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CONSTANTINOPOLITAN ECHOES IN SIXTEENTH-CENTURY MOLDAVIAN ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE AKATHISTOS HYMN

CONSTANTINOPOLITAN ECHOES IN SIXTEENTH-CENTURY MOLDAVIAN ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE AKATHISTOS HYMN Constanţa Costea Bucharest constantacostea@yahoo.com CONSTANTINOPOLITAN ECHOES IN SIXTEENTH-CENTURY MOLDAVIAN ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE AKATHISTOS HYMN The Akathistos Hymn, a fi h century creation, in a recently pro- posed chronology knew its fi rst pictorial parallels centuries later, in late Byzantium, as a consequence of the inventiveness and speculative tendencies of the Constantinopolitan workshops around 1300. A peculiar interest in the illustration of the twenty four strophes of this poetic text, showed in Moldavia during the reign of Peter Rareș (1527–1538; 1541–1546) and Jeremiah Movilă (1595–1606), resulted in eleven mural cycles: nine in the exterior paintings (Probota, St. George and St. Demetrius in Suceava, Humor, Moldoviţa, Baia, Arbore, Voro- neţ, Suceviţa) and two in the interior decoration (Părhăuţi, Suceviţa). The examination of these frescoes revealed a so far unknown con- nection between a signifi cant number of versions pertaining to the fi gurative structure of the hymn, and various types of 14th century Byzantine sources: an icon (Praise of the Theotokos with the Akathiston in the Uspensky Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, with its monu- mental parallel in the Ferapontov Monastery), certain miniatures (Ms. Synodal. gr. 429, the Tomić Psalter in Moscow and the Serbian Psal- ter in Munich), and a number of frescoes (Dečani, Mateiče, Peribleptos in Ochrid, Markov Manastir). No evidence has been so far identifi ed to indicate the way in which 16th century artists or theologians in Romanian lands became ac- quainted with the Byzantine representations of the Akathiston. One (*) A Romanian version of this paper was published in: CAIETE ARA. Arhitectură. Restaurare. Arheologie 1 (Bucharest, 2010) 99–108. (1) L. M. Peltomaa, The Image of the Virgin Mary in the Akathistos Hymn (Leiden—Boston—Köln, 2001) chapter 4. (2) C. Costea, Sub semnul Miresei nenuntite. Despre reprezentarea Im- nului Acatist în Moldova secolului XVI, Ars Transsilvaniae 19 (Cluj, 2009) 99– 131 132 Scrinium VΙI–VIII.1 (2011–2012). Ars Christiana may simply conclude — scrutinizing the preserved pictorial mate- rial — that their interest was, on the whole, directed to versions of increased originality, as those in the icon or the manuscripts. Beyond the structure of illustrations, the cycles under consideration sometimes include details from the life of the Capital of the Eastern Christendom — referring to miracles or miracle-working images — the presence of which seems to be generated through multiple and not always visual means. A hardly recognizable representation depicts stanza 20 (kontakion 11: All praise falleth short, O holy King, when it stretcheth toward the bounds of thy bountiful compassion; in that, if we off er thee praises equalling the 3 4 sands in number... ) at Parhauti: Christ is standing, fl anked by bishops, with a raised font surrounded by si ing human fi gures in the forefront and a spring in the proscenium; the same subject has been identifi ed at Arbore: Christ stands among bishops, assisting a group of people buried up to the shoulders/neck around a spring (Fig. 1). Both myste- rious representations have been found to source in the illustration to the corresponding scene of the Moscow Byzantine icon (Fig. 2): it is the miracle worked in the monastery of Christ Philanthropos in Old Serail, where Christ appeared (or there was an acheiropoietos icon of Christ standing) at the place where holy waters fl owed alongside the seashore, springing from under the church and curing, with the sands around, of leprosy and many other diseases. Although in the Mol- davian representations the “panel-wall” with the detached fi gure of Christ is diff erent in aspect, the basic elements of the subject have been (3) See the English version in: Book of Divine Prayers and Services of the Catholic Orthodox Church of Christ (New York, 1958). (4) In this monument the colour layer is almost completely covered by dust and soot. (5) This Arbore image bears no inscription and the episode seems to be casually situated in the sequence of scenes, which are otherwise disorderly associated in the second part of the hymn. (6) The identifi cation of the detail in the Uspensky panel was made through 14th–15th century reports of Russian pilgrims in Constantinople: Э. П. САЛИКОВА, Отражение исторических константинопольских реалий в иконографии иконы последней четверти XIV века «Похвала Богоматери с Акафистом», in: Государственные музеи