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Imperial Deesis” American Journal of Art and Design 2017; 2(3): 79-83 http://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/j/ajad doi: 10.11648/j.ajad.20170203.12 Sacerdotium and Regnum in Late Byzantium: Some Notes on the “Imperial Deesis” Constantine Vapheiades Department of Social Theology, University of Athens, Athens, Greece Email address: To cite this article: Constantine Vapheiades. Sacerdotium and Regnum in Late Byzantium: Some Notes on the “Imperial Deesis”. American Journal of Art and Design . Vol. 2, No. 3, 2017, pp. 79-83. doi: 10.11648/j.ajad.20170203.12 Received : August 2, 2017; Accepted : August 14, 2017; Published : September 5, 2017 Abstract: The aim of this study is to provide information from the field of art concerning the Church’s power over the late Byzantine state and society. This is based on the unequivocal fact that art works were always an appropriate source of information about the social, religious and political developments. So, in the introductory chapter a number of literary sources are submitted testifying that important political and religious events were destined to change the balance of power in Byzantium from the second half of the 13 th century onwards. In the main chapter the iconographic subject of the “Imperial Deesis”, emerged in the 14 th century, is looked at from all sides. This is due to the fact that this subject is more convenient than others in revealing the Church’s supremacy over the emperor. Given that every single one of the Orthodox Bishops constitute a vicar of Christ on earth as, it can be said that the portrait of Christ as High Priest and King of all Kings is indicative of the double role of the Church in Late Byzantium, religious and political. Keywords: Byzantine Art, Byzantine Church, Imperial Deesis, Hesychasm, Christ-High Priest eventually, the cruel religious disputes [7]. Under these 1. Introduction circumstances which were to result in centrifugal tendencies According to historian Nikephoros Gregoras, Patriarch the monarch’s authority increasingly diminished while, on Athanasius I (1289-1293, 1303-1309) - a key person in the other hand, the Church became more powerful and establishing of an ecclesiastical policy emancipated from the ultimately replaced the secular ruler at many levels of Emperor’s one - abdicated from the throne of Constantinople authority. Besides, the ecclesiastical policy of Andronicus II because of a malicious deed: […] While he [Patriarch Paleologos (1282-1328) to strengthen the authority of the Athanasius] still held patriarchal office and resided mainly in Church, turning the Patriarchate of Constantinople into a hub the kellia around Xerolophos, his footstool was stolen from of political and social life [1]. the patriarchal throne and on this the divine icon of Christ It is no accident that the first official written declaration of our Saviour was etched, with the Emperor Andronicus on one submission by an Orthodox emperor to the patriarch of side with a bridle in his mouth and the Patriarch Athanasius Constantinople was made in the year 1303, when Athanasius on the other holding the reins, like a charioteer being drawn resumed his duties as Patriarch. The address that was written by a horse (VII. 9C) [15]. in 1310 on the occasion of the ending of the Arsenite schism Regardless of whether Athanasius’ abdication was due to is also indicative of this new view: […] The emperor was this incident or not, this vulgar joke, combined with his obedient to the patriarch and did everything in conformity choice as Patriarch, provides the first indication of the with his opinion, while he followed his wishes completely Emperor’s replacement by the Patriarch as the supreme and, indeed, ceded power to the church and submitted authority in the minds of the ecclesiastical community. From himself to it [12]. Two years later, during the patriarchate of now on a lot of important events were destined to change the Nephon I, Andronicus ceded to the Patriarch the rights over balance of power in practice such as the state shrinkage and Mount Athos that had traditionally been held by the emperor the divisions associated with political opportunism, the [10]. It was an act of recognition as the Holy Mountain was feeling of a threatened extinction, the economic woes, related going to be one of the most unifying factors for the Orthodox with the «dark» role of foreign traders and bankers and, world after the disintegration of Byzantium and the Balkan 80 Constantine Vapheiades: Sacerdotium and Regnum in Late Byzantium: Some Notes on the “Imperial Deesis” kingdoms. akakia . From then on the Patriarchs were to intervene in and shape The tendency on the part of the Church’s leaders to assume political developments, both within and outside the political powers was to