DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.27365#0080
68
VCOJVOGRAfWC PROGRAMME
^/ofyAfonk^
Depictions of hoiy monks occupy a significant place in the iconographic programme
of the cross arms. Together with stylites they fill the first and third tiers of the south
and north walls. The authors of the iconographic programme established a definite
hierarchy among them. The most revered were shown in the upper tier between the
window apertures. Next in importance were those portrayed on the window jambs,
last came the seven figures from the lowest tier of both walls, who are least
distinguished by individual features. Unfortunately, it has not proved possible to
identify these poorly preserved images.
A central and especially imposing position between the windows on both walls is
allocated to two stylites. This was justified both in architectural and symbolic terms.
They were conceived as a kind of decorative column within the overall plan of the
murals, holding up and linking together the various parts in the unified compositional
structure of the wall. This recalls a comparison made in theological texts where the
church rested on its stylites just as the temple of Wisdom was built on columns^. In
the Akhtala murals they not only symbolise spiritual ascent and ascetic feats but a
support of the church: the symbolic image of the latter is to be found in thematic
scenes located above the stylites.
The north wall shows Symeon the Younger (feast day 24 May) on top of a pillar
which has a richly decorated capital. He is dressed in a brown mantle, while his head
and shoulders are covered by a dark blue koukoulion which denoted the great schema,
the highest order of monastic service. In his right hand he holds a cross while his
open left palm is held at level of his breast. The full Greek inscription "O OSIOS
SYMEON O STILITIS" is supplemented with the Georgian abbreviation "SN ANTKI"
which could be translated as Symeon of Antioch.
On the opposite south wall we find Daniel the Stylite (feast day, 11 December)
portrayed as a grey-bearded elder, dressed in a simple brown mantle. He holds his
hands palms outward in front of his breast in the traditional gesture of receiving grace.
Beside him is an abbreviated inscription in Georgian, "St Daniel", written in large
letters of the ojomhzwH# script.
Symeon the Younger and St Daniel are among the four most revered stylites. In
most parts of the Byzantine world, however, they are not the most popular of this
rank. In Cappadocia or Serbia, for instance, the cult of Symeon the Elder is
incomparably more influential and he is depicted much more often than Symeon the
Younger. The exclusive attention given at Akhtala to the latter is the result of the
Caucasian tradition. Lafontaine-Dosogne's detailed study has gathered the evidence of
the saint's enormous popularity in Georgia^ It was, according to legend, St Symeon
the Younger who sent the "Thirteen Syrian Fathers" to Georgia who then became the
founders of Georgian monasticism. Relics of this saint were preserved and revered
See I.M. Djordjevic, "Hoiy Stylites in Mediaevai Serbian Monumentai Fainting", Z?M, 18
(1982), p. 51.
^ 3- J. Lafontaine-Dosogne, "L'infiuence du cuite du saint Symeon if Jeune sur ies monuments et
ies representations figurees de Georgie", Ryz, XLI (1971), pp. 183-96.
VCOJVOGRAfWC PROGRAMME
^/ofyAfonk^
Depictions of hoiy monks occupy a significant place in the iconographic programme
of the cross arms. Together with stylites they fill the first and third tiers of the south
and north walls. The authors of the iconographic programme established a definite
hierarchy among them. The most revered were shown in the upper tier between the
window apertures. Next in importance were those portrayed on the window jambs,
last came the seven figures from the lowest tier of both walls, who are least
distinguished by individual features. Unfortunately, it has not proved possible to
identify these poorly preserved images.
A central and especially imposing position between the windows on both walls is
allocated to two stylites. This was justified both in architectural and symbolic terms.
They were conceived as a kind of decorative column within the overall plan of the
murals, holding up and linking together the various parts in the unified compositional
structure of the wall. This recalls a comparison made in theological texts where the
church rested on its stylites just as the temple of Wisdom was built on columns^. In
the Akhtala murals they not only symbolise spiritual ascent and ascetic feats but a
support of the church: the symbolic image of the latter is to be found in thematic
scenes located above the stylites.
The north wall shows Symeon the Younger (feast day 24 May) on top of a pillar
which has a richly decorated capital. He is dressed in a brown mantle, while his head
and shoulders are covered by a dark blue koukoulion which denoted the great schema,
the highest order of monastic service. In his right hand he holds a cross while his
open left palm is held at level of his breast. The full Greek inscription "O OSIOS
SYMEON O STILITIS" is supplemented with the Georgian abbreviation "SN ANTKI"
which could be translated as Symeon of Antioch.
On the opposite south wall we find Daniel the Stylite (feast day, 11 December)
portrayed as a grey-bearded elder, dressed in a simple brown mantle. He holds his
hands palms outward in front of his breast in the traditional gesture of receiving grace.
Beside him is an abbreviated inscription in Georgian, "St Daniel", written in large
letters of the ojomhzwH# script.
Symeon the Younger and St Daniel are among the four most revered stylites. In
most parts of the Byzantine world, however, they are not the most popular of this
rank. In Cappadocia or Serbia, for instance, the cult of Symeon the Elder is
incomparably more influential and he is depicted much more often than Symeon the
Younger. The exclusive attention given at Akhtala to the latter is the result of the
Caucasian tradition. Lafontaine-Dosogne's detailed study has gathered the evidence of
the saint's enormous popularity in Georgia^ It was, according to legend, St Symeon
the Younger who sent the "Thirteen Syrian Fathers" to Georgia who then became the
founders of Georgian monasticism. Relics of this saint were preserved and revered
See I.M. Djordjevic, "Hoiy Stylites in Mediaevai Serbian Monumentai Fainting", Z?M, 18
(1982), p. 51.
^ 3- J. Lafontaine-Dosogne, "L'infiuence du cuite du saint Symeon if Jeune sur ies monuments et
ies representations figurees de Georgie", Ryz, XLI (1971), pp. 183-96.