DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.43337#0402
CHAPTER TWO. THE ICONOGRAPHIC PROGRAMME | 399
sition of the three scenes of the Passion on the north wall to those of
the Resurrection on the south wall. They are separated from the other
frescoes by two rows of holy monks in the first and third tiers above
and below them. This contrast does not have a direct analogy in oth-
er murals of the time and so must testify to a particular conception.
Perhaps it can be explained as a part of the polemic with the Mono-
physite teachings: for a Chalcedonian monastery surrounded by
Monophysites this would have been more than justified. The scenes of
the Passion gave the fullest expression of Christ’s human nature while
those of the Resurrection vividly demonstrated his divine essence.
In this way, we may suppose, the authors of the iconographic pro-
gramme were emphasising the necessity of understanding Christ «in
two natures»102. This was an assertion of the diophysite formulation
of the Creed adopted at the Council of Chalcedon in 451 and rejected
by the Monophysites103. We should add that the relationship between
Christ’s divine and human nature, the issue discussed at Chalcedon,
gained a new significance and especial acuteness in the ll-12th-cen-
tury Byzantine spiritual life. It was specifically in the iconographic
programmes of the Comnenian period that separate cycles of the Pas-
sion and Resurrection became common. The Akhtala frescoes offered
no fundamentally new resolution of this topical Byzantine theme but
rather gave it an Armenian-Chalcedonian interpretation.
There was also a liturgical meaning to the opposition of these
two sequences. While the depictions of «Christ before Annas and
Caiaphas», «Christ before Pilate» and the «Christ being led to Gol-
gotha» on the north wall evoked associations with the ritual prepa-
ration of the sacrifice, those depicting the Resurrection were linked
to the rite of communion with which the liturgy concluded. This
would seem to have been quite intentional. Evidently these cycles
together with the depiction of the Eucharist in the altar apse were
meant to create an image of the liturgical act. The scenes of Paradise
shown in the second tier of the west wall formed an organic part
of this cross-shaped image: they recalled the coming bliss of heav-
en that was the final and higher goal of the liturgy. Through these
scenes of paradise the theme of the liturgical act united all parts of
the church’s decoration, linking the Christological cycle of the north
and south arms with the extensive composition of the «Last Judge-
ment» in the west arm.
sition of the three scenes of the Passion on the north wall to those of
the Resurrection on the south wall. They are separated from the other
frescoes by two rows of holy monks in the first and third tiers above
and below them. This contrast does not have a direct analogy in oth-
er murals of the time and so must testify to a particular conception.
Perhaps it can be explained as a part of the polemic with the Mono-
physite teachings: for a Chalcedonian monastery surrounded by
Monophysites this would have been more than justified. The scenes of
the Passion gave the fullest expression of Christ’s human nature while
those of the Resurrection vividly demonstrated his divine essence.
In this way, we may suppose, the authors of the iconographic pro-
gramme were emphasising the necessity of understanding Christ «in
two natures»102. This was an assertion of the diophysite formulation
of the Creed adopted at the Council of Chalcedon in 451 and rejected
by the Monophysites103. We should add that the relationship between
Christ’s divine and human nature, the issue discussed at Chalcedon,
gained a new significance and especial acuteness in the ll-12th-cen-
tury Byzantine spiritual life. It was specifically in the iconographic
programmes of the Comnenian period that separate cycles of the Pas-
sion and Resurrection became common. The Akhtala frescoes offered
no fundamentally new resolution of this topical Byzantine theme but
rather gave it an Armenian-Chalcedonian interpretation.
There was also a liturgical meaning to the opposition of these
two sequences. While the depictions of «Christ before Annas and
Caiaphas», «Christ before Pilate» and the «Christ being led to Gol-
gotha» on the north wall evoked associations with the ritual prepa-
ration of the sacrifice, those depicting the Resurrection were linked
to the rite of communion with which the liturgy concluded. This
would seem to have been quite intentional. Evidently these cycles
together with the depiction of the Eucharist in the altar apse were
meant to create an image of the liturgical act. The scenes of Paradise
shown in the second tier of the west wall formed an organic part
of this cross-shaped image: they recalled the coming bliss of heav-
en that was the final and higher goal of the liturgy. Through these
scenes of paradise the theme of the liturgical act united all parts of
the church’s decoration, linking the Christological cycle of the north
and south arms with the extensive composition of the «Last Judge-
ment» in the west arm.