DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.27365#0081
GRAFS' OF /WF DOMFO CROJ.S
69
there and there was a Georgian community at the monastery of St Symeon near
Antioch.
No iess important is the evidence of the especiai reverence in which St Symeon
was heid by the Armenian-Chaicedonians. The most vaiuabie information is contained
in an account of the Armenian-Chaicedonians in the "Taktikon" of Nikon of the Biack
Mount (11th century): this quotes a number of documents which reveai that the
monastery of St Symeon was one of the centres of the Armenian-Chaicedonian
outside the Caucasus^ They were not merely numbered among the monks but
formed an autonomous community that had the right to conduct the liturgy in
Armenian. During the schism in the church the monastery of Symeon the Younger
remained an unshakeable bastion of Chalcedonian Orthodoxy and this played some
part in establishing the cult of St Symeon. The summit of Symeon's pillar in the
Akhtala murals^ we may note, recalls monastery walls. There is nothing of the kind in
the depiction of Daniel's pillar where the capital is immediately surmounted by a low
rail. The "monastery walls" were probably intended to recall the famous cenobitic
community and emphasise the importance of Symeon the Younger in the
iconographic programme of the Akhtala frescoes.
The emphasis attached to the depiction of Daniel the Stylite in the centre of the
south wall can also be explained by referring to the especial reverence of this saint in
the Christian Caucasus. In the early 20th century Professor Kekelidze published
excerpts from a Georgian life of the saint which mentioned his influence on events in
Georgian history^.
In the Akhtala murals the theme of the stylites was developed in four further
depictions of such saints on the window jambs of the south wail. The series began
with Symeon the Elder (feast day, 1 September). The saint is depicted in a koukoulion
which distinguishes him from the other stylites on the south wall and undoubtedly
points to his special status as the first stylite saint. To the left of his figure there is a
large Georgian inscription in asomtavruli, "SMN ARKIMNDRITI" (Symeon the
Archimandrite). Beneath this is an additional Georgian inscription in small letters
reading "of Aleppo" so as to explain which of the two stylites of this name was
depicted here. The inscription reminded its readers of the monastery of Symeon the
Elder, located between the Syrian towns of Antioch and Aleppo, which was a famous
holy site throughout the Christian world.
Opposite Symeon in the eastern window of the south wall is shown St Alipios
(feast day, 26 November) who was the last of the great stylites to be depicted here.
Like the other saints of this series in the windows of the south wall he is shown on the
summit of a pillar with an elegant rail surmounting a decorative capital. The dark
brown mantle and the hands opened in front of his breast are also common to all the
stylites depicted on the south wall.
133 The Greek text of the chapter on the Armenian-Chaicedonians with a parallel Russian
translation was published in Adonts, "Origins", pp. 23S-49.
^34 K. Kekelidze, "Historico-Hagiographical Excerpts", FFn'rti'anrky Eortok (The Christian East),
Vol It, Issue 2, St Petersburg, 1913, pp. 1S7-9S.
69
there and there was a Georgian community at the monastery of St Symeon near
Antioch.
No iess important is the evidence of the especiai reverence in which St Symeon
was heid by the Armenian-Chaicedonians. The most vaiuabie information is contained
in an account of the Armenian-Chaicedonians in the "Taktikon" of Nikon of the Biack
Mount (11th century): this quotes a number of documents which reveai that the
monastery of St Symeon was one of the centres of the Armenian-Chaicedonian
outside the Caucasus^ They were not merely numbered among the monks but
formed an autonomous community that had the right to conduct the liturgy in
Armenian. During the schism in the church the monastery of Symeon the Younger
remained an unshakeable bastion of Chalcedonian Orthodoxy and this played some
part in establishing the cult of St Symeon. The summit of Symeon's pillar in the
Akhtala murals^ we may note, recalls monastery walls. There is nothing of the kind in
the depiction of Daniel's pillar where the capital is immediately surmounted by a low
rail. The "monastery walls" were probably intended to recall the famous cenobitic
community and emphasise the importance of Symeon the Younger in the
iconographic programme of the Akhtala frescoes.
The emphasis attached to the depiction of Daniel the Stylite in the centre of the
south wall can also be explained by referring to the especial reverence of this saint in
the Christian Caucasus. In the early 20th century Professor Kekelidze published
excerpts from a Georgian life of the saint which mentioned his influence on events in
Georgian history^.
In the Akhtala murals the theme of the stylites was developed in four further
depictions of such saints on the window jambs of the south wail. The series began
with Symeon the Elder (feast day, 1 September). The saint is depicted in a koukoulion
which distinguishes him from the other stylites on the south wall and undoubtedly
points to his special status as the first stylite saint. To the left of his figure there is a
large Georgian inscription in asomtavruli, "SMN ARKIMNDRITI" (Symeon the
Archimandrite). Beneath this is an additional Georgian inscription in small letters
reading "of Aleppo" so as to explain which of the two stylites of this name was
depicted here. The inscription reminded its readers of the monastery of Symeon the
Elder, located between the Syrian towns of Antioch and Aleppo, which was a famous
holy site throughout the Christian world.
Opposite Symeon in the eastern window of the south wall is shown St Alipios
(feast day, 26 November) who was the last of the great stylites to be depicted here.
Like the other saints of this series in the windows of the south wall he is shown on the
summit of a pillar with an elegant rail surmounting a decorative capital. The dark
brown mantle and the hands opened in front of his breast are also common to all the
stylites depicted on the south wall.
133 The Greek text of the chapter on the Armenian-Chaicedonians with a parallel Russian
translation was published in Adonts, "Origins", pp. 23S-49.
^34 K. Kekelidze, "Historico-Hagiographical Excerpts", FFn'rti'anrky Eortok (The Christian East),
Vol It, Issue 2, St Petersburg, 1913, pp. 1S7-9S.