From The Lamb Symbol In Byzantine Religious Painting To The Melismos Scene

Abstract

In Byzantine religious painting, the lamb has been used as a symbol expressing Jesus due to John the Baptist's description of Jesus as the “Lamb of God” in 1:29 and Jesus' death on the cross at the time of the lamb sacrifice on Passover since the early centuries of Christianity. The use of symbols instead of images is often attributed to the principle invisibility of God principle, which is a common belief in Judaism and many religions. Since the invisible God cannot be pictured, either words or symbols are often utilized to express him. In the first century catacombs in Rome, such symbols are known to exist. However, the Council of Trullo (691-692), besides important canons, the lamb symbol was banned on the grounds that it was ancient and therefore Jesus must be shown in the human form. The banning of the lamb symbol at the Council of Trullo is thought to be related to the fact that Jesus was born and died as human and therefore God can be depicted through Jesus’ body. As a new scene, emerged as a result of religious debates in 11th and 12th centuries, depicts Jesus lying on the altar, emphasizing the Eucharist liturgy. Melismos means sacrifical lamb and this fact makes it very important. The first known example of the scene is seen in the painting program of the Church of St. Georgios, dated 1192, near the village of Kurbinovo in North Macedonia. The subject of this study is the investigation of the reasons behind the prohibition of the use of symbols in the light of theological disputes that had existed since the first years of Christianity aorund the Eucharist, and the meaning and the importance of Melismos scene.

Keywords

• Byzantine Art
• Symbolism
• Trullo Council
• Lamb of God
• Melismos

Bizans Dini Resim Sanatında Kuzu Sembolünden Melismos Sahnesine

Abstract

Bizans dini resim sanatında kuzu, ilk yüzyıllardan itibaren, Yuhanna 1:29’da Vaftizci Yahya’nın İsa’yı “Tanrı’nın Kuzusu” olarak tanımlamasının ve İsa’nın Fısıh bayramında kuzuların kurban edildiği saatte çarmıhtaki ölümü nedeniyle, İsa’yı ifade eden bir sembol olarak kullanılmıştır. Tanrı’nın imgelerle gösterimi yerine sembollerin kullanımı, Yahudilikte ve birçok dinde yer alan Tanrı’nın görünmezliği ilkesiyle ilişkilidir. Görünmez Tanrı’nın resmedilememesi nedeniyle onu ifade etmek için ya kelimeler ya da semboller kullanılmıştır. İlk yüzyıllarda Roma’daki katakomplarda bu tür semboller görülmektedir. Ancak Trullo Konsili’nde (691-692) alınan birçok önemli karar yanında kuzu gibi imgeler, antik semboller olduğu gerekçesiyle yasaklanmış ve İsa’nın insan formunda tasvir edilmesi istenmiştir. Kuzu sembolünün yasaklanması, Tanrı’nın oğlu İsa’nın insan olarak doğması ve ölmesi nedeniyle İsa’nın bedeni üzerinden Tanrı’nın imgelerinin yapılabilmesiyle ilişkilidir. 11. ve 12. yüzyıllarda yaşanan dini tartışmaların sonucunda ortaya çıkan yeni bir sahne olan Melismos’ta, Ökaristi litürjisine bir gönderme yapılarak İsa altarda yatar şekilde gösterilmektedir. Melismos’un kelime anlamının kurban olması sahnenin önemini artırmaktadır. Melismos’un bilinen ilk örneği, Kuzey Makedonya’da Kurbinovo köyü yakınlarındaki Aziz Georgios Kilisesi’nin 1192 tarihli resim programındadır. Bu çalışmanın konusunu, kuzu sembolü özelinde Hıristiyanlığın ilk yıllarından itibaren yaşanan tartışmalar ışığında sembol kullanımının yasaklanmasının nedenleri, Ökaristi konusunda yapılan teolojik tartışmalar ve Melismos sahnesinin özellikleri, anlamı ve önemi oluşturmaktadır.

