DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.43337#0388
CHAPTER TWO. THE ICONOGRAPHIC PROGRAMME | 385
crees of this synod which was later included in the Synodikon of the
Orthodox Church was directed against the theory of Soterichus Pan-
teugenes. The latter put forward the idea that fallen man achieved a
dual reconciliation with God, first with God the Son through the In-
carnation and then, through the Redemption, with God the Father.
This was a very popular theory in the 12th-century Roman Catholic
theology and so a polemic against it was of major importance. In its
synodal decree the Byzantine church asserted the truth of the an-
cient proposition that mankinds reconciliation with God was indi-
visible, and supported this statement with quotations from the Holy
Fathers. It particularly stressed that the Incarnation (Nativity) and
the Redemption (Crucifixion) were inseparably one in the ekonomia
of salvation.
This topical theological idea was directly reflected in the unusual
treatment of the famous «Lamentation» from the murals of St Pan-
teleimon at Nerezi (1164): one of the participants in the discussions
commissioned the paintings soon after the synod ended. There a dead
Christ lay between the legs of the Virgin81 82 83 84 who presses her self-sacri-
ficing Son to the womb which gave Him birth. This composition ex-
presses the unity of the Incarnation and the Redemption in a sensually
sharp and dramatically passionate form.
The «Nativity» at Akhtala, painted about fifty years later, is filled
with the same pathos as the Nerezi fresco. But here the components of
its ambivalent «birth-death» theme have changed places. The Akhtala
«Nativity» points to the coming sacrifice while the Nerezi «Lamenta-
tion» recalls how the Word became flesh. In late 12th-century icono-
graphic programmes, it is interesting to note, the two compositions
were consciously compared. In the murals of St George at Kurbino-
vo (1191), as Maguire has shown, the «Nativity» scene in the centre of
the south wall, was demonstratively contrasted to the «Lamentation»
81 Belting H.hn Image and its Function in the Liturgy: the Man of Sorrow in Byzantium//Dumbar-
ton Oakes Papers, 34-35 (1980-1981), pp. 7-8.
82 The new interpretation of Mariological themes is studied in: EtingofO.E, New Stylistic Trends
and Ideas in Byzantine Painting of the 12th Century (Ph.D. Dissertation, Moscow University, 1987),
pp. 67-116. On the Lamentation in Byzantine art, see Maguire, Art and Eloquence, pp. 101-108.
83 See Cheremukhin.The Constantinopolitan Synod, pp. 87-109.
84 This specificity is analysed in: Maguire, Art and Eloquence, p. 102; EtingofO.E. Byzantine Ico-
nography of the Lamentation and the Ancient Myth of Fertility as Salvation//The Fates of Myths
in Antiquity, part. I. Moscow, 1988, p. 257. — In Russian, see Bibliography.
crees of this synod which was later included in the Synodikon of the
Orthodox Church was directed against the theory of Soterichus Pan-
teugenes. The latter put forward the idea that fallen man achieved a
dual reconciliation with God, first with God the Son through the In-
carnation and then, through the Redemption, with God the Father.
This was a very popular theory in the 12th-century Roman Catholic
theology and so a polemic against it was of major importance. In its
synodal decree the Byzantine church asserted the truth of the an-
cient proposition that mankinds reconciliation with God was indi-
visible, and supported this statement with quotations from the Holy
Fathers. It particularly stressed that the Incarnation (Nativity) and
the Redemption (Crucifixion) were inseparably one in the ekonomia
of salvation.
This topical theological idea was directly reflected in the unusual
treatment of the famous «Lamentation» from the murals of St Pan-
teleimon at Nerezi (1164): one of the participants in the discussions
commissioned the paintings soon after the synod ended. There a dead
Christ lay between the legs of the Virgin81 82 83 84 who presses her self-sacri-
ficing Son to the womb which gave Him birth. This composition ex-
presses the unity of the Incarnation and the Redemption in a sensually
sharp and dramatically passionate form.
The «Nativity» at Akhtala, painted about fifty years later, is filled
with the same pathos as the Nerezi fresco. But here the components of
its ambivalent «birth-death» theme have changed places. The Akhtala
«Nativity» points to the coming sacrifice while the Nerezi «Lamenta-
tion» recalls how the Word became flesh. In late 12th-century icono-
graphic programmes, it is interesting to note, the two compositions
were consciously compared. In the murals of St George at Kurbino-
vo (1191), as Maguire has shown, the «Nativity» scene in the centre of
the south wall, was demonstratively contrasted to the «Lamentation»
81 Belting H.hn Image and its Function in the Liturgy: the Man of Sorrow in Byzantium//Dumbar-
ton Oakes Papers, 34-35 (1980-1981), pp. 7-8.
82 The new interpretation of Mariological themes is studied in: EtingofO.E, New Stylistic Trends
and Ideas in Byzantine Painting of the 12th Century (Ph.D. Dissertation, Moscow University, 1987),
pp. 67-116. On the Lamentation in Byzantine art, see Maguire, Art and Eloquence, pp. 101-108.
83 See Cheremukhin.The Constantinopolitan Synod, pp. 87-109.
84 This specificity is analysed in: Maguire, Art and Eloquence, p. 102; EtingofO.E. Byzantine Ico-
nography of the Lamentation and the Ancient Myth of Fertility as Salvation//The Fates of Myths
in Antiquity, part. I. Moscow, 1988, p. 257. — In Russian, see Bibliography.