LITURGICAL ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE BYZANTINE LECTIONARY COD.587 IN THE DIONYSIOU MONASTERY, MOUNT ATHOS Tomoyuki MASUDA* The Dionysiou Lectionary (Cod.587 in the Dionysiou Monastery on Mount Athos) possesses not only the largest illustrations among the seventeen manuscripts with th~ narrative cycle of Christ's life, but also the greatest variety of pictorial forms according to the importance of the texts and feasts. To grasp the characteristics of its iconographic program, I discuss on the illustrations for Holy Week. The miniature depicting Christ s Prayer at Gethsemane is placed at the top of the Twelve Evangelia for the Passion of Holy Thursday. Why is Christ depicted three times in different motions? Why the miniature of the Conference of the Chief Priests before Caiaphas for the Liturgy of Holy Thursday has the same composition as the Conference of the Chief Priests before Pilate for the Orthros of Holy Saturday? Why the Betrayal of Judas is selected for the Holy Friday Liturgy? To solve these questions, we have to interpret whole texts of the church services for the Passion and surviving illustrated lectionaries. Our painter depicted the Prayer at Gethsemane in the composition of Moses Receiving the Law to emphasize Christ as New Moses and to visualize the typological correspondence between the Old and the New Testament. The Conference of the Chief Priests, an insignificant episode at a glance, is regarded as the important event which connects the Gospel typologically with the Psalter in the context of the liturgy. To emphasize the point visually, the Dionysiou Lectionary selected the Conference of the Chief Priests with the same composition as the Psalter illustrations of the conference of the kings, in spite of the Gethsemane scene originally suitable for the place. Though the Betrayal is suitable for the twelve Evangelia, being pushed out by the Gethsemane, it is moved to the next position of the Holy Friday Liturgy. The main interest of the planner of the manuscript consists in the liturgy and the typology, and not in the correspondence * Professor, School of Letters, Arts and Sciences, Waseda University Vol. XLI 2006 91 with the text. The program of Holy Week in the Dionysiou Lectionary is deliberated carefully. Keywords: Byzantium, lectionary, Mount Athos, illuminated manuscript, liturgy The relation between liturgy and art is one of the most controversial issues among Byzantinists. The Gospel lectionary is supposed to be mostly influenced from church ritual in the field of the manuscript illustration. A detailed analysis on liturgical influence is, however, still a matter for future research, since few of the illustrated lectionaries are fully published. I discuss here some illustrations of Holy Week in the Dionysiou Lectionary (Cod. 587 in the Dionysiou Monastery on Mount Athos), 1 which is the most richly illustrated of the middle­ Byzantine lectionary manuscripts. The impact of the liturgical texts on the lectionary illustration will be demonstrated. The text of the Gospel lectionary is divided into two major parts: the movable feasts from Easter (Jn 1: 1-17) to Holy Saturday (Mt 28: 1-20), and the immovable feasts from 1 September (St. Symeon the Sty lite, Lk 4: 16-22) to 31 August (commemoration varied by manuscripts). I restrict my argument to the illustrations for Holy Week. So far, the seventeen lectionary manuscripts with narrative Christological illustrations are known from the middle Byzantine period, and the forms of their illustration contain full-page, half-page, column picture, initial, marginal and their incorporations. 2 1. Monastery of St. John the Theologian on Patmos, Cod. 70 (1oth century, marginal miniatures )3 2. State Library in Sanct Petersburg, Cod. gr.21 (1oth Century, half-page miniatures )4 3. Lavra Monastery on Mount Athos, Cod. A86 (loth century, marginal miniatures)5 4. Lavra Monastery on Mount Athos, Cod. Skevophylakion (11th century, full-page miniatures )6 5. Iviron Monastery on Mount Athos, Cod. 1 (11th century, full-page miniatures) 7 6. Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, D.C., Cod. 1 (11th century, marginal miniatures )8 7. Pierpont Morgan Library in New York, Cod. M639 (II th century, column and initial miniatures)9 92 ORIENT LITURGICAL ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE BYZANTINE LECTIONARY COD.587 8. Vatican Library, Cod. Vat.gr.1156 (11th century, various miniatures of full page, column, margin, etc.) 10 9. National Library in Athens, Cod. 190 (11th century, initial and marginal miniatures) 11 10. Hellenic Institute in Venice, Cod. gr.2 (11th century, various miniatures of full page, margin, initial, etc.) 12 11. Dionysiou Monastery on Mount Athos, Cod. 587 (11th century, various miniatures of full page, half page, column, margin, initial, etc.) 12. National Library at Athens, Cod. 68 (ll-12th century, miniatures of full page and column) 13 13. Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, Cod. Paris.suppl.gr.27 (ll-12th century, miniatures of column, initial and margin) 14 14. Panteleimon Monastery on Mount Athos, Cod. 2 (12th century, miniatures of full page and initial) 15 15. Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul, Cod. 8 (12th century, marginal and initial miniatures) 16 16. Pierpont Morgan Library in New York, Cod. M692 (12th century, miniatures of full page, margin and initial) 17 17. Iviron Monastery on Mount Athos, Cod. 111m (13th century, miniatures of full page, half page, initial and margin) 18 The Dionysiou Lectionary possesses not only the largest illustrations among the seventeen manuscripts cited above, but also the greatest variety of pictorial forms, selecting the full-page, half-page, column, and initial, according the importance of the texts and feasts. Several feasts are omitted partly due to the actual difficulty giving miniatures to all the feasts of the year in the restriction of one volume, and partly due to the programmatic reason that the donor wished to reflect his intention in the selection of the illustrations, such phenomenon not being rare in the lectionary manuscripts. Let us begin by examining the miniature depicting Christ s Prayer at Gethsemane (f.66, fig. I), illustration for the Twelve Evangelia for the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, read as the matin lessons of Holy Thursday. The picture occupying two thirds of the folio is splendorously framed by a polychrome floral pattern. On the upper left stands Christ on the mountain ridge raising his hands toward heaven. In the center of the picture, slightly right, Christ makes proskynesis at the top of the mountain, an angel flying down from His back. We recognize the representation of heaven in the upper-right comer, filtering through which the rays of God come. On the other hand, eleven disciples are Vol. XLI 2006 93 sleeping in the foreground with the exception of St. Peter on the right end being awakening and listening to his master. Christ on the right end of the foreground, holding a scroll in the left hand and raising the right hand, admonishes His sleeping disciples. Underneath the scene is the row of a schematic representation of plants. The subject of the miniature is, without doubt, the Prayer at Gethsemane, or the Agony in the Garden, 19 narrated between the Last Supper and the Betrayal of Judas in the synoptic Gospels. According to Matthew (26:36-46) and Mark (14:32-42), the disciples accompanying Christ are three, while Luke (22:39-46) simply reports that "disciples" followed Him. Since the description of an angel appearing from heaven is found only in Luke, we can assume that our picture owes its basic elements to Luke's Gospel. A problem remains however: Why is Christ depicted three times in different motions? Matthew and Mark relate that Christ prayed three times, and this description of three different prayers may be a source of inspiration for the painter. But this does not explain fully the iconographic details. The Evangelists witness that Christ prayed repeatedly on three occasions, so it is a little hard to consider that the painter depicted it by three representations of Christ with different poses. Two manuscripts from the eleventh century with frieze illustrations depict Christ's prayer comparatively faithful to the text, and in a few scenes, Christ appears twice emphasizing the repetition of the prayer.20 Although it may be possible that our picture is a result of the conflation of the narrative ascendants, a positive explanation is required to explain why in this scene the conflation is made. In addition, the accompanying text of John 13:31- 18: I does not refer to the Prayer at Gethsemane. Why is the picture attached to the irrelevant text, and what's more, why is Christ represented three times in diverse manners? To answer these questions, we have to consider the whole program of Holy week in the Dionysiou Lectionary. Surveying the program of Holy week,21 we will confirm the accord of the text and the illustration. The texts from Holy Monday to Holy Wednesday are omitted in our manuscript. Holy Thursday, Washing of the Feet I (Jn 13:3-11): a column picture22 of the Washing of the Feet (f.52) - the contents of the text and the illustration coincide. Holy Thursday, Washing of the Feet II (Jn 13:12-17): a column picture of the Last Supper (f.53)- the description of the Last Supper is found in Jn 13:21-31, so, in a strict sense, the contents of the text and the illustration do not coincide. 94 ORIENT LITURGICAL ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE BYZANTINE LECTIONARY COD.587 Holy Thursday, Liturgy (Leitourgia) (Mt 26:1-20; Jn 13:3-17; Mt 26:21- 39; Lk 22:43-44; Mt 26:40- 27:2): a column picture of the Chief Priests and the Elders in the House of Caiaphas (f. 54, fig.2)- just a beginning part (Mt 26:3- 5) of the long text telling the various events coincide with the miniature.