Московского Кремля. Материалы и исследования 7 (Москва, 1990) 47–50. (7) R. Janin, Les Monastères du Christ Philanthrope à Constantinople, RÉB 4 (1946) 151–162. Constanta Costea 133 Fig. 1. Arbore, The Akathistos Hymn, strophe 20 Fig. 2. The Uspensky Cathedral icon, detail: The Akathistos Hymn, strophe 20 134 Scrinium VΙI–VIII.1 (2011–2012). Ars Christiana preserved. Yet, if the Părhăuţi version is quite close to the Uspensky icon, the detail showing the diseased buried to the neck in the sands in the Arbore scene cannot be found in the Russian pilgrims’ relations. It has a diff erent source: the very practice of appealing for this super- natural cure occurred on the Transfi guration day, that continued long a er the Fall of the City and was registered by some 17th century West- ern travellers. This development of the miraculous experience could have been known from now lost documents, if not from direct reports. Salikova’s identifi cation of the Constantinopolitan miracle in the Us- pensky icon meets an unexpected confi rmation in the Arbore unparal- leled iconographic detail. Another Constantinopolitan feature seems to have been inserted in the illustration to the stanza 17 of the Akathistos Hymn (eikos 9: Behold, the eloquent with wide speech have become in thy comprehension like fi sh without voice) at Humor, where the composition displays an un- usual structure (Fig. 3). It is mainly inspired by the Mateiče redaction, unique in the Byzantine cycles of the Akathiston for the association of the philosophers’ scene with the procession of the Virgin Hodegetria icon. In the axis of the composition the version in Moldavia sets an icon-bearer, supporting an image of the same iconographic type of the Virgin on a tall staff and extending his arms as if he was crucifi ed. His gesture recalls the reports of Russian pilgrims (Stephen of Novgorod, ca. 1350) about the Tuesday Offi ce dedicated to the Hodegetria icon, palladium of Constantinople, in the Hodegon Monastery of the Virgin: “...they take out this icon every Tuesday... place it... on the shoulders of a single man and he extends his arms as if crucifi ed.” The eleva- tion of the Hodegetria icon in procession and its carrying along the streets of Constantinople by a “crucifi ed man” is depicted on the late 13th century hapax representation in the narthex of the Blachernae church near Arta (Fig. 4). From the memory of the Hodegetria proces- sion in Constantinople, the Humor version preserved the fragment of the icon bearer, associated here with the topos of icon veneration. (8) J. de Thévenot, Relation d’un voyage au Levant (1665) (Amsterdam, 1727) 71. (9) A. Pätzold, Der Akathistos-Hymnos. Die Bilerzyklen in der Byzantinischen Wandmalerei des 14. Jahrhunderts (Stu gart, 1989) 50, fi g. 69. (10) R. Janin, La Géographie écclesiastique de l’Empire Byzantin. Première partie. Le Siège de Constantinople et le Patriarcat Œcuménique, III. Les Églises et les Monastères (Paris, 1969) 204. Constanta Costea 135 Fig. 3. Humor, The Akathistos Hymn, strophe 17 136 Scrinium VΙI–VIII.1 (2011–2012). Ars Christiana The same type of the Virgin and Child appears in the scene of the Siege of Constantinople which illustrates the prooemium to the Akathis- ton (To the Mighty Leader in Ba le), preserved at Humor, Moldoviţa and Arbore (Figs. 5–7): this is the icon carried in procession on the City walls as a protector from pagan invasions. Three a acks on the Capital City were mainly known to the Christian oikoumene a er the Fall of Constantinople: the onslaught of the joint army of Avars, Slavs and Persians in 626 under Emperor Herakleios, the a ack of the Arabs in 674–678 under Emperor Constantine Pogonatos, and another as- sault of the Arabs in 717 under Emperor Leo III the Isaurian. Though (11) During the offi ce of the Akathiston in the fi h week of the Great Lent, the prooemium “To the Mighty Leader in Ba le” is chanted in the beginning, then three times during the offi ce (a er eikoi 3, 6, and 9, according to the 16th century Triodion from the Neamţ monastery, Ms. in the Library of the Romanian Acad- emy BAR sl. 111) and at the end of the hymn. In the Moldavian cycles its il- lustration appears at the end, a er 24 stanzas, supposedly for the amplitude of the military redaction and in order to put forth the implied political allusions. (12) In the case of the church at Baia, the advanced damage makes the image undecipherable. (13) The “history fragment” was introduced as a reading in the offi ce of the Akathiston during the Great Lent. But the Neamţ Triodion (see n. 11) does not include the Siege narration. The version in Moldavia, somehow diff erent from the Synaxarium, was incorporated in the Old Slavonic Sborniks of the time (Ms. in the library of Dragomirna Monastery sl. 1813/724, early 15th cen- tury, wri en in Constantinople, fols. 