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The Coronotion of the Blessed Virgin
Mary in Heaven |
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The Coronotion of the Blessed Virgin
Mary in Heaven |
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Acheiropoietos Icon, Kiev, 12th Cent. |
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INTRODUCTION
DESPITE Old Testament injunctions against the making and venerating of images, Christians at a very early stage adapted for use in their own worship the forms of art common in the Roman Empire
EARLY Christian art preserved in catacombs and ancient churches often adapted Greek and Roman motifs of Apollo the shepherd, Orpheus the musician, the common meal, and prayer for the dead.
A TRADITION that there existed a miraculous contemporary portrait of Jesus (the Abgar Legend) provided the basis for a positive interpretation - indeed, almost an imperative - favoring the making and veneration of icons; that is, two-dimensional images.
IN the wake of the eastern iconoclastic controversy a detailed positive theology and spirituality of icons was articulated at the Second Council of Nicaea and by Saint John Damascene.
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Pope Gregory the Great |
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INTRODUCTION
THE iconoclastic controversy in the East did not significantly affect the Christian West, where it would have been largely incomprehensible. Pope Gregory the Great reproved clerics who destroyed Christian art in a zealous excess of anti-idolotry. Gregory valued Christian art for both the devotion it inspires and the doctrine it can teach.
St. Agnes in the Apse of St. Agnes Church in Rome
Rabbula Codex
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Christ gives the Keys to St. Peter, St. Costanza, Rome, c. 380 |
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The Ascension, Rabbula Codex, c. 586 |
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INTRODUCTION
THE tradition of illuminated prayer-texts affords us a window into the spirituality of both the artiusts who created these masterpieces and the patrons who paid to have them illustrated. One of the most frequently-illuminated religious texts were Books of Hours. These contained what would today be called the psalms and antiphons for feasts of the Blessed Virgin Mary: a daily devotion that was called the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Books of Hours often also contained the Office of The Dead and a calendar of religious celebrations.
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INTRODUCTION
AMONG the glorious theological mysteries depicted in Christian art are the Transfiguration of Christ and the Mystery of the Blessed Trinity. The transfiguration depicts both the divinity of Christ and the radiance that touches and transforms His disciples. Attempts to depict the Trinity must always be both provisional and humble, since all attempts to explain or portray the mystery of the nature of God have been traditionally understood as the highest goal of the theologian/mystic.
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INTRODUCTION
THE illustrated poem, Christus und die Minnende Seele, Christ and the Loving Soul, employs visual representations and brief poetic couplets to portray stages of the soul's journey to mystical union with God. It was extremely popular throughout German-speaking countries from the fourteenth to the sixteenth centuries.
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INTRODUCTION
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INTRODUCTION
THE image of the enclosed, watered garden has served as a metaphor for heaven in many world religions. The Garden of Eden in Genesis is, for Dante, the culminating place of purification and the gateway to the celestial heavens. In an anonymous homily for Holy Saturday The garden is the place for which we were created and the now-redeemed the place where Christ was betrayed, crucified, and in which he appeared after returning from the underworld.
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Tres Riches Heures of the Duke of Berry |
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Rome, c. 380 |
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Rome, c. 380 |
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Rome, c. 380 |
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Rome, c. 380 |
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c.1400 |
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Rome, c. 380 |
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Rome, c. 380 |
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This Webpage was created for a workshop held at Saint Andrew's Abbey, Valyermo, California in 2003