Keywords

• Bizans Sanatı
• Sembolizm
• Trullo Konsili
• Tanrının Kuzusu
• Melismos

References

1. Alexander, T. D. (2004). Passover sacrifice. In R. T. Beckwith & M. J. Selman (Eds.), Sacrifice in the Bible (pp.1-24). Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock.
2. Arkin, M. (1975). Aspects of Jewish economic history. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America.
3. Barr, D. L. (2003). Introduction: Reading revelation today: Consensus and innovations. In D. L. Barr (Ed.), Reading the book of revelation A resource for students (pp.1-9). Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature.
4. Belting, H. (1980/1981). An image and its function in the liturgy: The man of sorrows in Byzantium. Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 34/35, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.2307/1291445
5. Brenk, B. (2008). Art and propaganda fide: Christian art and architecture, 300–600. In A. Casiday, F.W. Norris (Eds.), The Cambridge History of Christianity. Constantine to c.600. Cambridge University Press, Vol. 2 (pp.691-725). Cambridge University Press.
6. Bouyer, L. (1968). Eucharist: Theology and spirituality of the eucharistic prayer. Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press.
7. Brubaker, L. (2006). In the beginning was the word: Art and Orthodoxy at the Councils of Trullo (692) and Nicaea II (787). In A.Louth, A.Casiday (Eds.), Byzantine Orthodoxies: Papers from thirty-sixth spring symposium of Byzantine studies, University of Durham, (23-25 March2002) (pp. 95-102.). Aldershot: Ashgate Variorum, Publications- Society For The Promotion Of Byzantine Studies 12.
8. Burkitt, F. C. (1932). Church and gnosis: A Study of Christian thought and speculation in the second century. Cambridge at the University.

