Byzantine Iconoclastic Controversy (726-843) and the Hagia Sophia: The Impact of the Controversy of Images on the Ornaments of the Church

Yıl 2023, , 1 - 22, 27.07.2023

Bilal Bas

https://doi.org/10.51490/oksident.1292711

Öz

When the Byzantine Emperor Justinian inaugurated the Church of Hagia Sophia in 537 AD, mosaic icons did not exist. Instead, Justinian’s program included non-figurative and abstract decorative motifs and lots of crosses. The first appearance of the mosaic icons was dated to the late ninth century, after the final victory of the Iconodule theology in 843. The Orthodox church doctrine venerates icons as an object of worship in both public and private devotion. This doctrine mainly resulted from the Iconoclastic Controversy (726-843). It was a doctrinal controversy over the legitimacy of the employment of the pictures of Christ, Mary, and other holy people in worship in Christianity. The controversy took place mainly in Constantinople, where Hagia Sophia stood as the largest church of the entire empire. Therefore, the church witnessed the controversy as its outcome found its place on her walls and ceilings. In other words, when the traditional Iconoclastic view was dominant in the church, Hagia Sophia’s decorations included only non-figurative motifs and crosses. In contrast, icons began to appear in the Hagia Sophia after the vindication of Iconodulism as the official doctrine of the church. The purpose of this essay is to shed some light, with the help of modern studies, on the Iconoclastic and Iconodule theologies underlying these two kinds of alternative decorations. In this context, we will refer to Horos of the Iconoclastic Council of Hiereia in 754 for the Iconoclastic theology, and to the theological writings of John of Damascus for the Iconodule theology. By doing this, we will show how these alternative theological standpoints translated into the walls and ceilings of the Hagia Sophia.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Hagia Sophia, icons, Iconoclasm, Council of Nicea II

Bizans İkonoklazm Tartışması (726-843) ve Ayasofya: Tasvir İhtilafının Mabedin Tezyinatına Etkisi

Öz

Bizans İmparatoru Jüstinyen 537 yılında bugünkü Ayasofya’yı ibadete açtığında, bugün büyük mabedin en dikkat çekici unsuru olan figüratif mozaik süslemeler ortada yoktu; Jüstinyen’in mozaik programı bunların yerine soyut motifler ve haç figürleri içeriyordu. Ayasofya’daki mozaik ikonaların ilk örnekleri dokuzuncu asır sonlarına tarihlendirilir. Bu ise ikonoklazma hareketinin 843 yılında tamamen mağlup edilmesinden sonrası demektir. Bilindiği gibi bir ibadet objesi olarak değerlendirilen ikonalar Ortodoks Kilisesi’nce çok önemli kabul edilirler. İkonoklazm (726-843) Hz. İsa, Hz. Meryem ve Hıristiyan azizlerinin ikona denilen iki boyutlu tasvirlerinin ibadet objesi olarak kullanılmasının Hıristiyan dininde meşru olup olmadığı konusunda dinî-siyasî bir tartışmadır ve başlangıcından sonuna kadar ağırlık merkezi başkent konumundaki İstanbul olmuştur. Bu itibarla Ayasofya mabedi bu ihtilafa tanıklık etmiştir ve bu tartışmalar mozaiklerindeki tasvirlere yansımıştır. Bir başka deyişle, Tasvir Karşıtı/İkonoklast anlayışın hâkim olduğu zamanlarda figüratif tasvirler yerine haç başta olmak üzere soyut semboller konulmuş, Tasvir Taraftarı/İkonodul anlayışın hâkim olduğu zamanlarda ise figüratif süslemeler yani ikonalar Ayasofya’yı süslemiştir. Bu makalenin amacı, bahsi geçen modern çalışmaların ışığında, İkonoklazm döneminde ve sonrasında yapılan mozaik tasvirlerin altında yatan İkonoklast ve İkonodul teolojileri göstermeye çalışmaktır. Bu bağlamda, referans olarak İkonoklast teoloji için 754 tarihli Hiereia Konsili karar metnini (horos) ve İkonodul teoloji için de Şamlı Yuhanna’nın risalelerini kullanacağız ve bu düşüncelerin mozaiklere nasıl yansıtıldığını örneklerle ortaya koyacağız.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Ayasofya, ikonalar, İkonoklazm, II. İznik Konsili

