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Romanesque Art and Icons + Other Iconographic Studies
Romanesque Art and Icons + Other Iconographic Studies
Romanesque Art and Icons + Other Iconographic Studies
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Romanesque Art and Icons + Other Iconographic Studies

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This book is a collection of studies on the general theme of Orthodox icons. 1) As the title of the book indicates, the first article deals with the similarity between religious images of the Romanesque period (900-1200) in Western Europe and Orthodox icons. As the difference between icons and later Western religious images—Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque etc.—is felt first on the intuitive and then explained on the rational level, so icons and Romanesque religious images manifest a similarity first felt on a non‐rational level, but never before explained in thought. The first in the series of six studies attempts to explain the intuition by positing an ecumenical art, especially for the image of Christ, that would have been comprehensible to everyone in the Christian sphere at the time. It is one thing to make such an affirmation, it is another to demonstrate it convincingly. It is the purpose of this first essay to do both. 2) For a lot of people, science and religion are two opposing spheres or, at best, the one having nothing to do with the other. The confrontations between them during the last two or more centuries are well known. In the realm of Biblical studies, textual criticism and archeological discoveries seem, for many, to undermine the credibility of the Bible. This second article offers the Orthodox icon as a possible tool helping to reconcile two things that for many seem to be irreconcilable. The definition of an icon as an image of a historical person or event shown through the lens of a theological interpretation might be able to open a door leading away from the impasse between the Bible as myth or literal truth. What if certain Biblical stories are verbal images of historical persons and events—their historicity varying according to the story—seen through a particular historico-theological lens? They are then neither myths nor literal histories but rather icons. 3) The third study is a translation of Fr. George Florovsky’s article about the image of Sophia (Wisdom) in Christian history, especially in the Byzantine and Russian spheres. He traces the development of such images along two separate lines: Sophia as an Old Testament name for Christ the Logos shown as the Angel of Great Council, such as in the name of the Church of Haghia Sophia in Constantinople (Istanbul), and the allegorical personification of wisdom from the Old Testament and Greek philosophy as the source of human inspiration, generally shown as a woman. In the Russian context, Sophia and its image eventually come to stand for the Virgin Mary. 4) In the Ecumenical Movement, what role do icons play, if any? Do they bring Christians closer together or push them farther apart? What are the attitudes of contemporary Christians toward images as compared to the arguments in favor of images put forward by iconodules during the Iconoclastic Controversy of the 8th and 9th centuries? In the second part of this study, “the jury is still out,” meaning that it cannot be stated with certainly whether icons will ultimately lead to more unity or more discord. There are presently signs of both movements. 5) Can and should icons be blessed? Does a religious painting become an icon when a priest blesses it? What makes an icon an icon? The author attempts to show that not only the notion of blessing icons but also the practice of doing so are very late arrivals in the Orthodox world and have their source and inspiration elsewhere than in the patristic tradition that is the foundation of the Orthodox theological world view. 6) And finally, the last study is an autobiographical version of the author’s interest in the Ecumenical Movement.

LanguageEnglish
PublisherSteven Bigham
Release dateDec 4, 2015
ISBN9781311483546
Romanesque Art and Icons + Other Iconographic Studies

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    Romanesque Art and Icons + Other Iconographic Studies - Steven Bigham

    ROMANESQUE ART AND ICONS

    AND OTHER ICONOGRAPHIC STUDIES

    By Steven Bigham

    ****

    Published by:

    Steven Bigham at Smashwords

    Copyright © 2015 by Steven Bigham

    ****

    All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

    Smashwords Edition Licence Notes

    This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

    ****

    Chapter 1: Romanesque Art and Icons

    Section I: The Theoretical Part

    1. Introduction

    2. A New Style for a New Faith

    3. The Vision of Western Christianity: Christian Art is a Matter for Artists

    4. Theological or Atheological Images?

    5. Another Vision

    6. The Result of the Evolution: An Ecumenical Art

    7. Romanesque Images and the Ecumenical Art

    8. Two Eschatological Arts

    9. Three Corollaries

    9.1 Orthodox Iconography and the Canon

    9.2 Post-Romanesque, Western Christian Art and the Canon

    9.3 Changes in the Theology of the Image Mean Changes in the Theology of the Word Have Already Taken Place

    Section II The Demonstrative Part: The Development of the Characteristic Features of Christ’s Image

