The Pennsylvania State University the Graduate School College of Art
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The Pennsylvania State University The Graduate School College of Art and Architecture THE SOUND OF SILENCE: SACRED PLACE IN BYZANTINE AND POST-BYZANTINE DEVOTIONAL ART ! ! A Dissertation in Art History by Vessela Nikolova Anguelova © 2011 Vessela Nikolova Anguelova Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy August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ignatures are on file in the Graduate School. ! ""! 39')(*E)! ! This study explores the representation of holy places in devotional images from the early Christian era to the post-Byzantine period. I delineate five phases of this development. The first phase (300s-500s) was connected to the rise of Christian sacred sites. Christian ideas about sacredness of locations built upon the Greek and Roman cults, and the Jewish religion but reflected Christianity’s own practices. Despite the variety of Christian holy places, only biblical sites appeared in religious images. This tendency changed in the post-Iconoclastic period. After the 900s, non-biblical sacred places gradually populated icons. All of these were monastic. The roots of this iconographic development must be sought in the standardization of the representation of saints. The Menologion of Basil II (976- 1025) exemplifies the first systematic association of saints with specific locations. In this illuminated church calendar the eremitic desert or a cityscape suggests a saint’s occupation. The manuscript provided an important source to iconographers of devotional images that showed non-biblical holy places in the twelfth and the thirteenth centuries. These places—the church of the Miracle at Chonae and the eremitic desert of the Koimesis of St. Ephrem—specifically acclaimed ascetic virtues and praxis. The next step towards the representation of non-biblical sacred sites came in the early 1300s with the icon of the Virgin from the Zo!dochos P"g" monastery in Constantinople. This new image bound devotion to a miracle- working spring in the Byzantine capital, yet it became popular in the neighboring countries. My study examines the reasons for this popularity through the decorative program of Archangel Michael at Lesnovo (1349). I argue that the ! """! Virgin Zo!dochos P"g" effectively evoked Byzantine imperial power, and Christian doctrine and thus served the Serbian ruling class to legitimate its patriarchal church. The advertising potential of icons of places was fully appreciated in the post-Byzantine period. At this time icons expanded the holy sites conferring sacredness to ordinary monasteries. A case study of the Rila monastery paper icons attributes the wide distribution of these icons to the printing medium, and to the economic and political circumstances of Ottoman rule. ! ! "2! Table of Contents List of Illustrations……………………………………………………………….vii Abbreviations……………………………………………………………………...x Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………….xi INTRODUCTION………………………………………………...........................1 Chapter 1. SACRED PLACES OF EARLY CHRISTIANITY AND THEIR MEDITERRANEAN PREDECESSORS…………………………………………6 Holy Places and Pilgrimage in the Greco-Roman World…………………8 a. The Greek World………………………………………………………..8 b. Sacred Places and Cults in the Roman World………………………...12 Holy Places of the Hebrews…………………………………………..…16 Christian Sacred Places and Pilgrimage…………………........................18 a. The Tombs of Martyrs……………………………………………..….19 b. Holy Places Related to the Life of Christ………………………..……23 c. The Christian Holy People………………………………………….....28 d. The Christian Church as a Holy Place………………………………...29 e. Christian Art and Sacred Locations……………………………….…..31 Conclusion…………………………………………………………….…42 Chapter 2. HERMITS IN THE MENOLOGION OF BASIL II………………..…54 Visual Sources for Representation of Non-Biblical Saints in the Menologion of Basil II………………………………………….…56 Standardization of the Images of Saints in the Menologion of Basil II...............................................................................60 a. Martyrs………………………………………………………………...61 b. Portraits………………………………………………………………..67 b.1 Hermits…………………………………………………………….…69 b.2. Saints Engaged with the World……………………………………...77 c. Saints in Koimesis scenes……………………………………………...82 A Manuscript for the Emperor………………………...............................88 Conclusion……………………………………………………………...107 Chapter 3. MONASTIC SPIRITUALITY AND ICONS OF PLACES…………………………………………………………………...