings, especially in times of the Aksumite, Zagwe and Solomonic Dečani. In all three examples only the upper part of his dynasties, followed by a general overview of the monks and saints as the figure can be seen. His skin is white. His hair and beard endowers of monasteries, referencing the rulers, mostly later ones, who are short and brown, with only a few gray hairs in the me- were patrons of the book writing and copying, as well as on the tempo- nologion Oxford, Bodleian Library Gr. th. f. 1 and Dečani rary and permanent monastic estates bestowed by the rulers, on dona- tions for the sake of commemoration in the liturgy, as well as many other important issues). 89 Gabra, Bemerkungen zu Moses dem Schwartzen, 125. 87 In the research of saints who have tabots – stone or wooden 90 It is only in the burial cave in the koinobion Kastellion that a consecrated altar tablets characteristic of Ethiopia – dedicated to them, Greek inscription which reads St. Moses was found long ago alongside none have been found in honor of St. Moses cf. D. Nosnitsin, Intro- the representation of the saint. It should be noted that only the first duction, in: Veneration of saints in Christian Ethiopia, ed. D. Nosnitsin, part of his inscription has been preserved in the church of St. Nicholas Wiesbaden 2015, XXI–XXXIV. in the fields and that apparently there are no remaining traces of the 88 We have not found а single representation of St. Moses in inscription by his image in the upper storey of the narthex of the St. churches in Ethiopia or even in Nubia in the available literature (which Sophia Church in Ohrid. is extensive and, in order to avoid a cumbersome scientific apparatus 91 It should be remembered that the inscription in the in the note, will not be listed here). His cult seems to have been strong Novgorod church had been destroyed and that there are no good qual- in the northern and central parts of Egypt, close to his home monas- ity photos available to provide a reliable reading of the inscription by 18 tery. his image in Cozia. Starodubcev T.: St. Moses the Ethiopian or the Black. Cult and representation in the Middle Ages and with slightly more white hairs in Treskavac. As for his creation of a fitting iconography, the saint, although rather robes, only the cloak is visible. These exceptions can be rarely represented, had a clearly defined and recognizable explained by the fact that the artists who painted these portrayal based, just like the inscriptions by his images, images were not familiar with his iconography. After all, on the information provided in the writings. Bearing in these would not be the only examples of an unusual repre- mind that the medieval fresco painting in Egypt has suf- sentation of a saint by the painters of a calendar.92 Despite fered severe damage, based on the extant representations the fact that somewhat different images of St. Moses ap- of the saint it can be concluded that he was portrayed pear in the painted calendars, it can be concluded that af- quite often. His leipsana was initially kept in his cave and ter some initial fluctuations in his appearance in the Cop- subsequently translated to the monastery in the Scetis De- tic milieu and the changes in the epithets written by his sert and, except for the tradition of the monastery of Mar image, which are to be expected in times of the gradual Musa al-Habashi in Syria, there is no indication that the particles of his relics were taken to other regions. His cult 92 For some unusual representations in medieval painted cal- did not take deep roots outside Egypt, and therefore he endars, on the example of the month of September v. T. Starodubcev, was very rarely represented in other areas of the Eastern Ogled o slikanim kalendarima u srednjovekovnoj Srbiji i njihovim pisanim Christian realm. istočnicima. Primer meseca septembra, ZLUMS 45 (2017) 86–87.

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Свети Мојсије Етиопљанин или Црнац. Поштовање и представљање у средњем веку

Татјана Стародубцев Академија уметности, Универзитет у Новом Саду

Сећање на преподобног оца Мојсија Етиопља- пронађено ниједно његово житије на коптском. Ипак, нина обележава се у Православној цркви 28. августа. може се претпоставити да су такви списи постојали. О том бившем робу и разбојнику, који се подвизао У египатским рукописима уочено је неколико редак- при манастиру Барамусу у Нитријској или Скитској ција житија на арапском, а три су објављене. пустињи, говоре бројни списи на грчком језику. То Свети Мојсије је поштован и у Етиопији, земљи су: Паладијев Лавсаик, Созоменова Црквена историја, из које је, према списима, потекао. На језик гиз били Изреке светих отаца, Синаксар Цариградске цркве, су преведени Лавсаик и Изреке светих отаца. У Си- Житије у царским менолозима (које има две редак- наксару Етиопске цркве памјат аве Мојсија Црнца му- ције), метрички календар Христофора Митиленског, ченика за дан који одговара 18. јуну једнака је оној у као и неколики објављени састави. Коптском арапском синаксару. Међутим, у етиопском Везан животом за Египат, свети се прославља у синаксару се налази и сећање на представљење аве Коптској цркви, у дан који одговара 18. јуну. На копт- Мојсија из Скитске пустиње за дан који одговара 10. ски језик били су преведени Лавсаик и Изреке светих септембру. Оно се потпуно разликује од приповести у отаца. Њему посвећене песме срећу се у антифона- грчкој и коптској цркви, из чега се види да се не ради ријуму Коптске цркве, а значајне су три објављене о истом светитељу. похвалне песме на коптском. Наравно, састав о све- Свети Мојсије је познат и у оближњој Сирији. И том се налази у Коптском арапском синаксару. Није Лавсаик и Изреке светих отаца преведени су на си- 21 ЗОГРАФ 43 (2019) [1–22]

