Modus: Prace z historii sztuki (19.2019)

The researcher interprets larger icons as wooden frames, intended to perform
the same function as silver frames would.40 Against the background of examples,
collected by A. Tourta, of the reuse of paintings in Thessaloniki, composite icons
from Vlatadon constitute extremely early examples, because the vast majority
of works were reused in the eighteenth century, marked by the economic growth
and the increase in importance of the city. At the same time, they are the only
ones representing an unusual technique of insertion, because the most common
practices were to paint the representation on the reverse, or apply a new layer
of painting.41 This leads us to the supposition that the re-use of the Vlatadon
icon was not only intended to protect it, but above all to highlight the inserted
icon. It is possible that this image was an object of special veneration, and that
the monks who commissioned its enlargement not only intended to emphasize
the status of the image, but also wished to amplify and expand the cult.42 Thus
it seems that the act of insertion is not only an instrument of conservation, but
a well thought-out practice that had a deeper meaning.


Dialogue between the older and the newer icon
In order to come closer to the answer regarding the motives of reusing the icon from
Ylatadon, it is worth paying attention to the dogmatic message of the inserted work,
and its relationship to the later icon. It is necessary to read numerous inscriptions,
which fili almost the entire background of the smaller image. The inscription above
Christ s head reads [O BAYIAEYY TQN] OYPANON,43 meaning “King of Heaven”,
and on either side of his head I(HEOY)X X(PIXTO)Y O I/O/ME/N/(OY) [HA]/
XAN/NO/XON, which is inspired by the words of the psalm (Ps. 103:3): “He who
heals all your diseases.” Above the archangels, there is the following text: AEIOS
AHOE AriOY KYPIOY /ŻABA/ O0 HAHPHY [O OYPANOZ KAI H] EH T(HZ)/
AOEI[X] / EOY/ OYANA EN T(OIX)/ YTIYTIY oraz EYAOEHMENOY O EPXO/
MEN(OX) ENONO[M]ATI/KYPIOY O/ XA[N]NA [O EN] THY [YTIZTIZ].
This is a reference to the words from the Book of Isaiah (Isa. 6:3), the Revelation
(Rev. 4:8), and the Gospel According to Matthew (Mt. 21:9). These words were in-
corporated in the Liturgy as the Epinikios hymn sung during anaphora (offering).44
Xyngopoulos and Tourta emphasized that the key to understanding the message
of the icon is the content of the preceding prayer, spoken by the celebrant: “We
render thanks to Thee also for this liturgy which Thou dost deign to receive from
our hands, although there stand beside Thee thousands of Archangels and myriads

Figurę 18. Icon of Saint
Panteleimon, twelfth
century, Great Lavra,
Mount Athos. Photo from
n.A. BoKOTÓnouAoę
Bu(avTiv£c; e/kói/ec, A0f)va
1995, p. 57, no. 32
-» see p. 13
Figurę 19. Fifteenth-cen-
tury icon, replacing a relief
icon of twelfth (?) century,
Byzantine Museum in Veria.
© Hellenie Ministry of Cul-
ture & Sports - Ephorate
of Antiquities of Imathia/
Byzantine Museum of Veria
-> see p. 13

40 Ibidem, pp. 154-155.
41 A. Tourta, The Re-Using ofOld Icons in the Byzantine and Postbyzantine Period: The Case ofthe
Icons of Thessaloniki, in: Griechische Ikonen: byzantinische und nachbyzantinische Zeit, edited
by E. Gerousis, Athens 2010, pp. 220-227.
42 On treating icons as assets and a source of income see: N. Oikonomides, The Holy Icon as an
Asset, “Dumbarton Oaks Papers”, 45,1991, pp. 39-44; L. Brubaker, Image, Audience, and Place:
Interaction and Reproduction, in: The Sacred Image East and West, edited by R. Ousterhout,
L. Brubaker, Urbana 1995, p. 212.
43 The following characters were used in the notation of all inscriptions: () means abbreviations
expanded; [] means destroyed, and / means the beginning of a new linę.
44 F.E. Brightman, Liturgies, Eastern and Western: Being the Texts, Original or Translated, ofthe Prin-
cipal Liturgies ofthe Church, Oxford 1965, pp. 385,403; J. Czerski, Boska liturgia św. Jana Chryzos-
toma. Wprowadzenie liturgiczno-biblijne do liturgii eucharystycznej Kościoła Wschodniego, Opole
1998, p. 127.

The composite icon at Vlatadon monastery in Thessaloniki...

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