grow stronger after the establishment Byzantine dominions. A characteristic case is that of John of the hesychastic theology of Gregory Palamas, archbishop XIV Calecas (1334-1347). He served as regent from 1341 of Thessaloniki and an emblematic figure of the 14 th century. and governor of Constantinople with increased powers, This theology would lead to the further growth and during the campaigns of Andronicus III. According to dominance of monasticism in social and political life as well Gregoras, the Patriarch protested that […] What the soul is to as to the further consolidation of the privileges and the the body, the Church is to the imperial throne; both are one supremacy of the Great Church, thought Hesychasm betrayed in terms of their constitution and life (XII.3, 579) [15]. a charismatic, not bureaucratic or institutional, conception of Moreover Calecas made Gregoras wild, when he dressed the religious authority. As T. Papamastorakis has already himself in imperial insignia. Yet, the Patriarch bothered the indicated [13], the Palamas’ pupils, as Patriarchs, would not people of Constantinople by wearing a gold kalyptra on his hesitate to establish their authority in terms that were head during the coronation of John V Paleologos. It is worth somewhat contrary to the tradition of synallelia and the noting that in this head-dress had been embroidered the collective responsibility of the Church. figures of Christ, of the Virgin Mary and John the Baptist, i.e. The patriarch Philotheos Kokkinos (1353-1355, 1364- the theme of the Deesis. It can be supposed that Calecas’ 1376), in a letter he wrote to the princes of Russia in 1370, kalyptra would be similar to the crown worn by the claimed that God had appointed him as leader of the archbishop St. Sava Nemanja portrayed in the doorway of the Orthodox world, as guardian and advisor to all the souls Holy Apostles’ naos, Peć (middle of the 14 th c.) (figure 1) under his jurisdiction: […] All those who are dependent on me . In his view, the Emperor was no longer the head of the Orthodox Christian world, but the occupant of the patriarchal throne of Constantinople [8]. Patriarch Antonius IV (1389- 1390, 1391-1397) addressed in 1393 a letter to Basil I, Grand Prince of Moscow: It is not possible for Christians to have an Ekklesia and not have an emperor (= basileia), because empire and Church have a great unity and commonality, it is impossible for them to be separated from one another [9]. As it is known the Prince of Moscow had declared that they [Russians] had a Church [that of Constantinople] but no Emperor, indicating the supremacy of the Church’s power compared to Emperor's one. But, according to Antonius, there was no distinction of powers: the Church and the political power were one and the same. The Emperor anointed by God is not simply a secular leader but the sovereign of the Christian universe. And yet, these lines have been written when Constantinople was in a state of decline i.e. during the reign of Manuel II Paleologos, a vassal of the sultan Bayazid I. Of course it could not but be indicated of an anachronism: the byzantine conception of the emperor’s ecumenical authority was in force in the end of the 14 th century, even in theory. Eventually it is worthy to be mentioned that the replacement by the Patriarch of the secular ruler at many levels of authority should be reached in a crucial point during the reign of John V Palaiologos, as he convoked a synod in 1380-1382 in order to specify the emperor’s competence in the affairs of the Church. The patriarch Neilos (1380-1388) and the synod drew up a deed in nine articles. However, these Figure 1. Peć. Church of Holy Apostles. St. Sava Nemanja. articles concern administrative matters. The sacral aspects of St. Sava’s crown is adorned with three medallions. Christ’ the imperial office are absent as well as the vital imperial bust appears in the central one. Angels are painted in the two privileges, i.e. the right to convoke an ecumenical council others medallions supplicating Christ. By the way, it should and the right to appoint the ecumenical patriarch, though be observed that St. Sava - labeled as Patriarch, not as these two rights could be taken for granted. In any case the archbishop - is dressed in patriarchal attire holding a big deed in question had no crucial role in the following years. cross in the form of a gemmed scepter and also, with the What it indicates is simply the fact of the confusion of the other hand, a mandylion which refers to the emperor’s two administrative powers in late Byzantium as for the American Journal of Art and Design 2017; 2(3): 79-83 81 bounds of their authority. this single-ailed church, i.e. on the most distinguished part of it, since the subject concerns the glory and power of the Holy 2.
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