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The church of the Panayia Hodegetria or Enniameritissa on the island of Chalki in the Dodecanese (1367)

• Σιγάλα, Μαρία

The church of Panayia Hodegetria on Chalki, a small island northwest of Rhodos, is a barrel-vaulted building (4.30 m long, 2.30 m wide and 2.75 m high) with a later narthex. The decoration of the church is accurately dated to the 11th August 1367 by a very well preserved inscription. The inscription also lays emphasis on the dedication of the church to Theotokos Hodegetria and mentions five donors: one deacon, Michael, two laymen, kyr-Niketa and Manoele, and two nuns, Agnese and Magdalene.The church is fully-covered with well-preserved wallpaintings as follows:A. In the sanctuary: the Virgin Vlachernitissa in the conch of the apse, the Deesis above the conch, five officiating hierarchs in the cylindrical section of the apse (St. Basil and St. John Chrysostom) and on the north (St. Athanasius) and south (St. Gregory the Theologian and St. Cyril from Alexandria) walls, the deacon Stephanos the Protomartyr and St. Epiphanius in the east wall, north of the conch, three medallions with frontal martyrs dressed as hierarchs on the upper parts of the south and north walls.B. On the barrel-vault, where the decoration is continuous in both sanctuary and main church:a) A decorative zone with crosses and half-crosses at the summit of the vaultb) Seven christological scenes: the Annunciation, the Nativity, the Presentation of Christ in the Temple on the south section of the barrel-vault; the Baptism, the Crucifixion, the Descent into Hell on the north section of the barrel-vault; the Dormition of the Virgin on the west wall above the entrance,c) Four pairs of prophets on the vertical panels between the christological scenes.C. Sixteen medallions - eight on each wall-with saints, mainly martyrs, on the upper part of the walls.D. Full-length saints in the lower register of the walls of the main church:a) South wall (from E to W): Panayia Hodegetria enthroned between two archangels, St. Nicholas and St. Demetrios.b) North wall (from E to W): Christ, St. Onou phrios and St. George,c) West wall: SS Paraskevi and Marina.Three double crosses decorate the conch of the prothesis.The iconographie programme of Panayia Hodegetria or Enniameritissa is conservative in some aspects but up to date in other aspects. And, in spite of some omissions and a certain clumsiness, it seems to be the conception of a man with a theological background, probably the deacon of the inscription.The emphasis placed on Salvation through the Incarnation, plus other iconographie elements such as: the depiction of Heaven as three V-shaped rays, the dark red colour of the mandorla of Christ in the Descent into Hell, the depiction of the monks Antonios and Onouphrios, the epithet Ο ΩΝ for Christ, imply a connection of the iconographie programme with the movement of Hesychasm.Moreover, special emphasis is placed on the dedication of the church to Panayia Hodegetria: The dedication is mentioned in the inscription. Panayia Hodegetria is depicted in the place reserved for the patron saint of the church next to the templon on the south wall of the main church and, again, in the conch of the patron saint above the entrance from the narthex into the nave. The epithet Hodegetria accompanies the image of the Virgin Vlachernitissa. All this indicates some kind of connection between the planner of the iconographie programme and Constantinople, where the Panayia Hodegetria was especially venerated.Elements of the style of the wall-paintings of the Enniameritissa occur in various places from Russia and Thessaloniki to Crete, testifying that the painter and his workshop were well informed about the stylistic trends of the period.Various questions arise from the study of the above church concerning the donors and their relation to the Latin rulers of the island, the existence or not of a monastery or hermitage on the island, and the spread of Hesychasm in the Dodecanese.

• History and Archaeology
• Philosophy, Ethics and Religion

• Αρχαιολογία
• Architecture and religion
• Archaeology and religion
• Decorative arts

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