Depicting Orthodoxy in the Russian Middle Ages: The Novgorod Icon of Sophia, the Divine Wisdom (Oxford Studies in Byzantium)

"The image of Divine Wisdom, traditionally associated with the Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod, is an innovation of the fifteenth century. The icon represents the winged, royal, red-faced Sophia flanked by the Mother of God and John the Baptist. Although the image has a contemporaneous commentary, and although it exercised a profound influence on Russian cultural history, its meaning, together with the dating and localisation of the first appearance of the iconography, has remained an art-historical conundrum. By exploring the message, roots, function, and historical context of the creation of the first, most emblematic and enigmatic Russian allegorical iconography, Depicting Orthodoxy in the Russian Middle Ages deciphers the meaning of this icon. In contrast to previous interpretations, Kriza argues that the winged Sophia is the personification of the Orthodox Church. The Novgorod Wisdom icon represents the Church of Hagia Sophia, that is, Orthodoxy, as it was perceived in fifteenth-century Rus. Depicting Orthodoxy asserts that the icon, together with its commentary, was a visual-textual response to the Union of Florence between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, signed in 1439 but rejected by the Russians in 1441. This interpretation is based on detailed interdisciplinary research, drawing on philology, art history, theology, and history. Kriza's study challenges some key assumptions concerning the relevance of Church Schism of 1054, the polemics between the Greeks and the Latins about the bread of Eucharist, and the role of the Union of Florence in the history of Russian art. In particular, by studying both well- and lesser-known works of art alongside overlooked textual evidence, this volume investigates how the Christian Church and its true faith were defined and visualized in Rus and Byzantium throughout the centuries"--Publisher's description Cover 1 Depicting Orthodoxy in the Russian Middle Ages: The Novgorod Icon of Sophia, the Divine Wisdom 4 Copyright 5 Foreword 6 Acknowledgements 8 Contents 10 List of Illustrations 12 List of Abbreviations 18 Introduction 24 The Novgorod Sophia Icon and the Viskovatyi Affair 24 The Novgorod Sophia Icon and the Sophiological Controversy 27 The State of Research 33 Research Questions and Objectives 38 PART I: WORD 42 1: The Icon and Its Commentary 44 2: The Winged Bride: Quotations in the Sophia Commentary 57 The ‘God-seeing bird’—Ephrem the Syrian: Homily on the Beauteous Joseph 57 ‘The fire is Divinity’—Slavonic Liturgical Commentaries 63 The Wedding Garments and Eschatology—The Fountain of Wisdom 69 3: Medieval Russian Sophiology: The Context of the Sophia Commentary in the Manuscripts 76 The Hagia Sophia in Constantinople 80 Wisdom as Orthodoxy 82 ‘Wisdom has Christ above the head as the head is Wisdom’ 84 PART II: IMAGE 88 4: Representations of Wisdom in Rus 90 5: The Novgorod Sophia Icon as a Deesis 100 The Royal Deesis in Novgorod 100 Deesis, The Image of the Church 109 The Coronation of the Virgin and Anti-Greek Visual Polemics in the West 120 The Royal Deesis and Anti-Latin Visual Polemics in the East 128 The Sophiological Synthesis 133 6: Sophia in the Womb of the Virgin 136 Sophia Has Built Her Temple 136 The Theotokos Nikopoios at the Ohrid Saint Sophia Church 138 The Theotokos Nikopoios and Byzantine Imperial Orthodoxy 143 PART III: IDENTITY 156 7: Slavonic Sophia Churches and the Schism of 1054 160 A New Byzantine Apse Decoration 166 The Azymes Controversy and Visualizing a New Orthodox Identity 174 8: Leaven and Byzantine Marian Iconography 190 The Marian Aspect of the Azymes Controversy 190 The Theotokos Blachernitissa-Znamenie as a Eucharistic Image 195 The Rite of the Elevation of the Panagia 200 9: Depicting Orthodoxy in Rus 211 Visualized Theology of Theosis 211 The Hetoimasia 213 The Iconography of Light 220 Anti-Latin Ecclesiology of Novgorod Icons 224 PART IV: HISTORY 242 10: Sophia, the Divine Wisdom, and the Union of Florence 244 Novgorod and the Union of Florence 244 The Apostolic Church of Divine Wisdom, Saint Sophia 248 11: Evfimii II, Archbishop of Novgorod 257 Evfimii’s Patronage 257 Evfimii’s Icons 269 12: The Hagia Sophia in Rome 283 Monk Efrosin and the Third Redaction of the Sophia Commentary 283 Sophia—‘The Mother of God, that is, virginal soul’ 286 Sophia in Novgorod, the Third Rome 292 Sophia in Moscow, the Third Rome 296 Conclusions: Towards the Viskovatyi Affair 309 APPENDIX 312 Critical Edition of the Sophia Commentary with English Translation 312 The Content of the Sophia Commentary 312 The Context of the Sophia Commentary 313 Dating and Localization of the Sophia Commentary 313 The Recensions of the Sophia Commentary in the Fifteenth Century 315 Text N 316 Text K 320 English Translation 322 Selected Words from Numerous Books, Questions-and-Answers and Different Passages: Sermon on Wisdom 322 I. 322 II. 322 III. 323 Catalogue: The Iconography of the Novgorod Sophia in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries 326 General Iconographic Characteristics 326 Types of the Novgorod Sophia Iconography until the End of the Sixteenth Century 328 The History of the Novgorod Sophia Iconography until the End of the Sixteenth Century 329 Catalogue 331 References 340 Index 376 "The image of Divine Wisdom, traditionally associated with the Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod, is an innovation of the fifteenth century. The icon represents the winged, royal, red-faced Sophia flanked by the Mother of God and John the Baptist. Although the image has a contemporaneous commentary, and although it exercised a profound influence on Russian cultural history, its meaning, together with the dating and localisation of the first appearance of the iconography, has remained an art-historical conundrum. By exploring the message, roots, function, and historical context of the creation of the first, most emblematic and enigmatic Russian allegorical iconography, Depicting Orthodoxy in the Russian Middle Ages deciphers the meaning of this icon. In contrast to previous interpretations, Kriza argues that the winged Sophia is the personification of the Orthodox Church. The Novgorod Wisdom icon represents the Church of Hagia Sophia, that is, Orthodoxy, as it was perceived in fifteenth-century Rus. Depicting Orthodoxy asserts that the icon, together with its commentary, was a visual-textual response to the Union of Florence between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, signed in 1439 but rejected by the Russians in 1441. This interpretation is based on detailed interdisciplinary research, drawing on philology, art history, theology, and history. Kriza's study challenges some key assumptions concerning the relevance of Church Schism of 1054, the polemics between the Greeks and the Latins about the bread of Eucharist, and the role of the Union of Florence in the history of Russian art. In particular, by studying both well- and lesser-known works of art alongside overlooked textual evidence, this volume investigates how the Christian Church and its true faith were defined and visualized in Rus and Byzantium throughout the centuries"-- Provided by publisher The image of Divine Wisdom, traditionally associated with the Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod, is an innovation of the 15th century. The icon represents the winged, royal, red-faced Sophia flanked by the Mother of God and John the Baptist. Although the image has a contemporaneous commentary, and although it exercised a profound influence on Russian cultural history, its meaning has remained an art-historical conundrum. By exploring the message, roots, function and historical context of the creation of the first, most emblematic and enigmatic Russian allegorical iconography, this title deciphers the meaning of this icon This volume offers an interpretation of the image of Divine Wisdom, traditionally associated with the Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod. Kriza argues that the figure stands for the Orthodox Church, in response to events in the fifteenth century.