262– 271v, see Zl. Iufu, Za dese omnata kolektia Studion — iz arhiva na rumanskia izsledovac Ion Iufu, in: Studia Balcanica (Sofi a, 1970) 342, cf. Scr 5 (2009) 342 or Ms. BAR sl. 152 (15th century, from the monastery of Neamţ, fols. 365–370, see P. P. Panaitescu, Manuscrisele slave din Biblioteca Academiei RPR, vol. 1 (Bucureşti, 1959), 208; on both ma- nuscripts see: P. Bojceva (ed.), I. R. Mircea, Répertoire des manuscrits slaves en Roumanie. Auteurs byzantins et slaves (Sofi a, 2005), 178). The bears the title A useful narration collected from old narrations and brought to light to remember the most glorious miracles worked when the Persians and the Barbarians besieged Constantinople, when they perished through God’s decision and have been annihilated and the City remained untouched through the prayers of the Theotokos and thanks- giving prayers have been chanted since, standing, in that Day; it is registered by Fr. Halkin as Miraculum in eadem obsidionem seu de ἀκαθίστῳ (a Metaphrasta in menologium insertum), BHG 1060; PG 92, 1353–1372; PG 106, 1336–1353; certain authors agree with its a ribution to Nicephorus Callistus (14th century), as it is mentioned in J. M. Quercii, Adnotationes, PG 92, 1347–1348; A. Frolow, La dédicace de Constantinople dans la tradition byzantine, Revue de l’Histoire des Religions 27 (1944) 95, n. 2; N. Patterson-Šev enko, Icons in the Liturgy, DOP 45 (1991) 49 n. 31. Constanta Costea 137 Fig. 4. Arta, Blachernae church, The Procession of the Hodegetria through the streets of Constantinople Fig. 5. Humor, The Akathistos Hymn, prooemium: The Siege of Constantinople 138 Scrinium VΙI–VIII.1 (2011–2012). Ars Christiana during the Siege of 626, Constantine, the son of Emperor Herakleios, and Patriarch Sergius appealed to the Virgin to defend the ramparts through her icon from the Blachernae church — orans holding the Child in a medallion in front of her womb, according to its 11th cen- tury description — the memory of the narrations about the sieges retained the Hodegetria type , mentioned in terms during the a ack of 717 (...εἰκόνα τῆς Θεομήτερος ὁδηγητρίας...) and present in the Moldavian murals. The versions of the Siege at Humor, Moldoviţa, and Arbore, some- what diff erent from each other, are not so much a direct illustration, but show certain independence from the hagiographic story, in a point central to the prooemium representation: the nikephore objects. Consid- ering both variants of the text (in the Synaxarium and in the Menolo- gium), during the fi rst assault, the inhabitants of the City carried in procession on the walls the icons of the Virgin (holding the Child on her arms: Menologium) the acheiropoietos image of Christ, the cross and the Virgin’s garment; during the second assault they took out the ma- phorion (Synaxarium), whilst during the third one, the Cross and the icon of the Virgin (“Hodegetria”: Synaxarium). The type of Theotokos from the Hodegon Monastery, common to the three representations of the Siege in Moldavia, would plead for the illustration of the coalesced episodes of the onslaughts. The Cross does not appear in either of the (14) Janin, La Géographie écclesiastique..., 163. (15) Ibid., 162, 166. (16) “And Sergios the Patriarch, taking the holy icons of the Mother of God and especially those in which the Saviour Infant was painted, held on his Mother’s arms” (Menologium, PG 92, 1356; PG 106, 1337; Ms. BAR sl. 152, 365v); the passage mentioning several icons of the Virgin and Child seems contaminated by the Homily on the Siege of the City (626) by Theodore the Synkellos, see H. Belting, Likeness and Presence. A History of the Image before the Era of Art (Chicago, 1994) 496, Appendix, 2; see also L. M. Peltomaa, Role of the Virgin Mary at the Siege of Constantinople, in 626, in: Scrinium 5 (2009) 294; I had no access to the article of B. Pentcheva, The supernatural protector of Constantinople: the Virgin and her icons in the tradition of the Avar siege, Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies 26 (2002) 1–41; for the Moldavian case, the question is in the iconographic type of the Hodegetria. (17) Synaxarium, PG 92, 1352; Patterson-Šev enko, Icons in the Liturgy, 49 n. 31. (18) A later victory, during the O oman assault of 1422 upon Constan- tinople, was a ributed by Joseph Bryennius to the carrying of the same Ho- degetria icon around the ramparts (A. Cutler, The Virgin on the Walls, in: Constanta Costea 139 Fig. 6. Moldoviţa, The Akathistos Hymn, prooemium: The Siege of Constantinople 140 Scrinium VΙI–VIII.1 (2011–2012). Ars Christiana commented painted versions, the Mandylion and the maphorion are present only at Moldoviţa. In respect to these last two sacred objects, the Menologium and the Synaxarium do not seem to be consistent with the historical sources contemporary to the events. The