    1. Introduction (Section II)

    2. The First Centuries: The Three Categories of Images of Christ in Early Christian Art

    2.1 Symbolic Images

    2.2 Typological Images

    2.3 Portrait Images

    2.4 Scenes of the New Testament: Baptism of Christ

    3. Interpretation of the Images: How Is Christ Represented in These Different Images?

    3.1 A Wide Variety of Representations

    3.2 Images of Christ

    3.3 Many Ways to Represent Christ

    4. The Great Theological Questions

    4.1 The Lordship of Jesus-Christ: Christos Kyrios and neither Kaisar Kyrios nor Zeus Kyrios

    4.2 The Kingship of Christ: The Adoration of the Wise Men

    4.3 Christ the Healer, Wonderworker, and God’s Anointed One

    4.4 The Bible—the Old Testament—Belongs to Us Christians.

    4.5 Against the Gnostics: the Real, Non-Illusory Incarnation of the Logos

    4.6 The Messiah, God’s Anointed One

    4.7 The Philosopher

    5. Conclusion (Section II)

    Section III: The Period of the Ecumenical Councils

    1. Introduction (Section III)

    2. The Trinity

    2.1. Introduction (Section III-2)

    2.2 Changes in the Image of Christ

    3. The Incarnation

    3.1 The Græco-Roman Style and the Syrian Style

    3.2 The Cross

    3.3 Barefoot or Nearly Invisible Sandals

    3.4 The Christ Child’s Bath

    3.5 Portrait Image of Christ

    3.6 Book or Scroll

    3.7 The Right Hand Blessing

    3.8 The Tunic and Coat

    3.9 Hair

    3.10 Full-Face Representation

    3.11 The Crucifixion: Eyes Open or Closed?

    3.12 The Name

    3.13 HΟ OΝ

    4. Conclusion (Section III)

    Section IV: The Image of Christ and Romanesque Art

    Section V: The Image of Christ in the Old Testament and the Theology It Expresses

    1. The Theological Vision

    2. New Testament Quotes

    3. Saint Justin the Philosopher and Martyr: Joshua, Figure of Christ

    4. Saint Irenaeus

    5. Saint Hilary of Poitiers

    6. The Visual Expression of Theology

    Section VI: Drifting Away

    1. The Canon

    2. The Drift Becomes Visible

    3. How the Drift Occurred: the Paternification of the Logos

    3.1 Gradual Erasing of the Classical and Ecumenical Features of Christ

    3.2 Transferring the Face of an Old Man with White Hair to the Creator Logos

    3.3 Confusing the Classical Features of Christ

    3.4 Adding New Features to the Creator Logos and to the Father

    3.5 Individualizing the Creator-Logos into the non Christomorphic Father Alone

    4. Joachim of Flora, 1135–1202

    5. Conclusion (Section VI)

    Section VII: Excursus on Ὁ ὬΝ (ὁ ὤν, HO ÔN, ho ôn)

    Bibliography HO ÔN

    Annexes

    Images 1–127

    Drawings I-XCIV

    Chapter 2: Image, Meaning, and Reality: The Theology of the Icon as a Hermeneutic Tool in the Dialogue between Science and Religion

    1. The Problem

    2. A Suggestion that Comes from Afar

    2.1 Icons are Anchored in History

    2.2 Icons as a Theological Interpretation of a Person or Event

    3. Applying the Notion of an Icon to Biblical Texts

    3.1 No Relation, No Conflict

    3.2 Truths beyond Scientific Investigation

    3.3 Areas of Potential Conflict

    Chapter 3: On the Veneration of Sophia, the Wisdom of God, in Byzantium and Russia

