DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.27365#0041
DOMED .S7V1CE
29
The idea that baptism was a second birth provided the theologicai justification for
including the parents of the Baptist among Christ's forebears since they had passed on
to their son the hereditary priesthood once bestowed on the descendants of Aaron.
This concept also found its reflection in Byzantine iconography. Without becoming
invoived in a detailed examination of an as yet unstudied question, we may quote two
examples from an earlier period. In Santa Maria Antiqua in Rome there is an 8th-
century composition where the Mother of God is depicted full length with the Child
while to one side is shown St Anne holding the young Mary and to the other,
Elisabeth with the infant John the Baptist. John's right hand blesses the infant Christ
in an unmistakable reference to his baptism^. In a 9th-century miniature from the
"Christian Topography" of Cosmas Indopleustes the Virgin is depicted to the right
hand of Christ while to the left stand full face figures of John the Baptist with his
parents Elisabeth and Zachariah* A Above them in medallions are shown Symeon and
the prophetess Anna who were the first to meet the infant Christ when he was
brought to the Temple. The idea that the priesthood of the New Testament continued
that of the Old was clearly being expressed here.
Yet in Byzantine iconographic programmes we do not know of such an emphatic
expression of the theme of the "two births" as is to be found in Akhtala. Byzantine
theologians preferred not to stress the idea of the second birth when interpreting the
theme of Christ's hereditary royalty and priesthood. Portraits of Kings David and
Solomon, and of the High Priests Aaron and Zachariah, are often found in close
proximity to the figure of Christ; in certain 14th-century Deesis compositions Christ is
shown wearing a mixture of patriarchal and imperial garments. Yet this was merely
one aspect of the Akhtala Deesis. The other was not emphasised elsewhere at all.
Evidently the Armenian environment played its part. The theme of Christ's "second
birth" was extremely popular there, and was used by theologians to justify the
Armenian Monophysite custom of celebrating the Nativity and the Baptism of Christ
on one and the same day. The great 12th-century Armenian theologian, the
Catholicos Nerses Shnorali, discussed this theme in his "Elucidation of the Armenian
Faith", written for the Byzantine emperor Manuel Comncnus-^:
batce the Lorb wax bom b; the /?e.s'h o/* the Hoty klrgz'zz azzb the;; bozzz by
ba/ifA/zz o/' the river Jorbazz, azzb xzzzce bob; evezztx are births' thozzgh
xeqarateb i/z tizzze azzb it; the .sacrazzzezzt, it A zzot withozzt reaxozz Z/zzzZ we
CfbcbrzzZe thezz; together; with the /ir.sf Nativity we a/.so recall the xecozzb
birth.
See Kondakov, /Aoao^rahya, Voi 1, pp. 307-308, id. 208.
The manuscript of the Vatican Library (Vat. gr. 699, f. 76). Le aa'ntaZare rtetta Topograga
Cwt/ana rZZ Corma /adtccp/earZe, ed. C. Stornajoio, Miiano, 1908.
20 See Khudobashev, DzorZcAerAZe ^amyaZaZAt, p. 200. Possibty the certain reticence which
Byzantine theologians exhibited in relation to the theme of "two births" was due to their polemics with
the Armenian Church.
29
The idea that baptism was a second birth provided the theologicai justification for
including the parents of the Baptist among Christ's forebears since they had passed on
to their son the hereditary priesthood once bestowed on the descendants of Aaron.
This concept also found its reflection in Byzantine iconography. Without becoming
invoived in a detailed examination of an as yet unstudied question, we may quote two
examples from an earlier period. In Santa Maria Antiqua in Rome there is an 8th-
century composition where the Mother of God is depicted full length with the Child
while to one side is shown St Anne holding the young Mary and to the other,
Elisabeth with the infant John the Baptist. John's right hand blesses the infant Christ
in an unmistakable reference to his baptism^. In a 9th-century miniature from the
"Christian Topography" of Cosmas Indopleustes the Virgin is depicted to the right
hand of Christ while to the left stand full face figures of John the Baptist with his
parents Elisabeth and Zachariah* A Above them in medallions are shown Symeon and
the prophetess Anna who were the first to meet the infant Christ when he was
brought to the Temple. The idea that the priesthood of the New Testament continued
that of the Old was clearly being expressed here.
Yet in Byzantine iconographic programmes we do not know of such an emphatic
expression of the theme of the "two births" as is to be found in Akhtala. Byzantine
theologians preferred not to stress the idea of the second birth when interpreting the
theme of Christ's hereditary royalty and priesthood. Portraits of Kings David and
Solomon, and of the High Priests Aaron and Zachariah, are often found in close
proximity to the figure of Christ; in certain 14th-century Deesis compositions Christ is
shown wearing a mixture of patriarchal and imperial garments. Yet this was merely
one aspect of the Akhtala Deesis. The other was not emphasised elsewhere at all.
Evidently the Armenian environment played its part. The theme of Christ's "second
birth" was extremely popular there, and was used by theologians to justify the
Armenian Monophysite custom of celebrating the Nativity and the Baptism of Christ
on one and the same day. The great 12th-century Armenian theologian, the
Catholicos Nerses Shnorali, discussed this theme in his "Elucidation of the Armenian
Faith", written for the Byzantine emperor Manuel Comncnus-^:
batce the Lorb wax bom b; the /?e.s'h o/* the Hoty klrgz'zz azzb the;; bozzz by
ba/ifA/zz o/' the river Jorbazz, azzb xzzzce bob; evezztx are births' thozzgh
xeqarateb i/z tizzze azzb it; the .sacrazzzezzt, it A zzot withozzt reaxozz Z/zzzZ we
CfbcbrzzZe thezz; together; with the /ir.sf Nativity we a/.so recall the xecozzb
birth.
See Kondakov, /Aoao^rahya, Voi 1, pp. 307-308, id. 208.
The manuscript of the Vatican Library (Vat. gr. 699, f. 76). Le aa'ntaZare rtetta Topograga
Cwt/ana rZZ Corma /adtccp/earZe, ed. C. Stornajoio, Miiano, 1908.
20 See Khudobashev, DzorZcAerAZe ^amyaZaZAt, p. 200. Possibty the certain reticence which
Byzantine theologians exhibited in relation to the theme of "two births" was due to their polemics with
the Armenian Church.