Kaynakça

• Alexander, Paul J. “The Iconoclastic Council of St. Sophia (815) and Its Definition (Horos)”. Dumbarton Oaks Papers 7 (1953): 35–66a.
• Baş, Bilal. “Bizans İkonoklazmı (726-843) Bağlamında Hıristiyan Geleneğinde Tasvir Meselesi”. Tasvir: Teori ve Pratik Arasından İslam Görsel Kültürü, ed. Nicole Kançal-Ferrari & Ayşe Taşkent, İstanbul: Klasik Yayınları, 2016, ss. 67-93.
• Baş, Bilal. Eusebius of Caesarea and the Politics of the Iconoclastic Controversy. Lewiston, Queenstown and Lampeter: The Edwin Mellen Press, 2013.
• Brubaker, Leslie & John Haldon. Byzantium in the Iconoclast Era, c. 680-850: A History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011.
• Cormack, Robin & Ernest J. W. Hawkins. “The Mosaics of St. Sophia at Istanbul: The Rooms above the Southwest Vestibule and Ramp”. Dumbarton Oaks Papers 31 (1977): 175-251.
• Cormack, Robin. “Interpreting the Mosaics of S. Sophia at Istanbul”. Art History 4/2 (1981): 131-49.
• Cormack, Robin. The Byzantine Eye: Studies in Art and Patronage. Londra: Variorum Reprints, 1989.
• Gero, Stephen. Byzantine Iconoclasm During the Reign of Leo III: With Particular Attention to the Oriental Sources. Louvain: Secretariat Du Corpus SCO, 1973.
• Hefeleö Karl Joseph von. “The Controversy about Images and the Seventh Ecumenical Synod”. A History of the Councils of the Church: From the Original Documents (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1896), 5:260–400.
• Mango, Cyril & Ernest J. W. Hawkins. “The Apse Mosaics of St. Sophia at Istanbul: Report on Work Carried Out in 1964”. Dumbarton Oaks Papers 19 (1965): 115-48.
• Mango, Cyril & Ernest J. W. Hawkins. “The Mosaics of St. Sophia at Istanbul: The Church Fathers in the North Tympanum”. Dumbarton Oaks Papers 26 (1972): 1-41.
• Mango, Cyril. “The Mosaics of Hagia Sophia”. Hagia Sophia. Ed. Hainz Kahler & Cyril Mango, çev. Ellyn Childs, New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1967, ss. 47-60.
• Mango, Cyril. Materials for the Study of the Mosaics of St. Sophia in Istanbul. Washington D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 1962.
• Sahas, Daniel J. Icon and Logos: Sources in Eighth-Century Iconoclasm: An Annotated Translation of the Sixth Session of the Seventh Ecumenical Council (Nicea, 787), Containing the Definition of the Council of Constantinople (754) and Its Refutation and the Definition of the Seventh Ecumenical Council. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1986.
• Teteriatnikov, Natalia B. Justinianic Mosaics of Hagia Sophia and Their Aftermath. Washington D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 2017.
• Teteriatnikov, Natalia B. Mosaics of Hagia Sophia, Istanbul: The Fossati Restoration and the Work of the Byzantine Institute. Washington: Dumbarton Oaks Studies, 1998.
• Underwood, P.A. & Ernest J. W. Hawkins. “The Mosaics of St. Sophia at Istanbul: The Portrait of the Emperor Alexander; A Report on Work Done by the Byzantine Institute in 1959 and 1960”. Dumbarton Oaks Papers 15 (1961): 187-215.
• Whitmore, Thomas. The Mosaics of St. Sophia at Istanbul: Preliminary Report on the First-Fourth Year’s Work, 1931/1932-1934-1938. 4 cilt, Paris: Byzantine Institute, 1933-52.