    1. Churches with the Name of Sophia (Wisdom) in Byzantium and Russia

    2. The Meaning of Sophia among Russians

    3. Representing Sophia (Wisdom)

    4. The Novgorodian Icon of Sophia (Wisdom)

    5. Sophia (Wisdom) Becomes the Virgin

    6. Sophia (Wisdom) and the Immaculate Conception

    Chapter 4: The Icon: Sign of Unity or of Division

    1. Introduction (Chapter 4)

    2. The Iconoclastic Arguments Against Christian Images and the Attitudes of Christians Today

    2.1 Introduction (Chapter 4-2)

    2.2 The image of Christ is an idol.

    2.3 The Eucharistic Bread Is the Only True Image of Christ

    2.4 Vile, Dead, and Vulgar Matter

    2.5 Worship vs. Veneration

    2.6 The honor [or insult] given to an image rebounds onto the person represented.

    2.7 What Does an Image of Christ Represent?

    2.8 The Silence of the New Testament

    2.9 The Ecumenical Councils

    2.10 The Fathers of the Church

    2.11 Conclusion (Chapter 4-2)

    3. The Icon: What is it a Sign of?

    3.1 Introduction (Chapter 4-3)

    3.2 The Icon: a Specifically Christian Image

    3.3 Canonical Iconography: A Theological Art

    3.4 The Western Attitude

    3.5 The Renaissance of the Canonical Icon

    3.6 The Renaissance of the Canonical Icon among Protestants and Catholics

    4. The Ecumenical Movement

    4.1 Communicatio in sacris

    4.2 The Role of the Icon in the Movement toward Unity

    4.3 Conclusion (Chapter 4-3)

    Annex 4

    Image of Jesus and Peter walking on the water: the baptistry at Dura Europos

    Image of Moses: the synagogue at Dura Europos

    Chapter 5: Blessing Icons?

    Section I: History and Theology

    1. The Problem

    2. The History

    2.1 From Pentecost, 33, to the 7th Ecumenical Council, 787

    2.2 The Time of Iconoclasm, 730–843

    2.3 From the 9th Century to the Middle of the 17th Century

    2.4 1649, Metropolitan Peter Moghila of Kiev

    2.5 1669–1706, Patriarch Dositheos of Jerusalem

    2.6 1730, The First Blessing Prayer for an Icon in a Greek Euchologion

    2.7 The 19th Century: the Opposition of Sts. Athanasius of Paros and Nicodemus the Hagiorite on Mount Athos

    3 Analysis of the Blessing Prayers

    3.1 The Slavonic Texts

    3.2 The Greek Prayer

    3.3 A Comparison of the Slavonic and Greek Texts

    3.4 A Footnote

    3.5 Conclusion (Chapter 5-I-3)

    Section II: Liturgical Texts

    1. Service for the Solemn, Inaugural Veneration of an Icon

    2. Service for the Solemn, Inaugural Veneration of an Icon of the Most-Holy Trinity/the Hospitality of Abraham, Christ’s Baptism, Pentecost, or the Transfiguration

    3. Service for the Solemn, Inaugural Veneration of an Icon of Christ or of One of His Feasts

    4. Service for the Solemn, Inaugural Veneration of an Icon of the Mother of God or of One of Her Feasts

    5. Service for the Solemn, Inaugural Veneration of an Icon of a Saint3 Service for the Solemn, Inaugural Veneration of an Icon of Christ or of One of His Feasts

    Chapter 6: The Story of a Tired Ecumenist

    Section I: My Story

    1. Introduction (Chapter 6-I)

    2. The Beginning: The Protestant Hope

    3. The Story Continues: The Anglican Chapter

    4. The Earthquake: My Atheist Period

    5. The Decision: The Orthodox Period

    6.The Last Hope: The Chalcedonians and the non-Chalcedonians

    Section II: Analysis and Evaluation of Ecumenism

    1. Introduction (Chapter 6-II)

    2. Ecumenism and Interreligious Relations

    3. Emotion or Theology

    4. Ambiguous Language

    4.1 Sister Churches

    4.2 The Word Primacy

    4.3 The Word Church

    4.4 But we're already Orthodox.

    4.5 Ecumenical Politics

    4.6 The Ecumenical Industry

    4.7 The Real Advantages of Orthodox Participation in the Ecumenical Movement

    5. Conclusion (Chapter 6-II)

    Chapter 1

    Romanesque Art and Icons¹

    Section I: The Theoretical Part

    1. Introduction

    It is a curious phenomenon: entering certain Romanesque churches and seeing their frescoes. Those who know Orthodox images, icons, often have an impression of deja vu. They flair a known fragrance but not quite fully. It is an intuitive reaction, maybe emotional, certainly instinctive. It is not irrational, but the experience does not find its source in thought. So, the questions arise: why do people have this impression; what is the source? Is it possible to raise the intuition to the level of rational thought and explain it? We believe so, and this is the purpose of our present study.

    The books on Romanesque art are today legion, and those on icons continue to be published, but where are the studies attempting to bridge these two artistic worlds? Perhaps they exist, but if so, we do not know about them. We therefore wish to fill this void, real or imagined, in the field of research on Christian art. Our study is divided into two parts: first, the theoretical aspect, that is, an explanation of the intuitive reaction which accounts for the similarities and differences between canonical Orthodox iconography and Romanesque art. Then comes the art history section, that is, a demonstration of the well-founded nature of this theory based on the witness of existing works of art.

    2. A New Style for a New Faith

    From the beginning, Christianity chose to develop an artistic style that did not try to represent the natural world according to the laws of human perception. Yet early Christian art is not for this reason abstract since the artists did indeed represent persons and events of our world, but only as through a filter, in a perspective other than naturalism. Instead of representing persons, things, and events in a natural or artificial light—sun or candle light—Christian artists represented them in a light illuminating them from inside.

