DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.27365#0042
30
/COJVOG/MPWC PROGRAMME
This theoiogicai idea found its reflection in the earliest examples of Armenian
iconography. A clear illustration is provided by the 6th-century miniature depicting the
"Baptism " from the Echmiadzin Gospel: Christ is shown there as the Emmanuel who
had just been born^i. Certain texts suggest that the idea of the second birth may have
been especially popular in Armenia even before the split in the church^-. A particular
interest in this highly Orthodox idea could well have been preserved by the Armenian-
Chalcedonians after the schism since they declared themselves to be the true
inheritors of the ancient national tradition and the faithful successors of the first
Fathers of the Armenian church-A It is possible that the unusual interpretation of the
Deesis in the Armenian-Chalcedonian paintings of Akhtala was prompted by the
conscious desire to emphasise an idea of exceptional significance in the Armenian
environment.
2. The Altar Apse
All the images displayed in the four tiers of the altar apse share a common
symbolic idea: the worship of God in the ideal church where Christ himself is the
officiating high priest. The representations of the Mother of God with the Child on the
throne, the "Communion of the Apostles", and the two tiers of Holy Bishops adhere to
the strictest Byzantine models. This is a very important aspect of the Akhtala frescoes
since it was not at all characteristic for contemporary Georgian churches. The
"Communion of the Apostles", for example, became the central subject in Byzantine
altar apses from the 11th century onwards but it is very rarely met in ll-13th-century
Georgian frescoes. There it is replaced, as a rule, by the archaic themes of the
"Adoration of the Cross" or the "Trarffh'o /cgiT-T In the early 13th century we can only
find the "Communion of the Apostles" in the Georgian church of Kintsvissi, and there
it occupies not the centre of the apse but the walls of the bema. In all surviving 13th-
century Armenian-Chalcedonian wall paintings, on the other hand, this subject
occupies the middle tier of the altar apse (Akhtala, the church of Tigran Honents in
Ani, Kirants and the two churches of Kobair). Such a consistent location is evidently
deliberate and probably connected with the pro-Byzantine orientation of the
Armenian-Chalcedonian church.
As further confirmation of this orientation we may note an interesting detail that
has not yet been remarked on by historians. Lists of bishops attending the mid-12th
century synods in Constantinople have survived and the only representative mentioned
there from the Caucasian eparchies was Ioann, the Armenian-Chalcedonian bishop of
The theme of the ancestral priesthood of Christ leads in the cycle of four miniatures, starting
with the "Annunciation to Zacharias" and ending with the "Baptism". For a detailed analysis drawing on
the most interesting theological texts, see Mathews, "Gospel", pp. 199-215.
22 ibid., pp. 210-212.
22 In this connection, we can mention the claim of Armenian Chalcedonians of the 12th century
that they originated from the disciples of Saak Fartev, Mesrop Mashtoc and Nerses the Great. See
Arutiunova-Fidanian, /Irwyanc-AEn/kedondy, p. 55.
24 See Babic, "Les programmes absidaux", pp. 117-136.
/COJVOG/MPWC PROGRAMME
This theoiogicai idea found its reflection in the earliest examples of Armenian
iconography. A clear illustration is provided by the 6th-century miniature depicting the
"Baptism " from the Echmiadzin Gospel: Christ is shown there as the Emmanuel who
had just been born^i. Certain texts suggest that the idea of the second birth may have
been especially popular in Armenia even before the split in the church^-. A particular
interest in this highly Orthodox idea could well have been preserved by the Armenian-
Chalcedonians after the schism since they declared themselves to be the true
inheritors of the ancient national tradition and the faithful successors of the first
Fathers of the Armenian church-A It is possible that the unusual interpretation of the
Deesis in the Armenian-Chalcedonian paintings of Akhtala was prompted by the
conscious desire to emphasise an idea of exceptional significance in the Armenian
environment.
2. The Altar Apse
All the images displayed in the four tiers of the altar apse share a common
symbolic idea: the worship of God in the ideal church where Christ himself is the
officiating high priest. The representations of the Mother of God with the Child on the
throne, the "Communion of the Apostles", and the two tiers of Holy Bishops adhere to
the strictest Byzantine models. This is a very important aspect of the Akhtala frescoes
since it was not at all characteristic for contemporary Georgian churches. The
"Communion of the Apostles", for example, became the central subject in Byzantine
altar apses from the 11th century onwards but it is very rarely met in ll-13th-century
Georgian frescoes. There it is replaced, as a rule, by the archaic themes of the
"Adoration of the Cross" or the "Trarffh'o /cgiT-T In the early 13th century we can only
find the "Communion of the Apostles" in the Georgian church of Kintsvissi, and there
it occupies not the centre of the apse but the walls of the bema. In all surviving 13th-
century Armenian-Chalcedonian wall paintings, on the other hand, this subject
occupies the middle tier of the altar apse (Akhtala, the church of Tigran Honents in
Ani, Kirants and the two churches of Kobair). Such a consistent location is evidently
deliberate and probably connected with the pro-Byzantine orientation of the
Armenian-Chalcedonian church.
As further confirmation of this orientation we may note an interesting detail that
has not yet been remarked on by historians. Lists of bishops attending the mid-12th
century synods in Constantinople have survived and the only representative mentioned
there from the Caucasian eparchies was Ioann, the Armenian-Chalcedonian bishop of
The theme of the ancestral priesthood of Christ leads in the cycle of four miniatures, starting
with the "Annunciation to Zacharias" and ending with the "Baptism". For a detailed analysis drawing on
the most interesting theological texts, see Mathews, "Gospel", pp. 199-215.
22 ibid., pp. 210-212.
22 In this connection, we can mention the claim of Armenian Chalcedonians of the 12th century
that they originated from the disciples of Saak Fartev, Mesrop Mashtoc and Nerses the Great. See
Arutiunova-Fidanian, /Irwyanc-AEn/kedondy, p. 55.
24 See Babic, "Les programmes absidaux", pp. 117-136.