DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.24719#0060
42
CHRISTIAN EDIFICES BEFORE THE REIGN OF CONSTANTINE.
THE ICONOGRAPHY OE THE VIRGIN.
Until after the end of the 5t,h century, the figure of the Virgin was never represented
except accompanied hy the infant Christ. It is only in pictures of the time of Justinian that we
begin to find isolated figures of the Virgin; hut even then they always bore the inscription
MHTHP ©EOY (Mother of God). It was at the Council of Ephesus, held in the year 440,
that the orthodox doctors began to promulgate the doctrine of the excellence of the Virgin,
in order to refute the Nestorians. St. Basil, about the year 390, formed a sect of females devoted
to the adoration of the Virgin; they assembled on certain days, and made offerings of cakes
called collyrida; they were for that reason called Collyridians. But they had not a long
existence. The ceremonies practised by this sect amounted, in the eyes of the faithful, to a
species of idolatry, which drew upon them the reprimand of the orthodox clergy.1
Proclus, Bishop of Cyzicus—the same who closed the temple of Cyhele, and dedicated it
to the Virgin (Theotocos)—was one of those who most propagated the worship of the Virgin, in
spite of the strenuous opposition of Nestorius.
At the general Council of Ephesus, Cyril of Alexandria pronounced a discourse against
Nestorius, which had an immense effect. Basil of Seleucia sustained the opinions of Cyril; and
after the Council of Chalcedon, A.D. 451, the East became covered with churches dedicated to
the Tanaghia (All-holy), and to the Theotocos (Mother of God).
There is great variety in the Greek iconography of the Virgin. At Mount Athos she is
represented as suckling the Holy Child : in the field of the picture we find the letters MP — ©OY,
a contraction of meter Theou, and above it H rAAAKTOTPO<f>OYrA (literally the milk-nurse).
In the 8th century the worship of the Mother of God was spread throughout the East.
Bishop Alcuin had propagated it in the empire of Charlemagne also. The ancient representations
of Christ have an Oriental character, which the Latin Church at first adopted, but afterwards
renounced for the almost exclusive representation of Christ crucified. We see in the East
enormous figures of the Saviour with a golden nimbus, the right hand being raised in the act
of benediction. They are also to be found in some of the Roman or Lombard churches of
Italy, hut not in any other part of the West. In the tombs of Urgub, Christ is represented
seated on a throne, having the right hand raised. He holds in his hand the book of the Gospel.
The colours of the vestments are not the same in all the pictures, but the figure often has a
blue mantle and a purple tunic; sometimes the tunic is white.
The throne is almost always in the form of the bronze Byzantine chair. It is sustained
by strange figures which represent either demons or the evil passions that Christ has vanquished.
Similar pictures of the Saviour occupied the two most striking positions in the Byzantine
Church,—the hack of the apse and the summit of the dome. Christ on the cross is the only
figure carved in the round admitted into the Greek Church. It was generally placed on the
top of the iconostasis. The Crucifixion appears in paintings of the modern period of Greek
art only.
1 Ducange, Collyrida.
CHRISTIAN EDIFICES BEFORE THE REIGN OF CONSTANTINE.
THE ICONOGRAPHY OE THE VIRGIN.
Until after the end of the 5t,h century, the figure of the Virgin was never represented
except accompanied hy the infant Christ. It is only in pictures of the time of Justinian that we
begin to find isolated figures of the Virgin; hut even then they always bore the inscription
MHTHP ©EOY (Mother of God). It was at the Council of Ephesus, held in the year 440,
that the orthodox doctors began to promulgate the doctrine of the excellence of the Virgin,
in order to refute the Nestorians. St. Basil, about the year 390, formed a sect of females devoted
to the adoration of the Virgin; they assembled on certain days, and made offerings of cakes
called collyrida; they were for that reason called Collyridians. But they had not a long
existence. The ceremonies practised by this sect amounted, in the eyes of the faithful, to a
species of idolatry, which drew upon them the reprimand of the orthodox clergy.1
Proclus, Bishop of Cyzicus—the same who closed the temple of Cyhele, and dedicated it
to the Virgin (Theotocos)—was one of those who most propagated the worship of the Virgin, in
spite of the strenuous opposition of Nestorius.
At the general Council of Ephesus, Cyril of Alexandria pronounced a discourse against
Nestorius, which had an immense effect. Basil of Seleucia sustained the opinions of Cyril; and
after the Council of Chalcedon, A.D. 451, the East became covered with churches dedicated to
the Tanaghia (All-holy), and to the Theotocos (Mother of God).
There is great variety in the Greek iconography of the Virgin. At Mount Athos she is
represented as suckling the Holy Child : in the field of the picture we find the letters MP — ©OY,
a contraction of meter Theou, and above it H rAAAKTOTPO<f>OYrA (literally the milk-nurse).
In the 8th century the worship of the Mother of God was spread throughout the East.
Bishop Alcuin had propagated it in the empire of Charlemagne also. The ancient representations
of Christ have an Oriental character, which the Latin Church at first adopted, but afterwards
renounced for the almost exclusive representation of Christ crucified. We see in the East
enormous figures of the Saviour with a golden nimbus, the right hand being raised in the act
of benediction. They are also to be found in some of the Roman or Lombard churches of
Italy, hut not in any other part of the West. In the tombs of Urgub, Christ is represented
seated on a throne, having the right hand raised. He holds in his hand the book of the Gospel.
The colours of the vestments are not the same in all the pictures, but the figure often has a
blue mantle and a purple tunic; sometimes the tunic is white.
The throne is almost always in the form of the bronze Byzantine chair. It is sustained
by strange figures which represent either demons or the evil passions that Christ has vanquished.
Similar pictures of the Saviour occupied the two most striking positions in the Byzantine
Church,—the hack of the apse and the summit of the dome. Christ on the cross is the only
figure carved in the round admitted into the Greek Church. It was generally placed on the
top of the iconostasis. The Crucifixion appears in paintings of the modern period of Greek
art only.
1 Ducange, Collyrida.