DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.26282#0087
Pachoras: The Cathedrals of Aetios, Paulos and Petros
already been in the process of rebuilding and the
blocks from the frieze in the apse must have been
removed in the course of its widening (see above,
p. 47) This sequence determines the date for the
erection of the pillar, because the manner in
which this block from the frieze was mounted
leaves no doubt that it was incorporated in two
courses of blocks, with notches being cut only at
the time of the construction.
The decision to place the block from the
frieze of the apse in the pillar, but also the actual
choice of place - opposite the foundation steles -
would speak in favor of Bishop Paulos’ intention
to bring together these two events, to emphasize
the changes that were occurring in the Nubian
church during his episcopate, after King Merkur-
ios’ fateful decision to subordinate Nubia to the
Alexandrian patriarch of the Coptic Church
(Monneret de Villard 1938: 80-81; Godlewski
2004: 66 ). It is hardly possible to search the soul
of Bishop Paulos and his attitude toward the royal
decision, but everything that he did at Pachoras,
as documented by a few inscriptions (Jakobielski
1972: 35-51; Kubinska 1974: 14-23; van der
Vliet 1998), may be construed as proof that he
was an enthusiast of the new order in the Nubian
church. It is why he presumably set all the steles
and inscribed lintels in the walls of the episko-
peion and placed a symbol of the old order, the
block from the frieze once decorating the apse of
Fig. 63. Building of Paulos and arck, from tbe tvest
80
PAM Supplement Series 1
already been in the process of rebuilding and the
blocks from the frieze in the apse must have been
removed in the course of its widening (see above,
p. 47) This sequence determines the date for the
erection of the pillar, because the manner in
which this block from the frieze was mounted
leaves no doubt that it was incorporated in two
courses of blocks, with notches being cut only at
the time of the construction.
The decision to place the block from the
frieze of the apse in the pillar, but also the actual
choice of place - opposite the foundation steles -
would speak in favor of Bishop Paulos’ intention
to bring together these two events, to emphasize
the changes that were occurring in the Nubian
church during his episcopate, after King Merkur-
ios’ fateful decision to subordinate Nubia to the
Alexandrian patriarch of the Coptic Church
(Monneret de Villard 1938: 80-81; Godlewski
2004: 66 ). It is hardly possible to search the soul
of Bishop Paulos and his attitude toward the royal
decision, but everything that he did at Pachoras,
as documented by a few inscriptions (Jakobielski
1972: 35-51; Kubinska 1974: 14-23; van der
Vliet 1998), may be construed as proof that he
was an enthusiast of the new order in the Nubian
church. It is why he presumably set all the steles
and inscribed lintels in the walls of the episko-
peion and placed a symbol of the old order, the
block from the frieze once decorating the apse of
Fig. 63. Building of Paulos and arck, from tbe tvest
80
PAM Supplement Series 1