9. Casiday, A.& Norris, F. W. A. (2008). Introduction. In A. Casiday & F. W. Norris (Eds.). The Cambridge History of Christianity: Volume 2, Constantine to c.600 (pp. 1-5). Cambridge: New York, Cambridge University Press.
10. Chadwick, H. (2003). East and west: the making of a rift in the church: from apostolic times until the Council of Florence. New York: Oxford University Press.
11. Chawner, W. (1874). The influence of Christianity upon the legislation of Constantine the Great. Cambridge: McMillan and Co.
12. Constantinides, C. (2008). Ho Melismos-Oi sylleitourgountes hierarches kai oi angeloi-diaconoi mbrosta sten Hagia Trapeza me ta timia dora e ton eucharistiako Christo. Athens: P. Kyriakides.
13. Corrigan, K. A. (1988). The Witness of John the Baptist on an early Byzantine icon in Kiev. Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 42, 1-11. https://archive.org/details/DOP42_01_Corrigan
14. Crisp, O. (2007). Divinity and humanity: the incarnation reconsidered. Cambridge University Press.
15. Di Berardino, A. (Ed.). (2014). Encyclopedia of ancient Christianity. Downers Grove, Illinois: IVP Academic.
16. Elsner, J. (1995). Art and the Roman viewer: The transformation of art from the pagan world to Christianity. Cambridge University Press.
17. Feingold, L. (2018). The Eucharist: Mystery of presence, sacrifice, and communion. Steubenville: Emmaus Academic, St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology.
18. Fideler, D. (1993). Jesus Christ, sun of God: Ancient cosmology and early Christian symbolism. Wheaton. Illinois: Quest Books.
19. Finney, P. C. (1994). The invisible God: The earliest Christians on art. New York: Oxford University Press.
20. Gerstel, S. E. J. (1999). Beholding the sacred mysteries: Programs of the Byzantine sanctuary. Seattle: College Art Association in association with University of Washington Press.
21. Grant, R. M. (1978). Gnosticism: A source book of heretical writings from the early Christian period. New York: AMS Press.
22. Grumett, D. (2016). Material eucharist. United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/S003693061700045X
23. Hall, G. S. (2006). Institutions in the pre-Constantinian ecclesia. In M. Mitchell, F. M. Young & K.S. Bowie (Eds.), The Cambridge History of Christianity: Origins to Constantine (pp.415-433). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
24. Howley, M. F. (1894). An explanation of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Boston: Doyle and Whittle. https://archive.org/details/cihm_13177/page/n13/mode/1up
25. Jensen, R. M. (2013). The invisible Christian God in Christian art. In A. De Conick, G. Adamson (Eds.), Histories of the hidden God: Concealment and revelation in western gnostic, esoteric, and mystical traditions (pp. 217- 233). Durham England, Acumen.
26. Joseph, S. J. (2016). Jesus and the temple: the crucifixion in its Jewish context. London: Cambridge University Press.
27. Kateusz, A. (2019). Mary and Christian women, hidden leadership. New York: Palgrave Macmillan-Open Access. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11111-3
28. Kouremenos, T. (2018). Plato's Forms, mathematics and astronomy. Boston: De Gruyter.
29. Ladner, G. B. (1965). Ad Imaginem Dei: The image of man in Mediaeval Art. Latrobe: Archabbey Press.
30. Lidov, A. (1998). Byzantine Church decoration and the great Schism of 1054. Byzantion, 68(2), 381-405. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44172338
31. Lombardo, N. E. (2013). The Father’s will Christ’s Crucifixion and the Goodness of God. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
32. Marcus, J. (2006). Jewish Christianity. In M. Mitchell, F. M. Young& K.S. Bowie (Eds.), The Cambridge History of Christianity: Origins to Constantine (pp. 87–102) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
33. McGinn, B. (2014). Hidden God and hidden self: The emergence of apophatic anthropology in Christian mysticism. In A. D. Deconick and G. Adamson (Eds.), Histories of the Hidden God: Concealment and Revelation in Western Gnostic, Esoteric, and Mystical Traditions. (pp. 87-100) Durham England, Acumen.
34. McKay, G. K. (2010). Illustrating the Gospel of John: The exegesis of John Chrysostom and images of the Ancient of Days in Eleventh-Century Byzantine Manuscripts. Studies in Iconography, 31, 51-68. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23924979
35. McKnight, S. (2005). Jesus and his death: historiography, the historical Jesus, and atonement theory. Waco, Tex., Baylor University Press.
36. Meeks, W. A. (2006). Social and ecclesial life of the Earliest Christians. In M. Mitchell, F. M. Young& K.S. Bowie (Eds.), The Cambridge History of Christianity: Origins to Constantine (pp. 144-174). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
37. Melniciuc, P. I. (2011). The lamb sacrifice expressed in religious Art. European Journal of Science and Theology, 7(2), 77-99. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/299048711_THE_LAMB_SACRIFICE_EXPRESSED_IN_RELIGIOUS_ART
38. Mermelstein, A. (2014). Creation, covenant, and the beginnings of Judaism: Reconceiving historical time in the second temple period. Leiden; Boston: Brill.