Maphorion — kept in Constantinople since 473 in the reliquary chapel (Soros) of the Blachernae — was reportedly used for the fi rst time as a defender of the City, through its immersion into the sea, in 860 by Emperor Michael III and Patriarch Photius for repelling the Russian invasion. As far as the acheiropoietos fi gure of Christ is concerned, its presence in seventh- century Constantinople could seem out of place since the Mandylion of Edessa was brought to the Capital in 944. Yet, since the sixth-century the “not made-by-hand” image of Christ from Camuliana, which “was used as imperial palladium in the wars against the Persians of the sev- enth-century” has been venerated in Constantinople. The confi guration of the Siege in 16th century painting would indi- cate the prevalence of hagiographic sources over historical references, which nevertheless might not have been ignored in a milieu where a contemporary (or a presumed initiator) of the Moldavian programs, Macarius, a chronicler and bishop of Roman, was an exquisite scholar, “satiated with reading of the Byzantines.” Transfi gurations. Studies in the Dynamics of Byzantine Iconography (London, 1975) 140). (19) The absence of the nikephore pieces in the other two Siege redactions could eventually be a ma er of scarce visibility, owing to the extended lacunae of the damaged fresco layer. (20) “On the complicated question of just what images or relics were tak- en around the walls in 626, and whether they did or did not include an icon of the Virgin, cf. J. L. van Dieten, Geschichte der Patriarchen von Sergios I. bis Johannes VI. (610–715) (Amsterdam, 1972), Excursus I, 174–178” (Patterson- Šev enko, Icons in the Liturgy, 49, n. 31. (21) Janin, La Géographie écclesiastique..., 161, 163; Cutler, The Virgin on the Walls, 137–139; The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, vol. 2 (New York— Oxford, 1991) 1294. (22) Belting, Likeness and Presence..., 55; see also A. Grabar, Iconoclasmul bizantin. Dosarul arheologic (Bucureşti, 1991) 62–65; The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, vol. 2, 1099; “…the awe-inspiring image of the unpainted painting” (George Pisida, The Avar War (626), cited in Belting, Likeness and Presence, 497) that Patriarch Sergius exalted on the City walls would indicate the acheiropoietos image of Christ (Frolow, La dédicace de Constantinople, 95, n. 2). (23) I. Bogdan, Cronici şi texte literare vechi. Cronica lui Macarie, in Scrieri alese (Bucureşti, 1968) 334; the fi gurative references in constituting the redac- Constanta Costea 141 Fig. 7. Arbore, The Akathistos Hymn, prooemium: The Siege of Constantinople 142 Scrinium VΙI–VIII.1 (2011–2012). Ars Christiana It could be worth mentioning — when retracing components of Constantinopolitan life related to the invisible world — the presence of the Blachernae Virgin in a scene of icon veneration: the image appears above a city wall, at Probota (Fig. 8) and St. George in Suceava, in the illustration to stanza 17, regarding the rhetors. The iconography of the orant Theotokos, infrequent in 16th century Moldavia, seems to have been thought, in Akathiston terms, as a nikephore in the war against pagan concepts. SUMMARY th In the Akathiston illustrations of the 16 century Moldavian murals, proved to source in late Byzantine icons, miniatures or frescoes, certain details — at Humor, Moldoviţa, Părhăuţi, Arbore — refer to Constantino- politan miracles, ritual habits or wonder-working objects, such as healing sands in the Christ Philanthropos monastery (Ancient Serail), the Tuesday procession of the Virgin Hodegetria with the bearer of icon extending his arms as being crucifi ed, or famous icons (Hodegetria) and relics (Man- dylion, maphorion of the Virgin) carried on the ramparts to secure victory during the City sieges. tion for To the Mighty Leader in Ba le should not be disregarded: to the known military version of the proemium that opens the illustration of the Akathistos Hymn at Prespa, the image of the same kontakion 1 in the Uspensky Cathe- dral icon (the details of which documented a considerable number of variants in the Moldavian Akathistos cycles) could be associated, as a source for the imperial couple participating in the procession on the walls at Humor and Moldoviţa (see also J. Lafontaine-Dosogne, L’illustration de la première par- tie de l’Hymne Akathiste et sa relation avec les mosaïques de l’Enfance de la Kariye Djami, Byzantion 54 (1984) 669). The presence of both Emperor and Em- press would not intend to cover (inexistent) historical facts, but to substantiate a paradigm of victory gained by the divine energies of the icon and the sacred relics. Constanta Costea 143 Fig. 8. Probota, The Akathistos Hymn, strophe 17 http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Scrinium Brill