    The most ancient examples of Christian art that have come down to us, images from the Roman catacombs and from Dura-Europos, are markedly different from the images of the Græco-Roman world in which most ancient Christians came to live after their beginnings in Jewish lands. We have no writings from this time discussing a philosophy of Christian art or dealing with a conscious choice to reject the Græco-Roman canon of art in favor of another, but Christian art from Antiquity clearly shows that another vision inspired Christian artists. Parallel to the development of a Christian artistic language during the first three centuries, a pagan movement was also searching for a way to represent the world in a manner that distinguished it from GræcoRoman naturalism. The philosopher Plotinus articulated a philosophy of art that discouraged the painting of things seen naturally, mimesis, and favored representations showing the interior vision described in his Neo-Platonic philosophy².

    Christians, for their part, proclaimed that the God of Israel had himself become man in Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God, that he had died, been raised from the dead, and given a new life to men by founding a kingdom not of this world while still being in this world. Those who wanted to have this new life in the Kingdom of God had to be baptized and enter the Church. Such a proclamation did not win many followers among the sons of Israel according to the flesh, and a rupture with the mother faith was not long in coming, but sensing the universality of their gospel, the first disciples threw themselves into the Græco-Roman world as fishers of men.

    By the 3rd century (200-300), Christians were proclaiming their faith not only in written and spoken words but also in forms and colors: Christian art was born. If the monuments of this period that can be seen today are representative of the entire production, we notice how Christian artists rejected the canon of Græco-Roman art (naturalism, idealism, the beauty of the human body, etc.) to adopt a style which some describe as naive, primitive or even clumsy. Recognizing that they could not paint Biblical characters or martyrs according to the artistic style surrounding them, they began elaborating a style—an artistic canon and language—better suited to their faith. This elaboration led little by little to what today we call the icon, the purpose of which is to represent persons, events and the world in the light of this Kingdom where God shines on and in all. (Rev. 21: 23). So, there developed a new style and new techniques for a new vision of faith.

    The Christian faith is preached by word and by image³. In this little phrase, we have a summary of Holy Tradition on the relation between the spoken/written word and the painted word. What or who is the irreducible element of Christian faith? Obviously, Jesus of Nazareth is the center, but how is he in the center? To be Christian, one must recognize Jesus as Israel’s promised messiah. To refuse such a recognition is to a Jew, a Muslim, an atheist, anything but a Christian. In addition, one must say Christos Kyrios (Christ is the Lord) and not Kaisar Kyrios (Caesar is the Lord), whoever Kaisar may be. For certain, everything the early Christians affirmed about Jesus is anchored in his encounter with his disciples, the intimate circle of the twelve, in their experience with him, and their appropriation of what he said and did. After the resurrection, these same disciples began preaching, announcing the Kingdom, proclaiming their faith in the resurrected Messiah Kyrios. Let us note that their proclaiming was originally only oral. We must wait until the year 100 for all the New Testament documents to have been written, and even more time for all the Churches to possess certain of the these writings in manuscripts. Finally, a few centuries more will have to go by before all Christians come to agree on the documents to include in the Christian Scriptures. It is the whole story of fixing the New Testament canon. And so, all through this period, Christians lived and proclaimed their faith primarily but not exclusively orally.

    Here is the essential point: the apostolic Church lived and preached the Gospel of Christ drawing from Holy Tradition as it flowed ultimately from Christ himself and the apostles. As this was happening, the authors of what we call the New Testament wrote letters in response to local situations or transcribed their memories of Jesus and of the first years of the Church. Living Tradition soon saw the heart of its testimony cast into a written form. After having filtered the great number of documents produced during the first decades, Christians regrouped the chosen texts into the New Testament and named them Scripture. This process of sorting is seen as the work of the Holy Spirit, even though the New Testament is only a summary of Holy Tradition, that is- of apostolic preaching. And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. (Jn 21: 25). Therefore, Holy Tradition preceded, produced, supported and enveloped the New Testament Scriptures which continued to exist and to feed the Church beyond the historical confines of the early community. And although the New Testament, as a collection of written witnesses of apostolic preaching, is of great use and an inestimable blessing, there is nothing in Holy Tradition, either in its oral or written forms, that commands or even expects the production of a New Testament. The creation of Christian Scriptures is then a work of Tradition itself, guided by the Holy Spirit. The apostles first witnessed to what Christ had done, but soon they wrote down the essence of their preaching: the New Testament documents.