ријски језик. Позни Јаковитски менолози сведоче о зиван као старац црне пути са кратком коврџавом томе да је памјат тог светог обележавана обично 18. косом и облом кудравом брадом, одевен у монашко јуна, а ређе 28. августа. рухо. Такве представе се виде у базилици Светог Ни- За њега се знало и у словенским земљама, где коле у манастиру (1271, сл. 4), крипти храма Светог су били преведени Лавсаик и Изреке светих отаца. Николе у пољима у Беотији (последње деценије XIII Састави посвећени светом Мојсију у том књижевном века, сл. 5), као и у другој припрати католикона Вато- наслеђу нису објављени и истражени. Стога је овде педа (1311/12). Једнако је приказиван и у различитим предочен садржај бележака о том светом у доступним областима источнохришћанског света: у цркви у Гра- српским рукописима пролога. чаници (1320/21, сл. 6), припрати католикона Хилан- Списи настали у Египту бележе да је тело аве дара (1320/21, пресликано 1803/04), на спрату припра- Мојсија у његовој светој пећини, потом да ће бити те Свете Софије у Охриду (око 1345, сл. 7), у припрати пренето из пећине, а затим да почива у манастиру Ба- цркве у Леснову (1349, сл. 8), храму Преображења на рамус, у чијој се цркви и данас налази. Претпоставља Коваљову (1380) и у цркви у Козији (око 1390). Међу- се да је ту положено пре XI века. Данашњи манастир тим, другачије, са светлим теном и тамнијом косом, подигнут је на око 50 м североисточно од првобитне представљен је у сликаним календарима – у рукопи- лавре, а два манастира, оба посвећена Богородици, су Менолога Oxford, Bodleian Library Gr. th. f. 1 (између постојала су већ крајем VI столећа. 1322. и 1340), у спољној припрати храма у Трескавцу (између 1334. и 1343), те у припрати цркве у Дечанима Најстарије познате очуване представе светог (око 1343) – а то нису једини примери светитеља при- настале су вероватно у VII веку и налазе се у Египту: казаних на неуобичајен начин у оквиру календара. у Капели XVI у Бавиту (сл. 1) и у испосници званој Ораторијум Е у монашкој целини Аl-Mansuriya код Може се закључити да је, након почетних ко- Гизе (сл. 2). Он је био приказан и у киновији Кастели- лебања, свети имао препознатљиво обличје заснова- он у Палестини, у пећини намењеној за сахрањивање но, као и натписи уз његове представе (у коптским (VII или VIII век). Био је, по свој прилици, насли- примерима „слободан човек“ у најранијим и „ава“ кан у католикону новог манастира Барамуса (после или „отац“ у каснијим, те „Етиопљанин“ у грчким и 1200), као и у цркви суседног манастира Светог Мака- словенским), на подацима које пружају списи по- рија (између XI и XIII столећа, сл. 3). Приказан је и у свећени њему. Имајући у виду то да је средњовеков- цркви манастира Светог Антонија у близини Црвеног но сликарство у Египту веома пострадало, на основу мора (можда 1232/33). У оближњем манастиру Светог очуваних представа може се закључити да је свети Павла, чији је живопис (XIII век) пресликан (1713/14), био прилично често приказиван у коптској средини. у пролазу се види свети Мојсије и над њим натпис на Његове мошти су чуване у Скитској пустињи и нема коптском који припада старијем слоју. У раним копт- никаквих назнака, осим у предању о манастиру Mar ским примерима он не носи кукул и нема тамнију Musa al-Habashi у Сирији (који је првобитно био пос- кожу. У каснијим представама уочавају се промене – већен пророку Мојсију), о томе да су честице моштију свети редовно има тамну пут, облу густу седу браду тог светог ношене у друге крајеве. Његов култ није равних власи и кукул на глави. примио снажнијег корена изван Египта и стога је он ретко представљан у осталим областима источно- Он се види у живопису храмова подигнутих у хришћанског света. Византији. Ту је, осим у ретким изузецима, прика-

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