DOI article:
Mierzejewska, Bożena: Remarks on decoration of the Western Wall of Narthex in the Faras Cathedral
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18950#0162
The type of archangels' yestments on the Faras murals follows the Byzantine
model. The practice of representing angels and archangels dressed as
emperors in purple garments is attested by Severus of Antioch who objected
to this practice in his homily against the cult of angels pronounced in 514/15
in the church dedicated to the archangel Michael in Antioch.28 A type of
archangels' dress, the tunic and loros of the Faras archangels, a descendant of
the consular trabea appeared probably during the Middle Byzantine period,
some time after the Triumph of Orthodoxy in 843.29 During the first reign of
Justinian II (685-695) the Roman trabea took on the morę simplified form
of a long stiff scarf decorated with precious Stones, the loros. The earliest
known examples of angels dressed in loroi are the mosaics of the Virgin and
the figures of the four angels in bema of the Koimesis church at Nicaea
restored by Naukratios probably soon after 843, during the reign of
Macedonian dynasty,30 the illuminations of the manuscript with homilies of
Gregory of Nasiansus dated approximately to the years 880-886 or
879-88331 and the reliefs decorating the ceremoniał sceptre of Leon VI dated
to the years 886-91232- the last two being the scenes of the imperial
investiture with archangels dressed in the same vestments as emperors. Pairs
of archangels dressed in dalmatics and loroi became very popular in the
Byzantine art of Middle and Late Byzantine periods. Originally they were
portrayed as guardians to the enthroned Christ or the Virgin represented
under the dome or in the conch of apse, but later they became separate
images.33 The loroi of the archangels indicate, that Michałowskie dating of
these murals is too early. They were painted probably in the second half of
the 9th century together with the eldest mural with the enthroned Yirgin.
28 “Homilia LXXII”, in Patrologia Orientalis, 12, Paris 1919, pp. 71-89. Severus doesn't
mention any kind of dress.
29 On the symbolism of the loros as part of the imperial costume see G.P. Galavaris, “The
Symbolism of the Imperial Costume as Displayed on Byzantine Coins”, The American
Numismatic Society Museum Notes, VIII, 1958, pp. 99-117. On the consular costume (trabea
triumphalis), the highest rank of this kind of costume having triumphant implications, worn with
such attributes as the globe, the eagle-topped sceptre, the laurel wreath, the mappa or the money
bag cf. ibid., pp. 101, 103. On the transformation of the Roman trabea into the Byzantine loros,
the part of costume of the emperor - vicar of Christ cf. ibid., p. 106. On the connection of the
loros with the Christ's resurrection and appearance of the emperor dressed in the loros and twelve
dignitaries in the same costume on Easter, ibid., p. 111. The emperor symbolised Christ and
the patricians acted as the twelve Apostles, cf. Constantin VII Porphyrogenete, Le Livre des
ceremonies, text and transl. by A. Vogt, vol. I: Commentaire, Paris 1940, p. 71.
30 PA. Underwood, “The Evidence of Restorations in the Sanctuary Mosaics of the Church of the
Dormition at Nicaea”, Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 13, 1959, pp. 235-244.
31 Codex Par. gr. 510, cf. J. Spatharakis, The Portrait in Byzantine Illuminated Manuscripts, Leiden
1976, pp. 96-99, ill. 127b, 128b; idem, “The Portraits and the Datę of the Codex Par. gr. 510”,
Cahiers Archeologiąues, 23, 1974, pp. 97-98.
32 K. Corrigan, “The Nory Scepter of Emperor Leo VI: A Statement of Post-Iconoclastic Imperial
Ideology”, The Art Bulletin, LX, 1978, 3, pp. 408-416.
33 C. Lamy-Lassalle, “Les archanges en costume imperial dans la peinture italienne”, in Synthronon.
Art et Archeologie de la fin de lAntiąuite et du Moyen Age. Recueil dletudes, Paris 1968, pp.
189-198.
160
model. The practice of representing angels and archangels dressed as
emperors in purple garments is attested by Severus of Antioch who objected
to this practice in his homily against the cult of angels pronounced in 514/15
in the church dedicated to the archangel Michael in Antioch.28 A type of
archangels' dress, the tunic and loros of the Faras archangels, a descendant of
the consular trabea appeared probably during the Middle Byzantine period,
some time after the Triumph of Orthodoxy in 843.29 During the first reign of
Justinian II (685-695) the Roman trabea took on the morę simplified form
of a long stiff scarf decorated with precious Stones, the loros. The earliest
known examples of angels dressed in loroi are the mosaics of the Virgin and
the figures of the four angels in bema of the Koimesis church at Nicaea
restored by Naukratios probably soon after 843, during the reign of
Macedonian dynasty,30 the illuminations of the manuscript with homilies of
Gregory of Nasiansus dated approximately to the years 880-886 or
879-88331 and the reliefs decorating the ceremoniał sceptre of Leon VI dated
to the years 886-91232- the last two being the scenes of the imperial
investiture with archangels dressed in the same vestments as emperors. Pairs
of archangels dressed in dalmatics and loroi became very popular in the
Byzantine art of Middle and Late Byzantine periods. Originally they were
portrayed as guardians to the enthroned Christ or the Virgin represented
under the dome or in the conch of apse, but later they became separate
images.33 The loroi of the archangels indicate, that Michałowskie dating of
these murals is too early. They were painted probably in the second half of
the 9th century together with the eldest mural with the enthroned Yirgin.
28 “Homilia LXXII”, in Patrologia Orientalis, 12, Paris 1919, pp. 71-89. Severus doesn't
mention any kind of dress.
29 On the symbolism of the loros as part of the imperial costume see G.P. Galavaris, “The
Symbolism of the Imperial Costume as Displayed on Byzantine Coins”, The American
Numismatic Society Museum Notes, VIII, 1958, pp. 99-117. On the consular costume (trabea
triumphalis), the highest rank of this kind of costume having triumphant implications, worn with
such attributes as the globe, the eagle-topped sceptre, the laurel wreath, the mappa or the money
bag cf. ibid., pp. 101, 103. On the transformation of the Roman trabea into the Byzantine loros,
the part of costume of the emperor - vicar of Christ cf. ibid., p. 106. On the connection of the
loros with the Christ's resurrection and appearance of the emperor dressed in the loros and twelve
dignitaries in the same costume on Easter, ibid., p. 111. The emperor symbolised Christ and
the patricians acted as the twelve Apostles, cf. Constantin VII Porphyrogenete, Le Livre des
ceremonies, text and transl. by A. Vogt, vol. I: Commentaire, Paris 1940, p. 71.
30 PA. Underwood, “The Evidence of Restorations in the Sanctuary Mosaics of the Church of the
Dormition at Nicaea”, Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 13, 1959, pp. 235-244.
31 Codex Par. gr. 510, cf. J. Spatharakis, The Portrait in Byzantine Illuminated Manuscripts, Leiden
1976, pp. 96-99, ill. 127b, 128b; idem, “The Portraits and the Datę of the Codex Par. gr. 510”,
Cahiers Archeologiąues, 23, 1974, pp. 97-98.
32 K. Corrigan, “The Nory Scepter of Emperor Leo VI: A Statement of Post-Iconoclastic Imperial
Ideology”, The Art Bulletin, LX, 1978, 3, pp. 408-416.
33 C. Lamy-Lassalle, “Les archanges en costume imperial dans la peinture italienne”, in Synthronon.
Art et Archeologie de la fin de lAntiąuite et du Moyen Age. Recueil dletudes, Paris 1968, pp.
189-198.
160