CONSTANTINOPOLITAN ECHOES IN SIXTEENTH-CENTURY MOLDAVIAN ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE AKATHISTOS HYMN

Costea, Constanţa
Scrinium , Volume 7 (1): 131 – Apr 7, 2011
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Abstract

Constanţa Costea Bucharest constantacostea@yahoo.com CONSTANTINOPOLITAN ECHOES IN SIXTEENTH-CENTURY MOLDAVIAN ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE AKATHISTOS HYMN The Akathistos Hymn, a fi h century creation, in a recently pro- posed chronology knew its fi rst pictorial parallels centuries later, in late Byzantium, as a consequence of the inventiveness and speculative tendencies of the Constantinopolitan workshops around 1300. A peculiar interest in the illustration of the twenty four strophes of this poetic text, showed in Moldavia during the reign of Peter Rareș (1527–1538; 1541–1546) and Jeremiah Movilă (1595–1606), resulted in eleven mural cycles: nine in the exterior paintings (Probota, St. George and St. Demetrius in Suceava, Humor, Moldoviţa, Baia, Arbore, Voro- neţ, Suceviţa) and two in the interior decoration (Părhăuţi, Suceviţa). The examination of these frescoes revealed a so far unknown con- nection between a signifi cant number of versions pertaining to the fi gurative structure of the hymn, and various types of 14th century Byzantine sources: an icon (Praise of the Theotokos with the Akathiston in the Uspensky Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, with its monu- mental parallel in the Ferapontov Monastery), certain miniatures (Ms. Synodal. gr. 429, the Tomić Psalter in Moscow and the Serbian Psal- ter in Munich), and a number of frescoes (Dečani, Mateiče, Peribleptos in Ochrid, Markov Manastir). No evidence has been so far identifi ed to indicate the way in which 16th century artists or theologians in Romanian lands became ac- quainted with the Byzantine representations of the Akathiston. One (*) A Romanian version of this paper was published in: CAIETE ARA. Arhitectură. Restaurare. Arheologie 1 (Bucharest, 2010) 99–108. (1) L. M. Peltomaa, The Image of the Virgin Mary in the Akathistos Hymn (Leiden—Boston—Köln, 2001) chapter 4. (2) C. Costea, Sub semnul Miresei nenuntite. Despre reprezentarea Im- nului Acatist în Moldova secolului XVI, Ars Transsilvaniae 19 (Cluj, 2009) 99– 131 132 Scrinium VΙI–VIII.1 (2011–2012). Ars Christiana may simply conclude — scrutinizing the preserved pictorial mate- rial — that their interest was, on the whole, directed to versions of increased originality, as those in the icon or the manuscripts. Beyond the structure of illustrations, the cycles under consideration sometimes include details from the life of the Capital of the Eastern Christendom — referring to miracles or miracle-working images — the presence of which seems to be generated through multiple and not always visual means. A hardly recognizable representation depicts stanza 20 (kontakion 11: All praise falleth short, O holy King, when it stretcheth toward the bounds of thy bountiful compassion; in that, if we off er thee praises equalling the 3 4 sands in number... ) at Parhauti: Christ is standing, fl anked by bishops, with a raised font surrounded by si ing human fi gures in the forefront and a spring in the proscenium; the same subject has been identifi ed at Arbore: Christ stands among bishops, assisting a group of people buried up to the shoulders/neck around a spring (Fig. 1). Both myste- rious representations have been found to source in the illustration to the corresponding scene of the Moscow Byzantine icon (Fig. 2): it is the miracle worked in the monastery of Christ Philanthropos in Old Serail, where Christ appeared (or there was an acheiropoietos icon of Christ standing) at the place where holy waters fl owed alongside the seashore, springing from under the church and curing, with the sands around, of leprosy and many other diseases. Although in the Mol- davian representations the “panel-wall” with the detached fi gure of Christ is diff erent in aspect, the basic elements of the subject have been (3) See the English version in: Book of Divine Prayers and Services of the Catholic Orthodox Church of Christ (New York, 1958). (4) In this monument the colour layer is almost completely covered by dust and soot. (5) This Arbore image bears no inscription and the episode seems to be casually situated in the sequence of scenes, which are otherwise disorderly associated in the second part of the hymn. (6) The identifi cation of the detail in the Uspensky panel was made through 14th–15th century reports of Russian pilgrims in Constantinople: Э. П. САЛИКОВА, Отражение исторических константинопольских реалий в иконографии иконы последней четверти XIV века «Похвала Богоматери с Акафистом», in: Государственные музеи Московского Кремля. Материалы и исследования 7 (Москва, 1990) 