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Byzantium develops the practice of public repentance practiced at Lent through chants that model ideal repentant sinners such as the fallen woman, David, or Peter, or Thomas, to name a few. By enacting their examples, the faithful hope to soften the divine Judge and receive mercy/pardon.
- Power and Patronage
- Jesus Christ, Land of The Living
- Mother of God, Container of The Uncontainable
- Donor Image
- Deësis
- The Chora and Hagia Sophia
- Christ and The Virgin
- The Main Church
- The Parekklesion
- Judgment and Resurrection
These mosaics and frescoes are the result of patronage by a wealthy intellectual and high-ranking official named Theodore Metochites, who restored the Chora c. 1316–1321, where he intended to be buried when he died. The early history of the Chora monastery is hazy, but the core of the current church was built in the twelfth century by Isaac Komneno...
Despite his seemingly stern gaze, the entrance mosaic of Christ Pantokrator is optimistically labeled “Jesus Christ, the land (chora) of the living,” a play on the monastery’s name, which likely originally referred to its location “in the country” outside of the city walls built by emperor Constantine. This phrase—“land of the living”—comes from Ps...
This mosaic of Christ faces a mosaic on the opposite wall, which pictures the Virgin with hands raised in prayer and the Christ child over her torso as if in her womb (view location in plan). The Virgin is labeled: “Mother of God, container (chora) of the uncontainable (achoritou).” This phrase, which describes the paradox that a human (Mary) could...
Proceeding into the inner narthex, viewers encounter a mosaic of the patron himself, Theodore Metochites, in the lunette over the door to the main part of the church, or naos (view location in plan). Christ sits on a jeweled throne against an expansive gold ground. Metochites kneels to Christ’s right, dressed in extravagant garments and wearing a f...
To the right, on the eastern wall of the inner narthex, a monumental Deësis mosaic shows the Virgin asking Christ to have mercy on the world (view location in plan). Because of her important role as the Mother of God, the Byzantines viewed the Virgin as a powerful intercessor between Christ and the faithful. John the Baptist, often included in the ...
For Byzantine viewers, the image of Theodore Metochites would have called to mind two imperial images in Constantinople’s great cathedral, Hagia Sophia. Metochites’ gesture of donation evokes the tenth-century mosaic of Constantine and Justinian offering models of the city and Hagia Sophia to the Virgin and Child in the southwest vestibule. And Met...
Christ and the Virgin are the main subjects of the majority of the mosaics that fill the inner and outer narthexes. Narrative scenes from the lives of the Virgin and Christ adorn various architectural spaces, and often exhibit experimentation with figures and compositions. In a dynamic depiction of the Annunciation, the Virgin looks awkwardly over ...
Only three mosaics survive in the main church today. A mosaic of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary appears on the back (western) wall of the naos. And pair of proskynetaria iconsof Christ and the Virgin once flanked the templon (the barrier between the sanctuary and naos, which no longer survives). These three images indicate that the emphasis on Ch...
Better preserved are the frescoes in the parekklesion (side chapel), located to the south of the main church, which present a message of salvation that is fitting for this funeral chapel. Arcosolia (arched recesses for tombs) punctuate the walls and were intended for the burial of Metochites and his loved ones (view location of tombs in plan). One ...
Proceeding further into the parekklesion, the viewer passes under a sprawling image of the Last Judgment, sobering but also hopeful, since it depicts the damnation but also the salvation of souls (view location in plan). The parekklesion frescoes culminate at the east end with images of resurrection, reflecting the Christian belief that God will ra...
I want to tell a story of a woman whose name means hope. This woman, in fact, had two names signifying hope, one in Arabic, Amal, and one in Hebrew, Tikva. And I want to consider what we might learn from her biography about history and hope. Amal was born to an Iraqi Jewish family in 1926.
- The Raising of Lazarus. The Raising of Lazarus (a friend of Christ’s) from the dead is recorded in John 11:38–44. The Eastern Orthodox Church commemorated this miracle of Christ on the Saturday before Palm Sunday.
- The Entry into Jerusalem. The Entry into Jerusalem is recounted in Matthew 21:1–11, Mark 11:1–10, Luke 19:29–40, and John 12:12–19 and is commemorated on Palm Sunday, the Sunday before Pascha (Easter).
- The Last Supper. The Last Supper, “Mystical Supper,” or just “Supper” (Greek: Deipnos), represents the Passover meal that Christ shared with his disciplines before his crucifixion, which is recorded in Matthew 26:20–29, Mark 14:17–25, Luke 22: 14–23, and I Corinthians 11:23–26, and is commemorated on Holy Thursday (known as “Maundy Thursday” in the Latin church).
- The Washing of the Feet. The Washing of the Feet occurred during the Last Supper, according to John 13:2–15. In the Gospel account, Peter resists letting Jesus wash his feet.
During the Middle Byzantine period, figural images and especially icons were increasingly employed for the decoration of the templon, or eastern sanctuary barrier of the Byzantine church, and its adjacent wall spaces.
Mar 7, 2024 · “Cabrini” director Alejandro Monteverde was drawn in by the story of this saint, described by a speaker at the opening of one of her hospitals as “a little woman,” who stood barely 5 feet tall, but held her own in eloquence and grit.
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Woman with Scroll, An Early Byzantine Sculpture at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Hear Byzantine art historians Evan Freeman and Anne McClanan unlock the meanings of a marble sculpture from the past, showing an early Byzantine/Late Roman woman holding a scroll.
- 6 min