39. Mondzain, M. J. (2005). Image, icon, economy: the Byzantine origins of the contemporary imaginary. California: Stanford University Press.
40. Nickelsburg, G.W. E. and VanderKam, J. C. (2004). 1 Enoch: A new translation: Based on the hermeneia commentary, Minneapolis: Fortress Press.
41. Nortje, S. J. (1996). Lamb of God (John 1:29): An explanation from ancient Christian Art. Neotestamentica 30(1), 141-150. https://journals.co.za/doi/epdf/10.10520/AJA2548356_436
42. Osborn, E. F. (1957). The philosophy of Clement of Alexandria. New York: Cambridge The University Press.
43. O'Collins, G. and Jones, M. K. (2010). Jesus our priest: A Christian approach to the priesthood of Christ. Oxford: New York, Oxford University Press.
44. Ötüken, Y. (1984). Kapadokya bölgesindeki Kapalı Yunan haçı kiliselerinde resim programı. Ege Üniversitesi Sanat Tarihi Dergisi, 3(3), 143-167. https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/152226
45. Paolucci, A. (1978). Ravenna (Scala Guides to Art). Italy: Scala.
46. Pieper, F. (2010). Nature and character of theology. In D J. Jefferson. (Ed.), The Necessity of Systematic Theology, (pp. 85-89). Wipf and Stock Publishers.
47. Perczel, I, Forrai, R. & Gereby, G. (2005). (Eds.). The Eucharist in theology and philosophy: issues of doctrinal history in East and West from the patristic age to the reformation. Leuven: Leuven University Press.
48. Rawls, A. W. (2004). Epistemology and practice: Durkheim's The elementary forms of religious life. New York: Cambridge University Press.
49. Rossing, B. R. (2016). Revelation. In M. Aymer, C. B. Kittredge & David A. Sánchez (Eds.), Hebrews, the General Epistles, and Revelation: Fortress Commentary on the Bible Study Edition (pp. 715-772). 1517 Media.
50. Rowland, C. (2004). Scripture: New Testament. In P. Scott and W. T. Cavanaugh (Eds.), The Blackwell companion to political theology (pp. 21-34). Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
51. Schmitt, C. (1996). Roman Catholicism and political form. (G. L. Ulmen, Trans.) Westport, Connecticut, London: Greenwood Press. (Original work published (1923b).
52. Sister, C. M. (1977). Art and the early Church. The Journal of Theological Studies, 28(2), 303-345.
53. Skedros, J. C. (2017). You cannot have a Church without an empire: Political Orthodoxy in Byzantium. In G. E. Demacopoulos and A. Papanikolaou (Eds.), Christianity, Democracy, and the Shadow of Constantine (pp.219-231). Papanikolaou, Fordham University Press. https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1gn6b41
54. Şenel, Z. (2010). Komnenos Dönemi toplumsal, siyasal ve dini tartışmaların sanata yansıması [Yayınlanmamış Yüksek lisans tezi]. Anadolu Üniversitesi.
55. Şenel, Z. (2019). Makedonya’da Komnenos Dönemi resim sanatı: Kurbinovo Aziz Georgios Kilisesi [Yayınlanmamış Doktora tezi]. Anadolu Üniversitesi.
56. Şenel, Z. (2022). Bizans dini resim sanatında Enok ikonografisi. B. Y. Olcay Uçkan (Ed.), Anadolu’da Bir Çınar, Prof. Dr. Erol Altınsapan’a 60. Yaş Armağanı (s. 439-451) içinde. Anadolu Üniversitesi Yayınları, Eskişehir.
57. Thiessen, M. (2018). Paul, the animal apocalypse, and Abraham’s Gentile seed. In L. Baron, K. J. Hicks and M. Thiessen (Eds.), Early Christianity and its litarature, the ways that often parted: Essays in honor of Joel Marcus (pp. 65-78). Atlanta: SBL Press.
58. Taft R. (1988). Melismos and comminution: The fraction and its symbolism in the Byzantine tradition. Studia Anselmiana, 95, 531–552.
59. Tsakiridou, C. A. (2013). Icons in time, persons in eternity: Orthodox theology and the aesthetics of the Christian image. Farnham, Surrey: Burlington, VT, Ashgate.
60. Vasileva, T. (2003). The scene “Melismos” in the church “St. Virgin” in Dolna Kamenitsa (XIV c.). In Niš i Vizantija: zbornik radova. Niš: University of Niš.Serbia, (pp. 269-276).
61. Viladesau, R. (2006). The beauty of the Cross: The passion of Christ in theology and the arts, from the catacombs to the eve of the Renaissance. New York: Oxford University Press.
62. Vinogradova, E. (2010). Theological controversy, heresy and Byzantine art: An approach. In A.Rigo and P. Ermilov (Eds.), Orthodoxy and Heresy in Byzantium (pp. 159-172). Roma: Università degli Studi di.
63. Walker, B. (1983). Gnosticism: its history and influence. Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, Aquarian Press.
64. Walter, C. (1982). Art and ritual of the Byzantine Church. London: Variorum Publications.
65. Weinandy, T. (2012). The Annunciation and Nativity: Undoing the sinful act of eve. International Journal of Systematic Theology, 14(2), 217-232.
66. Weitzmann, K. (Ed). (1979). Age of spirituality: late antique and early Christian art, third to seventh century. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Princeton University Press.
67. Zizioulas, J. D. (2001). Eucharist, bishop, church: The unity of the church in the divine eucharist and the bishop during the first three centuries. Brookline: Massachusetts Holy Cross Orthodox Press.
68. Zizioulas, J. D. (2011). The eucharistic communion and the world. London: New York, T & T Clark.