47–50. (7) R. Janin, Les Monastères du Christ Philanthrope à Constantinople, RÉB 4 (1946) 151–162. Constanta Costea 133 Fig. 1. Arbore, The Akathistos Hymn, strophe 20 Fig. 2. The Uspensky Cathedral icon, detail: The Akathistos Hymn, strophe 20 134 Scrinium VΙI–VIII.1 (2011–2012). Ars Christiana preserved. Yet, if the Părhăuţi version is quite close to the Uspensky icon, the detail showing the diseased buried to the neck in the sands in the Arbore scene cannot be found in the Russian pilgrims’ relations. It has a diff erent source: the very practice of appealing for this super- natural cure occurred on the Transfi guration day, that continued long a er the Fall of the City and was registered by some 17th century West- ern travellers. This development of the miraculous experience could have been known from now lost documents, if not from direct reports. Salikova’s identifi cation of the Constantinopolitan miracle in the Us- pensky icon meets an unexpected confi rmation in the Arbore unparal- leled iconographic detail. Another Constantinopolitan feature seems to have been inserted in the illustration to the stanza 17 of the Akathistos Hymn (eikos 9: Behold, the eloquent with wide speech have become in thy comprehension like fi sh without voice) at Humor, where the composition displays an un- usual structure (Fig. 3). It is mainly inspired by the Mateiče redaction, unique in the Byzantine cycles of the Akathiston for the association of the philosophers’ scene with the procession of the Virgin Hodegetria icon. In the axis of the composition the version in Moldavia sets an icon-bearer, supporting an image of the same iconographic type of the Virgin on a tall staff and extending his arms as if he was crucifi ed. His gesture recalls the reports of Russian pilgrims (Stephen of Novgorod, ca. 1350) about the Tuesday Offi ce dedicated to the Hodegetria icon, palladium of Constantinople, in the Hodegon Monastery of the Virgin: “...they take out this icon every Tuesday... place it... on the shoulders of a single man and he extends his arms as if crucifi ed.” The eleva- tion of the Hodegetria icon in procession and its carrying along the streets of Constantinople by a “crucifi ed man” is depicted on the late 13th century hapax representation in the narthex of the Blachernae church near Arta (Fig. 4). From the memory of the Hodegetria proces- sion in Constantinople, the Humor version preserved the fragment of the icon bearer, associated here with the topos of icon veneration. (8) J. de Thévenot, Relation d’un voyage au Levant (1665) (Amsterdam, 1727) 71. (9) A. Pätzold, Der Akathistos-Hymnos. Die Bilerzyklen in der Byzantinischen Wandmalerei des 14. Jahrhunderts (Stu gart, 1989) 50, fi g. 69. (10) R. Janin, La Géographie écclesiastique de l’Empire Byzantin. Première partie. Le Siège de Constantinople et le Patriarcat Œcuménique, III. Les Églises et les Monastères (Paris, 1969) 204. Constanta Costea 135 Fig. 3. Humor, The Akathistos Hymn, strophe 17 136 Scrinium VΙI–VIII.1 (2011–2012). Ars Christiana The same type of the Virgin and Child appears in the scene of the Siege of Constantinople which illustrates the prooemium to the Akathis- ton (To the Mighty Leader in Ba le), preserved at Humor, Moldoviţa and Arbore (Figs. 5–7): this is the icon carried in procession on the City walls as a protector from pagan invasions. Three a acks on the Capital City were mainly known to the Christian oikoumene a er the Fall of Constantinople: the onslaught of the joint army of Avars, Slavs and Persians in 626 under Emperor Herakleios, the a ack of the Arabs in 674–678 under Emperor Constantine Pogonatos, and another as- sault of the Arabs in 717 under Emperor Leo III the Isaurian. Though (11) During the offi ce of the Akathiston in the fi h week of the Great Lent, the prooemium “To the Mighty Leader in Ba le” is chanted in the beginning, then three times during the offi ce (a er eikoi 3, 6, and 9, according to the 16th century Triodion from the Neamţ monastery, Ms. in the Library of the Romanian Acad- emy BAR sl. 111) and at the end of the hymn. In the Moldavian cycles its il- lustration appears at the end, a er 24 stanzas, supposedly for the amplitude of the military redaction and in order to put forth the implied political allusions. (12) In the case of the church at Baia, the advanced damage makes the image undecipherable. (13) The “history fragment” was introduced as a reading in the offi ce of the Akathiston during the Great Lent. But the Neamţ Triodion (see n. 11) does not include the Siege narration. The version in Moldavia, somehow diff erent from the Synaxarium, was incorporated in the Old Slavonic Sborniks of the time (Ms. in the library of Dragomirna Monastery sl. 1813/724, early 15th cen- tury, wri en in Constantinople, fols. 262– 271v, see Zl. Iufu, Za dese omnata kolektia Studion — iz arhiva