Colours, Symbols, Worship : The Mission of the Byzantine Artist

by Galavaris, George

• ISBN13: 9781899828685
• ISBN10: 1899828680
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-07-01
• Publisher: David Brown Book Co

Summary

Trained as an archaeologist and art historian and being a practising painter, Professor Galavaris has been able to relate diverse disciplines in his work, as shown by the wide range of his numerous publications. He moves from the early history of the eucharistic bread in the Orthodox Church, the dramatic impact of the Liturgy on illuminated Byzantine manuscripts, to the role of the icon in: the life of the Church, the poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke and the European painting of the 20th century. He is a leading authority on the study of the relationship between worship, Liturgy and art. Whether it is the cult of the Byzantine Emperor or the Eucharistic Liturgy, manifested in numismatics, illuminated manuscripts, icons, church lights (candles and oil lamps) - all witnesses of the creative forces of the Byzantine artist - Galavaris' interests are symbols, forms and their meaning. He investigates their contribution to worship, to the visual shaping of the Liturgy and how they reveal the freedom and the mission of the artist in realizing the Unseen in everyday life. The 31 studies in the present volume, published over 40 years (5 of them appear in English for the first time) are brought together with an introduction, annotations and an index. The volume contributes essentially to our knowledge of the spirituality of the Eastern Church.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. i
The Byzantine Illuminated Manuscript: An Artist's Offering to God	p. 1
The Portraits of St. Athanasius of Athos	p. 14
The Mother of God of the Kanikleion	p. 39
The Mother of God, 'Stabbed with a Knife'	p. 44
A Question of Mariolatry in Byzantium	p. 54
'Christ with Saints Alexandra and Agatha': A Russian Icon in the National Gallery of Canada	p. 69
Mary's Descent into Hell; A Note on the Psalter Oxford, Christ Church Arch. W. Gr. 61	p. 94
Majestas Mariae in Late Greek and Russian Icons	p. 100
Two Icons of St. Theodosia at Sinai	p. 125
The Stars of the Virgin. An Ekphrasis of an Icon of the Mother of God	p. 134
Some Aspects of the Symbolic Use of Lights in the Eastern Church. Candles, Lamps and Ostrich Eggs	p. 142
The Cross in the Book of Ceremonies by Constantine Porphyrogenitus	p. 151
The Role of the Illuminated Byzantine Manuscript in the Divine Liturgy	p. 162
A Bread Stamp from Sinai and its Relatives	p. 171
A Eucharistic Bread Stamp in Mainz	p. 190
An Icon with the 'Epinikios' Hymn in the Benaki Museum	p. 205
Observations on the Iconography of a Faras 'Majestas' and its Relatives	p. 218
'Sinaitic' Manuscripts in the Time of the Arabs	p. 230
The Illumination of Manuscripts in the Tenth Century	p. 261
A Constantinopolitan Lectionary in the Great Lavra on Mt. Athos 'Embellished' by the Wallachian Veovods	p. 293
East and West in an Illustrated Manuscript at Sinai	p. 302
A Constantinopolitan Scribe in the Court of Pope Martin IV	p. 332
Aspects of Book illumination on Mr. Athos	p. 339
Problems in the Illustration of Gospel-Lessons in the Early Lectionaries of the Monastery of the Great Lavra, Mount Athos	p. 359
The Symbolism of the Imperial Costume as Displayed on Byzantine Coins	p. 372
Style as an Approach to the Holy in Byzantine Coins	p. 396
Alexander the Great, Conqueror and Capative of Death: His Various Images in Byzantine Art	p. 412
Expressions of Monasticism in Illuminated Byzantine Manuscripts	p. 432
El Greco's Image of St. Francis of Assisi	p. 449
The Icon, God's Birthmark in Rainer Maria Rilke's 'Prayers'	p. 472
Constantinople, Moscow, Munich: Byzantium and Twentieth-Century European Paintings	p. 501
Index	p. 527
Acknowledgements	p. 573
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