DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.43337#0400
CHAPTERTWO.THE ICONOGRAPHIC PROGRAMME | 397
of Christ and an image of Golgotha, recalling the Crucifixion; and at
the same time, it is a theological symbol of spiritual ascent. The an-
gel is seated on the stone blocking the entrance to the tomb. In early
liturgical interpretations this stone was identified with the ambo and
referred to the area in front of the chancel: «The ambo is an image of
the stone by the holy sepulchre, on the edge of which sat the angel
who told the myrrh-bearing women of the Lords resurrection»100. In
the Akhtala composition of «Holy Women at the Sepulchre» and also
in the «Descent into Hell» special emphasis is given to the theme of
the opened gates and the way to salvation lying through participation
in the liturgical mystery.
This theme was also very important in the third composition in
this sequence. In the «Incredulity of Thomas» Christ stands in front
of an enormous door that, on the one hand, recalls the miraculous
appearance of Christ in the house among the apostles «the doors
being shut» (John 20:26) and, on the other, offers a symbolic image
of the heavenly gates opened by Christ through his Resurrection.
Usually the doors shown in the «Incredulity of Thomas» are little
more than a geometrical form in an abstract background. Here they
open the way into a church and beyond them can be seen a basilica
with a projecting sanctuary apse and an adjoining structure that re-
sembles a many-tiered tower. The uppermost tier of the tower takes
the form of a ciborium with a pointed cupola. Again this combina-
tion of easily recognizable and specific features recalled the most
important site of pilgrimage for Christianity, the Holy Sepulchre
in Jerusalem: it shows the basilica, and the
stepped rotunda of the Anastasis Church,
which was depicted in the architectural back-
grounds of Byzantine paintings either as
a free-standing ciborium or as the summit
of the rotunda.
The author of the iconographic programme
was again stressing the liturgical aspect by pre-
senting the house of the apostles in the earth-
ly Jerusalem as the image of the temple in the
New Jerusalem. The house where Christ first
met with the apostles after His resurrection was
interpreted as the first church of the new faith.
97 This comparison is consistently
drawn in the Homily of Good Saturday
by St Epiphanius of Cyprus, the princi-
pal source of the iconography of «De-
scent into Hell».
98 See Radovanovic J. The Only Rep-
resentation of Resurrection in 14th-
century Serbian Painting // Zograf, 8
(1977), pp. 34-43.
99 On the treatment of this scene in
Byzantine monumental art, see Tome-
kovicS. Le «manierisme», pp. 166-169.
100 See Krasnoseitsev N.F. On the anci-
ent liturgical interpretations. Odes-
sa, 1894, p. 66. - In Russian, see
Bibliography.
of Christ and an image of Golgotha, recalling the Crucifixion; and at
the same time, it is a theological symbol of spiritual ascent. The an-
gel is seated on the stone blocking the entrance to the tomb. In early
liturgical interpretations this stone was identified with the ambo and
referred to the area in front of the chancel: «The ambo is an image of
the stone by the holy sepulchre, on the edge of which sat the angel
who told the myrrh-bearing women of the Lords resurrection»100. In
the Akhtala composition of «Holy Women at the Sepulchre» and also
in the «Descent into Hell» special emphasis is given to the theme of
the opened gates and the way to salvation lying through participation
in the liturgical mystery.
This theme was also very important in the third composition in
this sequence. In the «Incredulity of Thomas» Christ stands in front
of an enormous door that, on the one hand, recalls the miraculous
appearance of Christ in the house among the apostles «the doors
being shut» (John 20:26) and, on the other, offers a symbolic image
of the heavenly gates opened by Christ through his Resurrection.
Usually the doors shown in the «Incredulity of Thomas» are little
more than a geometrical form in an abstract background. Here they
open the way into a church and beyond them can be seen a basilica
with a projecting sanctuary apse and an adjoining structure that re-
sembles a many-tiered tower. The uppermost tier of the tower takes
the form of a ciborium with a pointed cupola. Again this combina-
tion of easily recognizable and specific features recalled the most
important site of pilgrimage for Christianity, the Holy Sepulchre
in Jerusalem: it shows the basilica, and the
stepped rotunda of the Anastasis Church,
which was depicted in the architectural back-
grounds of Byzantine paintings either as
a free-standing ciborium or as the summit
of the rotunda.
The author of the iconographic programme
was again stressing the liturgical aspect by pre-
senting the house of the apostles in the earth-
ly Jerusalem as the image of the temple in the
New Jerusalem. The house where Christ first
met with the apostles after His resurrection was
interpreted as the first church of the new faith.
97 This comparison is consistently
drawn in the Homily of Good Saturday
by St Epiphanius of Cyprus, the princi-
pal source of the iconography of «De-
scent into Hell».
98 See Radovanovic J. The Only Rep-
resentation of Resurrection in 14th-
century Serbian Painting // Zograf, 8
(1977), pp. 34-43.
99 On the treatment of this scene in
Byzantine monumental art, see Tome-
kovicS. Le «manierisme», pp. 166-169.
100 See Krasnoseitsev N.F. On the anci-
ent liturgical interpretations. Odes-
sa, 1894, p. 66. - In Russian, see
Bibliography.