    We contend that the same process is behind the creation of the Christian image, that is, word as image, although more slowly. It is not surprising that the oral and written word, feeding on the tradition of ancient Israel, historically preceded the word as image. It is a principle that will repeat itself all through Church history: the Christian image, the painted word, follows the word in writing and thought. Yet, the Christian image is not far behind in its development. Just as the Church's Holy Tradition produced the written word, in the same manner it gave birth to the Christian image. And that should not surprise us because the fundamental proclamation of the kerygma, the incarnation⁴, gave a new direction to the faith of Israel, that of the visible, by the fact that matter can carry God (theophoros). The apostles preached what they heard and saw, the fact that the Word became flesh. Obviously, Jews, and later Muslims, refusing to accept that the invisible God could become visible, that the Immaterial could be united to matter, could not follow Christians and accept what the apostles saw. They remained in the mentality of ancient Israel and limit themselves to what is heard and written⁵.

    And so just as the apostles and the disciples repeated in their preaching what they had heard, early Christians, at an unknown place or moment, began showing in images what they had seen.

    3. The Vision of Western Christianity: Christian Art is a Matter for Artists

    According to the decree of Vatican II, the Roman Catholic Church announces the principle that had guided it for centuries:

    The Church has not adopted any particular style of art as her very own; she has admitted styles from every period according to the natural talents and circumstances of peoples, and the needs of the various rites. Thus in the course of the centuries, she has brought into being a treasury of art which must be very carefully preserved. The art of our own days, coming from every race and region, shall also be given free scope in the Church, provided that it adorns (…) with due reverence and honor; thereby it is enabled to contribute its own voice to that wonderful chorus of praise in honor of the Catholic faith sung by great men in times gone by⁶.

    In the context of Western Christianity, this text seems highly noble, open and generous. And as much as we adhere to the principle, it deserves all these adjectives and more. What is this basic, noble principle? Already in the Carolingian Books (794), the court of Charlemagne stated that (religious, Christian) images are the product of the artists’ fantasy⁷. Maybe the word imagination would be a better translation; fantasy has a pejorative meaning. No matter the translation, the idea is clear: it is the artists who create religious images based on their subjective ideas and emotions, and the Church judges if their works are acceptable, appropriate and worthy of being placed in a church. It is the same principle that underlies the quote from Vatican II cited above. The Roman Catholic Church has not created a specific art, does not promote any particular style, does not favor the forms, artists, or works of any epoch, from any country or from any artistic language. It submits itself to historical changes, waiting to see the works that are produced in order to choose the best, those susceptible of serving its needs of the moment.

    According to this understanding, the history of Christian art is a series of fashions or changing styles, evolving according to the æsthetics of various periods and countries. It goes from the images of the catacombs, through the early Christian, the Byzantine, the Egyptian, the Romanesque, the Gothic, those of the Renaissance, the Baroque, the Romantic, the Neoclassical, until our era. And it is certain that other types of images will follow our own time, according to the tastes of future centuries. The artists create according to their inspiration, and the Church adopts and adapts what it finds acceptable.

    4. Theological or Atheological Images?

    The interpretation of the history of Christian art we have just sketched supposes, always in a Western Christian perspective, a very important principle: Christian art and theology are two separate domains. Painting, creating images, is the domain of the artist. Artists should ideally be Christian and live the evangelical life, but in the end, it is of little or no importance. Studying and writing Christian theology are the domain of Christian thinkers. Painting and thinking, what is the relation between the two? These activities call upon two different dimensions of man’s composite nature. Applying theological categories to Christian art seems nonsensical, just as is applying moral categories to music: a heretical image or an immoral concerto. An image can be beautiful, of bad taste, naive, grotesque, etc., but heretical or orthodox, in the sense of conforming to the dogma of faith? A concerto can be melodic, romantic, atonal, etc., but immoral? According to the conception of Christian art described above, Christian images are atheological, not against theology, but simply have no relation to it. The two develop through history according to the criteria that are proper to each.

    5. Another Vision

    This vision of the history of Christian art is so pervasive and accepted as so obvious that it is difficult for many to imagine how there could be another explanation. We believe, however, that there is another, a Christian one that sheds light on the question specific to our study: the relation between Romanesque art and icons.

    It is a fundamental premise of this study that the catholic Church⁸ of the West and the East lived a thousand years together, and during this time, they searched for human words, ideas, concepts, and reasoning to express the truth they were living with their head, Christ. They expressed this faith not only in human language, but also in images. Therefore word and image proclaimed

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