The Embodied Icon: Liturgical Vestments and Sacramental Power in Byzantium (Oxford Studies in Byzantium)

In spite of the Orthodox liturgy's reputation for resistance to change, Byzantine liturgical dress underwent a period of extraordinary elaboration from the end of the eleventh century onwards. As part of this development, embroideries depicting holy figures and scenes began to appear on the vestments of the clergy. Examining the surviving Byzantine vestments in conjunction with contemporary visual and textual evidence, Woodfin relates their embroidered imagery both to the program of images used in churches, and to the hierarchical code of dress prevailing in the imperial court. Both sets of visual cross-references serve to enforce a reading of the clergy as living icons of Christ. Finally, the book explores the competing configurations of the hierarchy of heaven as articulated in imperial and ecclesiastical art. It shows how the juxtaposition of real embroidered vestments with vestments depicted in paintings, allowed the Orthodox hierarchy to represent itself as a direct extension of the hierarchy of heaven. Drawing on the best of recent scholarship in Byzantine liturgy, monumental painting, and textile studies, Woodfin's volume is the first major illustrated study of Byzantine embroidered vestments to appear in over forty years. MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict Cover 1 Contents 10 List of Illustrations 11 List of Colour Plates 18 Introduction 20 PART I. LITURGICAL VESTMENTS IN THE ORTHODOX CHURCH 38 1. The Vestments of the Byzantine Rite Described 40 2. Moving Pictures: Embroidered Vestments and the Iconography of the Church Interior 84 3. Liturgical Mystagogy and the Embroidered Image 140 PART II. LITURGICAL VESTMENTS IN BYZANTINE SOCIETY 168 4. Earthly Rivalry: Imperial and Ecclesiastical dress 170 5. As it is in Heaven: Vesture and the Unseen World 215 Conclusions 245 Appendix A. Handlist of Embroidered Vestments to c. 1500 251 Appendix B. Embroidered Vestments Described in Byzantine Texts 316 Appendix C. Vesting Prayers According to the Textus Receptus of the Greek Rite 324 Addendum to Appendix A 326 Bibliography 328 General Index 364 A 364 B 365 C 366 D 368 E 368 F 369 G 369 H 369 I 370 J 370 K 371 L 371 M 371 N 373 O 373 P 373 R 374 S 375 T 375 V 376 W 376 Z 376 Pt. 1. Liturgical vestments in the Orthodox Church. The vestments of the Byzantine Rite described Moving pictures : embroidered vestments and the iconography of the church interior Liturgical mystagogy and the embodied image Pt. 2. Liturgical vestments in Byzantine society. Earthly rivalry : imperial and ecclesiastical dress As it is in heaven : vesture and the unseen world Conclusions Appendix A. Handlist of embroidered vestments to c.1500 Appendix B. Embroidered vestments described in Byzantine texts Appendix C. Vesting prayers according to the Textus receptus of the Greek Rite. In spite of the Orthodox liturgy's reputation for resistance to change, Byzantine liturgical dress underwent a period of extraordinary elaboration from the end of the eleventh century onwards. As part of this development, embroideries depicting holy figures and scenes began to appear on the vestments of the clergy. Examining the surviving Byzantine vestments in conjunction with contemporary visual and textual evidence, this book relates their embroidered imagery both to the programme of images used in churches, and to the hierarchical code of dress prevailing in the imperial court This book explores the Byzantine art of embroidery on liturgical vestments. Spanning the period from the eleventh through the fifteenth centuries, it studies the evolution of forms of liturgical costume in the Orthodox Church in relation to both currents in religious thought and the complex relationship between the church and the imperial court.