na rumanskia izsledovac Ion Iufu, in: Studia Balcanica (Sofi a, 1970) 342, cf. Scr 5 (2009) 342 or Ms. BAR sl. 152 (15th century, from the monastery of Neamţ, fols. 365–370, see P. P. Panaitescu, Manuscrisele slave din Biblioteca Academiei RPR, vol. 1 (Bucureşti, 1959), 208; on both ma- nuscripts see: P. Bojceva (ed.), I. R. Mircea, Répertoire des manuscrits slaves en Roumanie. Auteurs byzantins et slaves (Sofi a, 2005), 178). The bears the title A useful narration collected from old narrations and brought to light to remember the most glorious miracles worked when the Persians and the Barbarians besieged Constantinople, when they perished through God’s decision and have been annihilated and the City remained untouched through the prayers of the Theotokos and thanks- giving prayers have been chanted since, standing, in that Day; it is registered by Fr. Halkin as Miraculum in eadem obsidionem seu de ἀκαθίστῳ (a Metaphrasta in menologium insertum), BHG 1060; PG 92, 1353–1372; PG 106, 1336–1353; certain authors agree with its a ribution to Nicephorus Callistus (14th century), as it is mentioned in J. M. Quercii, Adnotationes, PG 92, 1347–1348; A. Frolow, La dédicace de Constantinople dans la tradition byzantine, Revue de l’Histoire des Religions 27 (1944) 95, n. 2; N. Patterson-Šev enko, Icons in the Liturgy, DOP 45 (1991) 49 n. 31. Constanta Costea 137 Fig. 4. Arta, Blachernae church, The Procession of the Hodegetria through the streets of Constantinople Fig. 5. Humor, The Akathistos Hymn, prooemium: The Siege of Constantinople 138 Scrinium VΙI–VIII.1 (2011–2012). Ars Christiana during the Siege of 626, Constantine, the son of Emperor Herakleios, and Patriarch Sergius appealed to the Virgin to defend the ramparts through her icon from the Blachernae church — orans holding the Child in a medallion in front of her womb, according to its 11th cen- tury description — the memory of the narrations about the sieges retained the Hodegetria type , mentioned in terms during the a ack of 717 (...εἰκόνα τῆς Θεομήτερος ὁδηγητρίας...) and present in the Moldavian murals. The versions of the Siege at Humor, Moldoviţa, and Arbore, some- what diff erent from each other, are not so much a direct illustration, but show certain independence from the hagiographic story, in a point central to the prooemium representation: the nikephore objects. Consid- ering both variants of the text (in the Synaxarium and in the Menolo- gium), during the fi rst assault, the inhabitants of the City carried in procession on the walls the icons of the Virgin (holding the Child on her arms: Menologium) the acheiropoietos image of Christ, the cross and the Virgin’s garment; during the second assault they took out the ma- phorion (Synaxarium), whilst during the third one, the Cross and the icon of the Virgin (“Hodegetria”: Synaxarium). The type of Theotokos from the Hodegon Monastery, common to the three representations of the Siege in Moldavia, would plead for the illustration of the coalesced episodes of the onslaughts. The Cross does not appear in either of the (14) Janin, La Géographie écclesiastique..., 163. (15) Ibid., 162, 166. (16) “And Sergios the Patriarch, taking the holy icons of the Mother of God and especially those in which the Saviour Infant was painted, held on his Mother’s arms” (Menologium, PG 92, 1356; PG 106, 1337; Ms. BAR sl. 152, 365v); the passage mentioning several icons of the Virgin and Child seems contaminated by the Homily on the Siege of the City (626) by Theodore the Synkellos, see H. Belting, Likeness and Presence. A History of the Image before the Era of Art (Chicago, 1994) 496, Appendix, 2; see also L. M. Peltomaa, Role of the Virgin Mary at the Siege of Constantinople, in 626, in: Scrinium 5 (2009) 294; I had no access to the article of B. Pentcheva, The supernatural protector of Constantinople: the Virgin and her icons in the tradition of the Avar siege, Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies 26 (2002) 1–41; for the Moldavian case, the question is in the iconographic type of the Hodegetria. (17) Synaxarium, PG 92, 1352; Patterson-Šev enko, Icons in the Liturgy, 49 n. 31. (18) A later victory, during the O oman assault of 1422 upon Constan- tinople, was a ributed by Joseph Bryennius to the carrying of the same Ho- degetria icon around the ramparts (A. Cutler, The Virgin on the Walls, in: Constanta Costea 139 Fig. 6. Moldoviţa, The Akathistos Hymn, prooemium: The Siege of Constantinople 140 Scrinium VΙI–VIII.1 (2011–2012). Ars Christiana commented painted versions, the Mandylion and the maphorion are present only at Moldoviţa. In respect to these last two sacred objects, the Menologium and the Synaxarium do not seem to be consistent with the historical sources contemporary to the events. The Maphorion — kept in Constantinople since 473 in the reliquary