……119 The Miracle at Chonae………………………………………………….120 The Prophet Elijah and Eremitism………………………………...……123 Koimesis of Ascetics………………………………………………...….129 a. Eremitic Lives and the Doctrine of Deification……………………...134 b. St. Nicholas Anapausas and Ascetic Ideals and Theology…………..139 Monasticism at the Time of the Introduction of Icons of Monastic Places……………………………………………………...…147 Conclusion…………………………………………………………...…148 ! 2! Chapter 4. THE VIRGIN Z#ODOCHOS P$G$, AND THE SERBIAN ASPIRATIONS FOR AN INDEPENDENT CHURCH……………………….156 The Narthex of Archangel Michael in Lesnovo………………………..157 a. Post-Biblical and Biblical Divine Revelations in Lesnovo…………..160 b. Liturgical Images…………………………………………………….177 The Narthex and the Serbian State…………………………………...…193 Conclusion……………………………………………………………...202 Chapter 5. RILA MONASTERY AND ITS PRINTS……………………….…211 Origins of Devotional Images with Monasteries…………………….…215 Prints of Rila Monastery…………………………………………….….225 a. The Life of Ivan and Art………………………………………….….226 b. Prints of St. Ivan………………………………………………….….233 b.1. The portrayal of Ivan………………………………………………249 b.2. The Portrayal of Rila Mountain……………………………………254 b.3. Prints and Economic Needs………………………………………..259 c. Rila Monastery and the Ottoman State………………………………264 Conclusion……………………………………………………………...269 CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………281 Appendix……………………………………………………………….……….286 Martyrs in the Wilderness in the Menologion of Basil II…….…………286 Hermits……………….…………………………………………………290 Saints Engaged with the World who Practiced Eremitic Withdrawal….298 Bibliography…………………………………………………………………..304 ! 2"! List of Illustrations Fig. 1 St. Ivan Rilski and Rila Monastery, Print, Sofia, National Library, nr. GR IV 499, 1809 Fig. 2 A temple, wall-painting, from the cubiculum (bedroom) of the Villa of P. Fannius Sinistor from Boscoreale, Metropolitan Museum, New York, Rogers Fund, 1903 (03.14.13), 1st c. BCE Fig. 3 Women at the Tomb, ivory plaque from Rome, London, British Museum, c. 380-450. Fig. 4 Floor mosaic, St. George, Madaba, 542 Fig. 5 Floor mosaic, St. Stephen, Um er-Rasas, Jordan, 756-785 Fig. 6 Zenobios and Zenobia, Menologion of Basil II (Vat. Gr. 1613), page 150, feast day on 31 October Fig. 7 Niketas, Menologion of Basil II (Vat. Gr. 1613), page 37, feast day on 15 September Fig. 8 Barlaam, Menologion of Basil II (Vat. Gr. 1613), page 187, feast day on 16 November Fig. 9 Ariadne, Menologion of Basil II (Vat. Gr. 1613), page 48, feast day on 18 September Fig. 10 Jacob/Iacobos, Menologion of Basil II (Vat. Gr. 1613), page 105, feast day on 10 October Fig. 11 Zenaidos/Zelanide, Menologion of Basil II (Vat. Gr. 1613), page 106, feast day on 11 October Fig. 12 Hilarion/Ilarion, Menologion of Basil II (Vat. Gr. 1613), page 128, fig. 12, feast day on 21 October Fig. 13 Martinianos, Menologion of Basil II (Vat. Gr. 1613), page 395, feast day on 13 February Fig. 14 Auxentios, Menologion of Basil II (Vat. Gr. 1613), page 399, feast day on 14 February Fig. 15 Bishop Sabinos, Menologion of Basil II (Vat. Gr. 1613), page 116, feast day on 15 October Fig. 16 Stephen of the monastery Chenolacos, Menologion of Basil II (Vat. Gr. 1613), page 319, feast day on 14 January Fig. 17 Koimesis of Amon/Ammonas, Menologion of Basil II (Vat. Gr. 1613), page 90, feast day on 4 October Fig. 18 Proclos, Patriarch of Constantinople, Menologion of Basil II (Vat. Gr. 1613), page 136, feast day on 24 October Fig. 19 Patriarch Ignatios, Menologion of Basil II (Vat. Gr. 1613), page 134, feast day on 23 October Fig. 20 Abraham/Abramios, Menologion of Basil II (Vat. Gr. 1613), page 146 Fig. 21 Daniel the Stylite, Menologion of Basil II (Vat. Gr. 1613), page 237 Fig. 22 Alipos the Stylite, Menologion of Basil II (Vat. Gr. 1613), page 208 Fig. 23 Symeon the Stylite, Menologion of Basil II (Vat. Gr. 1613), page 3 Fig. 24 Pelagia the Penitent, Menologion of Basil II (Vat. Gr. 1613), page 98, feast day on 8 October ! 2""! Fig. 25 Bishop Hypatios, Menologion of Basil II (Vat. Gr. 1613), page 181, feast day on 14 October Fig. 26 Eugenios and Macarios, Menologion of Basil II (Vat. Gr. 1613), page 259 Fig. 27 The earthquake at the time of Theodosios the Great, Menologion of Basil II (Vat. Gr. 1613), page 65, feast day on 25 September Fig. 28 The Miracle of the Archangel at Chonae, Menologion of Basil II (Vat. Gr. 1613), p. 17 (top) The Miracle of the Archangel at Chonae, wood panel, St. Catherine’s, Mt. Sinai, 12th c. (bottom) Fig. 29 The Prophet Elijah Fed by the Raven, Vat. Gr. 333, fol. 98 v, 11th c. H"4F!NO!=/"P*$!*,&!)$%!Q*2%,L!-(%'E+L!-(+A!)$%!E$5(E$!+-!)$%!H+():!I*():('!*)!