chapel (Soros) of the Blachernae — was reportedly used for the fi rst time as a defender of the City, through its immersion into the sea, in 860 by Emperor Michael III and Patriarch Photius for repelling the Russian invasion. As far as the acheiropoietos fi gure of Christ is concerned, its presence in seventh- century Constantinople could seem out of place since the Mandylion of Edessa was brought to the Capital in 944. Yet, since the sixth-century the “not made-by-hand” image of Christ from Camuliana, which “was used as imperial palladium in the wars against the Persians of the sev- enth-century” has been venerated in Constantinople. The confi guration of the Siege in 16th century painting would indi- cate the prevalence of hagiographic sources over historical references, which nevertheless might not have been ignored in a milieu where a contemporary (or a presumed initiator) of the Moldavian programs, Macarius, a chronicler and bishop of Roman, was an exquisite scholar, “satiated with reading of the Byzantines.” Transfi gurations. Studies in the Dynamics of Byzantine Iconography (London, 1975) 140). (19) The absence of the nikephore pieces in the other two Siege redactions could eventually be a ma er of scarce visibility, owing to the extended lacunae of the damaged fresco layer. (20) “On the complicated question of just what images or relics were tak- en around the walls in 626, and whether they did or did not include an icon of the Virgin, cf. J. L. van Dieten, Geschichte der Patriarchen von Sergios I. bis Johannes VI. (610–715) (Amsterdam, 1972), Excursus I, 174–178” (Patterson- Šev enko, Icons in the Liturgy, 49, n. 31. (21) Janin, La Géographie écclesiastique..., 161, 163; Cutler, The Virgin on the Walls, 137–139; The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, vol. 2 (New York— Oxford, 1991) 1294. (22) Belting, Likeness and Presence..., 55; see also A. Grabar, Iconoclasmul bizantin. Dosarul arheologic (Bucureşti, 1991) 62–65; The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, vol. 2, 1099; “…the awe-inspiring image of the unpainted painting” (George Pisida, The Avar War (626), cited in Belting, Likeness and Presence, 497) that Patriarch Sergius exalted on the City walls would indicate the acheiropoietos image of Christ (Frolow, La dédicace de Constantinople, 95, n. 2). (23) I. Bogdan, Cronici şi texte literare vechi. Cronica lui Macarie, in Scrieri alese (Bucureşti, 1968) 334; the fi gurative references in constituting the redac- Constanta Costea 141 Fig. 7. Arbore, The Akathistos Hymn, prooemium: The Siege of Constantinople 142 Scrinium VΙI–VIII.1 (2011–2012). Ars Christiana It could be worth mentioning — when retracing components of Constantinopolitan life related to the invisible world — the presence of the Blachernae Virgin in a scene of icon veneration: the image appears above a city wall, at Probota (Fig. 8) and St. George in Suceava, in the illustration to stanza 17, regarding the rhetors. The iconography of the orant Theotokos, infrequent in 16th century Moldavia, seems to have been thought, in Akathiston terms, as a nikephore in the war against pagan concepts. SUMMARY th In the Akathiston illustrations of the 16 century Moldavian murals, proved to source in late Byzantine icons, miniatures or frescoes, certain details — at Humor, Moldoviţa, Părhăuţi, Arbore — refer to Constantino- politan miracles, ritual habits or wonder-working objects, such as healing sands in the Christ Philanthropos monastery (Ancient Serail), the Tuesday procession of the Virgin Hodegetria with the bearer of icon extending his arms as being crucifi ed, or famous icons (Hodegetria) and relics (Man- dylion, maphorion of the Virgin) carried on the ramparts to secure victory during the City sieges. tion for To the Mighty Leader in Ba le should not be disregarded: to the known military version of the proemium that opens the illustration of the Akathistos Hymn at Prespa, the image of the same kontakion 1 in the Uspensky Cathe- dral icon (the details of which documented a considerable number of variants in the Moldavian Akathistos cycles) could be associated, as a source for the imperial couple participating in the procession on the walls at Humor and Moldoviţa (see also J. Lafontaine-Dosogne, L’illustration de la première par- tie de l’Hymne Akathiste et sa relation avec les mosaïques de l’Enfance de la Kariye Djami, Byzantion 54 (1984) 669). The presence of both Emperor and Em- press would not intend to cover (inexistent) historical facts, but to substantiate a paradigm of victory gained by the divine energies of the icon and the sacred relics. Constanta Costea 143 Fig. 8. Probota, The Akathistos Hymn, strophe 17

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Scrinium – Brill

Published: Apr 7, 2011

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